I don’t work for the coal industry, but I’ve worked IN it, and I’ve seen how coal plants have been dumping billions of dollars into reducing emissions. I know that many coal plants in Missouri, for instance, use low-sulfur coal from Wyoming for cleaner burning. I know that coal is a cheap and abundant source of energy within the United States. People say that coal isn’t clean, like we’re dumping pollutants into the air just as badly as a coal plant from the turn of the 20th century, but the truth is that coal is MUCH cleaner than that. And it’s getting cleaner still (and will continue to do so).

I also know that coal provides almost 60% of the electricity for the whole country, including the cameras and equipment these blowhards used to film this commercial, and the millions of TV sets that waste the minds of the people watching these ads.

You’ll have to forgive me, I’m still mad about the misinformation and misguided intentions that created the unfounded and unnecessary hysteria over nuclear plants that left us 40 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to nuclear power, an energy source that happens to be cheaper, cleaner, and safer than coal and is now underused in our country.

In essence, coal gets pushed forward because scores of uneducated, ignorant idiots with nothing better to do decided to set us back by making a fuss about nuclear energy, and now the same ignoramuses are trying to get us to stop using coal? Awesome. Talk about wasting money and resources.

Maybe in lieu of the ads people shuld just read S&R

And it doesn’t help that the pollution reductions that the ACCCE is trumpeting were forced on coal plants by the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, and coal-using utilities are fighting tooth and claw to avoid having to add new technology to existing plants. Not exactly clean.

So that’s the basic subtext, but the general comment here is that people aren’t getting the ads, and that’s not a good sign. Everyone gets the clean coal ads, even though they’re stuffed fuller than a Turducken with lies and half-truths. The Reality campaign really aught to target people like you, Bob, and with messaging that convinces you logically as well as hits your emotions

And as I’ve suggested, there’s plenty of both logic and emotion out there to make the ads more effective than the first one. Let’s see what happens when they come out with ad #2, shall we?

More importantly, i think that you have to give a viable alternative in a campaign like this. Too many people are likely to say, “yeah, clean coal is bullshit, but what else can we do?.”

I am more interested in their message after seeing this blog post on S&R, but I’m still skeptical.

The best ads of this genre, in my opinion, where done by T. Boone Pickens. They seemed straightforward and to the point with a clear goal and a link to the website. Tricky ads with cute message may appeal to people on an emotional level, which may spur an already bveliever into action, but if somone is on the other side of the fence they will view it as a load of crap. Not being mean….just stating facts.

To actually change minds you need facts. I still don’t know why clean coal is impossible. I guess they just want me to trust them.

Still, it’s awesome to see that some of the big, deep-pocketed environmental groups are directly confronting the myth of clean coal. It’s been too long that the ACCCE and their coal company backers have had the mediaspace all to themselves. I’ll forgive a multitude of minor sins (like imperfect ads) to have Reality up and running.

PS – I thinks it’s the “Natural” Resource Defense Council, not “National”