Front Groups.
You know – the groups that are usually paid by industry to pretend that they are somehow “fair and balanced”, and present some “neutral” perspective on an issue that JUST SO HAPPENS to reflect what industry wants? Groups that try to portray themselves as representing a certain constituency or set of views while really working to undermine and disrupt genuine social movements? Most people know not to trust Exxon Mobil on questions of global warming, but do they know not to trust the Competitive Enterprise Institute? (funded by Exxon)
There is no shortage of such groups -from the Center for Consumer Freedom (front for Big Tobacco), to the Global Climate Coalition (funded by oil/gas), to the Wise-Use Movement (logging/timber interests), to everyone’s favorite – Americans For Balanced Energy Choices (the big coal industry front group). Thankfully, we’ve got great allies in SourceWatch - who have been exposing front groups and industry lies on all sorts of issues.
But if industry creates these fake “environmental” groups all the time, why can’t we create a fake “industry” group ourselves?
Today Greenpeace infiltrated the CoalUSA conference in New York using just such a tactic.
A new industry group called the “Institute for Energy Solutions” wanted to co-sponsor the conference – Coal USA accepted. Little did they know that Greenpeace was behind this fake industry group. Not only did the IES’ logo and website URL (www.tomorrowsenergytoday.org) get all over the official program and conference materials, they also were given passes and a booth inside the conference. But while last week the website was simply a dull list of coal and utility companies, today the website suddenly redirected visitors to www.coal-is-dirty.com!
Not only did the website suddenly change, exposing the true intentions of this new front group – but the booth set up inside was staffed by some charming activists (err, Public Relations flacks) who countered the coal-loving chorus in the room. They handed out asthma inhalers to the crowd with the label “Coal-takes my breath away!”, had beautiful gift baskets of coal, gave out free water samples from coal mining regions, and great information about the truths behind coal’s destructive story.
Keep up with the action live on the Greenpeace blog where “delegates” from the conference will be keeping up to date the actions going underway at CoalUSA.
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So neat. Like environmental ninjas.
This is AWESOME!
Here is the text of a speech that Carroll Moffet from Greenpeace delivered to the 300+ attendees of the conference (the CEO’s of every major coal company in the US). Shockingly, they allowed him to speak even though the Institute for Energy Solutions was exposed as Greenpeace!
Statement text – Coal USA 2008 – Carroll Muffet, Greenpeace USA
Thank you for the opportunity to take the floor again. The last two days have been extremely instructive in better understanding not only the challenges the coal industry faces but also how those who work in the industry see their role in coal and in the world.
It is also useful to meet the people behind the companies. It’s easy to forget that companies are, at heart, just collections of people. And it’s good to be reminded of that. Because ultimately it is not companies that make good or bad decisions; it is people. The actions companies take reflect nothing more nor less than the collective decisions of individual people. People like you.
So, I’ve been pleased to find that most of the folks we’ve met here seem like decent, reasonable people. With their own problems, their own concerns, their own families to take care of. They are citizens, neighbors, parents. Just like me. And just like me, I’ve found, they are concerned for the welfare of not only their own children, but children everywhere. So I would like to speak to you not just as Greenpeace, but as a parent.
There has been a significant response here to our young activists yesterday, one of whom was my daughter, Kate. Kate came here because she feels strongly about global warming and, more personally, because her grandmother–one of her closest friends–died of cancer last summer after for living for years in the shadow of one of the country’s dirtiest coal stations. Drew, another of the kids who came, did so because he has severe asthma himself. And he wanted you to know.
Kate and Drew and Mike were proud to be here. And they were proud of their parents for deciding to let them come.
What I would like you to consider as you leave this meeting is, are your kids proud of the decisions you make? And will they still be proud 10, 20, 30 years from now as the environmental chaos of global warming becomes an ever grimmer reality in our daily lives?
Perhaps you can explain to them that “It wasn’t me. It was the company that did it.”
“I polluted the air because my boss made me do it. I poisoned the water to increase shareholder value. I denied global warming because the board demanded it. I supported CCS because it was the industry’s only hope. And I refused to believe in solutions, because I was paid to believe in coal.”
Will that answer make your kids happy? Will it make them proud? Will it help them forgive you?
You can choose a better future for them. For yourself. For the world. You can make them proud. The choice is not the company’s. It is yours.
I ask you to choose wisely.
I just wanted to point out that the Center for Consumer Freedom is also a front for the meat, dairy, restaurant and payday loan industries.
surprise! surprise! i enjoy creative non-violent actions like Greenpeace does. awesome! cheers from SolarGeneration Philippines – Southern Negros
It appears this made a few big news outlets. Great job guys!
We must remember, as Carroll Moffett says, that we are all parents, community members — we are all in this together.
Industry holds the cards here – they have the cash. Cash can buy way too many politicians. I ask the coal industry to look beyond profit — and start investing in truly clean energy, like solar and wind.
“Clean” coal is a bad joke, and our children will pay the price.