Can Coal Ever Be Clean? Check Out “Burning the Future: Coal In America” to Find Out

[Update - May 1st, 2008: "Burning the Future: Coal in America" will be airing again soon on the Sundance Channel, May 13th, 16th, and 18th. In addition, the DVD's will go on sale next week on the film's website: www.burningthefuture.com.]

Can coal ever be clean?

These guys are spending tens of millions trying to convince you, the American voter, that the future of America’s energy lies with “clean coal.”

A new documentary film, “Burning the Future: Coal in America” aims to clue Americans in on why “slightly less deadly coal” is probably a more accurate term for what the spooked coal industry is trying to push these days. Or maybe “laundered coal.” But “clean?” Well check out the trailer and see what you think:

Here’s the film’s short synopsis:

In Burning the Future: Coal in America, writer/director David Novack examines the explosive forces that have set in motion a groundswell of conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. Confronted by an emerging coal-based US energy policy, local activists watch the nation praise coal without regard to the devastation caused by its extraction. Faced with toxic ground water, the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains, and a government that appeases industry, our heroes demonstrate a strength of purpose and character in their improbable fight to arouse the nation’s help in protecting their mountains, saving their families, and preserving their way of life.

No coal is clean coal!

About Jesse

Jesse is a graduate of the Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon (Class of 2006). While at the U of O, Jesse worked on a number of campus sustainability initiatives, including helping kick-start the Campus Climate Challenge at the UO and starting an initiative to bring clean wind power to UO dorm students. Jesse is currently the co-director of the Breakthrough Generation fellowship program at the Oakland, CA-based Breakthrough Institute (check out the Breakthrough Generation blog here). Before joining Breakthrough, Jesse spent two years as a renewable energy policy analyst and advocate with the Renewable Northwest Project, a Portland, OR-based non-profit promoting renewable energy development in the Pacific Northwest. Jesse is still an active youth climate activist and helped found the Cascade Climate Network, the first ever, region-wide effort by Northwest youth to launch a coordinated campaign for climate solutions and a sustainable, just, and prosperous future in 2007. Jesse is also a veteran blogger, having maintained the energy and climate change news and commentary blog, WattHead for the past two and a half years.

2 Responses to “Can Coal Ever Be Clean? Check Out “Burning the Future: Coal In America” to Find Out”

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1 Ivona Vujica May 1st, 2008 at 9:08 pm

Abolition of King Coal and Coal-Fired Plants Everywhere - No Nukes! No Uranium Mining!

Stop the Global Warming Machines!
Stop the Coming Genocides - Food/Water/Energy Chaos!

Weekly Vigil - presently May 4, 2008

Sundays Noon-1pm
Ottawa, Ontario - Canada
U.S. Embassy
490 Sussex Dr.

Paradigm Shift Environmental Alliance
psea4earth@gmail.com

Please see the following links or google “abolition of coal”
http://quebec.indymedia.org/en/node/28427
2 Dana! May 2nd, 2008 at 12:20 pm

Hey, if you want to be part of the action in this movie, check out http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org which helped plan a lot of these actions. The training camp is May 17-23 in Harlan County, KY, and will lead into an amazing summer of internships, days of action and campaigning against coal and coal fired power plants.

Actually, the final scenes of this movie were shot at Mountain Justice Spring Break in 2007, planned by groups like SEAC (www.seac.org) Coal River Mountain Watch (www.crmw.net) and the Southern Energy Network (www.climateaction.net) and OVEC (www.ohvec.org). To be a part of MJSB 2009, visit http://www.mjsb.org — it’s planned mostly be student and youth volunteers.

This may seem like a shameless commercial for the groups in this movie, but I’m really just excited and proud to see our Appalachian hard work get such national coverage, and I want to invite everyone to be a part of the excitement. Don’t just watch movies, be a part of them!

Yeah!

Dana (at Seac.org)