Business

Why Media Shouldn’t Buy Big Coal’s ‘Energy Poverty’ Argument

Published

9 years ago

July 14, 2015

Oakland Post

Photo credit: Flickr user Zi Jian Lim with a Creative Commons license.

By Denise Robbins
Special to the NNPA from Media Matters

NEWS ANALYSIS

Climate change deniers have been talking a lot about “energy poverty” to criticize Pope Francis’ landmark climate change encyclical, claiming that the policies he supports would harm the poor by making energy prohibitively expensive. But media should think twice before uncritically reporting the fossil fuel industry’s energy poverty campaign, which is misleading at best and flat-out wrong at worst, as multiple investigations have compared the campaign to the tactics of Big Tobacco and highlighted how both could harm poor communities.

Two major U.S. coal companies are at the center of the fossil fuel industry’s energy poverty campaign: Peabody Energy and Arch Coal. In advance of the encyclical, Arch Coal blasted out a list of talking points to fight back, claiming that the encyclical does not “address the tragedy of global energy poverty.” Similarly, Peabody is behind a campaign that began last year called “Advanced Energy for Life,” which aims to build “awareness and support to eliminate energy poverty, increase access to low-cost electricity and improve emissions through advanced clean coal technologies.”

It is true that access to modern forms of energy is essential for alleviating poverty by providing increased access to education and health services. But fossil fuels are not necessarily the answer, as many experts and reports have detailed. Energy poverty is largely a rural phenomenon, where centralized energy systems – a precondition for expanding access to coal – are simply not feasible. According to experts who have worked on the ground to provide energy to rural communities, off-grid energy solutions are far more economical, and renewables in particular are often more effective at bringing electricity to communities cheaply and quickly.

Moreover, the coal industry’s misleading campaign to push their product in poor communities has drawn comparisons to Big Tobacco’s efforts to push tobacco use worldwide.

Investigative journalists Dan Zegart and Kevin Grandia pointed out that Peabody is the only U.S. coal company with assets in Asia and the Pacific, and Arch Coal also has an Asian subsidiary. Like Big Coal, the tobacco industry has also been turning to Asia to push its product in the developing world. Both industries’ expansion to Asia has followed their decline in the United States.

Interestingly, the same public relations agency is behind the campaigns of both Big Tobacco and Big Coal. PR firm Burson-Marstellar, which is helping Peabody with its “Advanced Energy for Life” campaign, has also done extensive work on behalf of tobacco industry giant Philip Morris, helping the company increase its market share in Asia and fight against smoking restrictions.

Both campaigns by Big Coal and Big Tobacco have pushed science denial. Burson-Marstellar helped Philip Morris deny the health impacts of secondhand smoke, launching a global campaign denying that it can cause cancer. Similarly, in their arguments against policies that would stem fossil fuel emissions, the coal industry is disregarding numerous studies showing that fossil fuel-driven climate change disproportionately threatens poor communities. Fittingly, scientists are as certain that humans are driving climate change as they are that cigarettes can kill.

In both cases, the science denial hides the fact that their product is harmful to the communities in which they are working to expand. The health impacts of secondhand smoke are widely known and scientifically sound. Meanwhile, China’s aggressive expansion of coal has been the main culprit behind the country’s astronomical levels of air pollution, which caused over a million premature deaths in 2010 alone.

Zegart and Grandia wrote that Burson-Marstellar’s energy poverty PR campaign is “at least as ambitious as what it did for Big Tobacco: a worldwide campaign designed to keep the world burning coal for as long as possible.”

Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, predicts that the fossil fuel industry’s expansion into developing countries will one day be seen as immoral as that of the tobacco industry. The dirty details of Big Tobacco’s campaign have been described in detail by comedian John Oliver on his HBO show Last Week Tonight. In light of Big Coal’s attempt to steal a page from Big Tobacco’s playbook, the segment is certainly worth a rewatch:

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Black History

Emeline King: A Trailblazer in the Automotive Industry

Emeline King is recognized as the first African American female transportation designer at the Ford Motor Company. Let’s take a look at her life and career at the Ford Motor Company.

Published

2 days ago

November 26, 2024

Oakland Post

Transportation designer Emeline King. Photo courtesy of Emeline King.

By Tamara Shiloh

Emeline King is recognized as the first African American female transportation designer at the Ford Motor Company.

Let’s take a look at her life and career at the Ford Motor Company.

King’s fascination with cars began during her childhood. Growing up, she was captivated by the sleek designs and mechanical complexities of automobiles. She loved playing with toy cars and considered it an insult if anyone gave her a doll.

King pursued her interest in cars by studying at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. There, she improved her skills in transportation design, gaining the technical expertise and artistic vision she needed to break into the male-dominated industry.

However, her true inspiration came from her father, Earnest O. King, Sr., who worked for Ford as a Fabrication Specialist. She remembered the father-daughter trips to the auto shows, and the Saturday mornings with the famous Black sculptor, Oscar Graves, who her father assisted in some of his commissioned art works.

She said Graves would mentor her in clay relief sculptures. She was always fascinated by the smell of clay that was a constant in his studio.

However, it was her ﬁrst visit to her father’s job that became the catalyst for King to want a career in transportation design. At the company’s annual employee Christmas parties, she got the chance to meet his co-workers and learned about the roles they played in the auto industry. It was a chance to see some great cars, too.

Her career at Ford began in the 1980s, when women — particularly women of color –were scarcely represented in the automotive industry. King’s role at Ford was groundbreaking, as she became the first African American woman to work as a transportation designer at the company.

