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Friday
27Feb2009

Coen Brothers Direct Anti-Clean Coal Ad

DateFriday, February 27, 2009 at 3:35PM
Actors aren't the only ones who do commercials. Film directors have been supplementing their incomes for years by taking ad money. Ridley Scott made arguably the greatest commercial of all time when Apple ran its minute-long Macintosh ad during the 1984 Super Bowl. Christopher Guest hired his trusty acting ensemble for a series of Microsoft web commercials and last year's DirecTV boardroom ads.

And now there's the Coen Brothers. Oscar winners Joel and Ethan Coen were hired recently by The Reality Coalition to direct a commercial that mocks the notion that there's such a thing as clean coal. The coalition is comprised of several environmental groups that believe the coal industry is using the "clean coal" campaign to make its use sound safer and more environmentally friendly.

I'm no expert, so I have no researched opinion about that message either way. The coalition's website claims, "In reality, there is no such thing as "clean" coal in America today. Coal cannot be called 'clean' until its CO2 emissions are captured and stored safely."

"Let's be clear," the website adds, "there are no US homes, factories, shopping centers or churches powered by coal plants that capture and store their global warming pollution."

The Coens agreed to direct the commerical after the advertisting firm behind the campaign sent them the script, saying in a statement, "We were excited to be part of this important project and tell another side of the 'clean' coal story."

And here's that other side:

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AuthorColin Boyd | | in , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment2 Comments |

Reader Comments (2)

Good commercial, but coming from one that studied climatalogy at ASU, I know that CO2 is not dirty, its the sulfurs and acid like casuing substances that are REALLY bad for the environment. CO2 is a naturally occuring component in our air. Not to say that we should be adding any, but burning any type of gas or oil will put CO2 in the air. I am all for cleaning fuels and energy but lets take it one step at a time so we do not kill our already ailing economy.

Something to think about, back when the dinos roamed the planet, CO2 emissions were 8 times hire than todays CO2 levels.

Saturday, February 28, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBrandon

I suspect Brandon was not paying attention in climatology class, either that or climatology has nothing to do with climate change chemistry. Burning coal produces between 2 and 4 times more C02 per unit energy than gas. (http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/gas-vs-coal.html)

Sunday, March 1, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterkd

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