At Ford Design, she worked on the Ford Mustang SN-95’s interior. She also made several design contributions on other vehicles, too, including the interior components of the 1989 Thunderbird, the 1989 Corporate Steering Wheel, the 1989 Thunderbird Wheel/Wheel cover design program, the 1990 Thunderbird Super Coupe, the 1993 Mach III, the 1994 Mustang, to name a few.

King also served three foreign assignments: Turin Italy; Koln, Germany; and Brentwood, Essex, England — designing Ford cars for Europe.

Leaving Ford after about 25 years of service and along with her many speaking engagements, she wrote an autobiography about being Ford’s first female African American transportation designer titled, “What Do You Mean A Black Girl Can’t Design Cars? She Did It!”

She’s quoted as saying, “I’m now so proud to have written a book that I hope will inspire young girls and boys to never give up. To influence them so that they can stay focused and alert, and so they never look back. There are mentors who are placed in our lives to serve as our ‘Bridges to Destinations’ and allow us to cross over them to reach our dreams. Hoping they gain inspiration from my book, my motto for them is simple: ‘OPPORTUNITY IS NOW, SO GRAB IT! IF I DID IT, SO CAN YOU!”

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Activism

OCCUR Hosts “Faith Forward” Conference in Oakland

The conference featured Congresswoman-elect Lateefah Simon, who will begin her term representing California’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives in January.
Simon was honored with a special recognition from OCCUR for her civic and nonprofit leadership.

Published

4 days ago

November 24, 2024

Oakland Post

President and CEO of OCCUR addresses the audience at OCCUR Faith Forward 2024 Conference at Resurrection Church. Photo by Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The Oakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal (OCCUR) hosted its Faith Forward 2024 Conference on Nov. 8 at Resurrection Church in Oakland.

The conference featured Congresswoman-elect Lateefah Simon, who will begin her term representing California’s 12^th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives in January.

Simon was honored with a special recognition from OCCUR for her civic and nonprofit leadership. During her remarks, She commended nonprofits making a difference, and shared how she looked forward to representing Oakland and surrounding areas.

Simon also encouraged attendees to continue fighting despite their concerns about the presidential election results. She also cautioned that there may be resources that are discontinued as a result.

“We know the assignment. We have many of the resources right within our own community, and we will be ok,” Simon assured the audience.

The conference led by OCCUR president, Dr. David B. Franklin, also featured panels on funding opportunities, case studies, economic development, sustainable housing solutions, and organizing for action.

“In order for organizations serving the community to thrive, everyone must collaborate, share resources, and not operate in silos,” said Franklin.

Speakers included San Francisco Foundation CEO, Fred Blackwell, San Francisco Foundation FAITHS Program Director Dr. Michelle Chambers, and Kingmakers of Oakland Founder, Chris Chatmon. Guests were briefed on how Kingmakers of Oakland has gone from a budget of zero to several million and is set to acquire 200 acres of property to expand their programs serving young boys. The leadership at the San Francisco Foundation encouraged nonprofits, churches, and community leaders to work together, especially when donations and funding numbers are lower.

Ben Bartlett of Berkeley City Council; Trevor Parham, CEO of Oakstop; and CEO of the Lao Family Community Development, Inc., Kathy Chao Rothberg, inspired attendees with stories about their journeys in the nonprofit sector.

Additional speakers included Deka Dike, CEO of Omatachi; Landis Green, CEO of DGS Strategies; Sasha Werblin, Director of Economic Development, LISC Bay Area; Oakland City Councilmember Treva Reid; Faith and Justice Organizer of East Bay Housing Organizations, Ronnie Boyd; and Todd Bendon, Executive Director of Faith in Action East Bay; among others.

The event allowed community leaders, faith-based leaders, and nonprofits to gain Insight on how to strengthen their profits financially, and communally.

OCCUR has served the community for over 70 years supporting the wellbeing of historically marginalized communities with collaborative strategies. For more information visit occurnow.org

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Activism

Bank of America Grants $200,000 to Richmond Housing Nonprofit

RNHS has provided housing services to Richmond residents since 1981. The organization develops, acquires, and/or rehabilitates single-family homes and housing developments in blighted or vacant lots in order to make them available as affordable homes for rent or purchase to low-income families.

Published

4 days ago

November 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo by RDNE Stock via Pexels. Courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. (RNHS) was one of two Bay Area nonprofits awarded a $200,000 grant over two years from Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders program.

The nonprofit also serves residents through education programs involving financial literacy programs, home loans, foreclosure prevention, and affordable rental counseling.

RNHS plans to use the $200,000 Bank of America grant to hire leadership staff, and to expand its Emerging Developers Program and Restoring Neighborhoods Program.

Through this grant program, RNHS will also benefit from comprehensive leadership training for its executive director and an emerging leader.

Since the Neighborhood Builders program’s inception in 2004, 59 nonprofits have been selected in San Francisco and the East Bay, with the bank investing nearly $12 million in philanthropic capital into these local organizations.

Along with RNHS, San Francisco-based mental health nonprofit RAMS also won a $200,000 grant this year.

“We’re proud to include RAMS and RNHS as the 2024 Neighborhood Builders,” said Gioia McCarthy, president of Bank of America San Francisco-East Bay. “Countless individuals, families and neighborhoods have felt the profound impact that these 59 Neighborhood Builder nonprofits have had in our area over the past two decades.”