March 9, 2009
The Coen Brothers Get Real
Hollywood royalty helps debunk the myth of “clean coal”
Flimmakers Joel and Ethan Coen are known for their hugely farcical and oft macabre movie making. Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men—certainly these movies are in your psyche if not your Netflix queue. Now the dynamic duo has directed something for the smaller screen in a collaborative effort with The Reality Coalition.
The Reality Coalition (www.thisisreality.org) is comprised of an impressive roster of environmental advocates (League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation-to name a few) against the coal industry or as the group refers to it-“America’s dirtiest enrgy supply.” Specifically, the group wants to call out the less-than-truthful claim of ‘clean coal.’ A previous ad released by the group featured a tour of a clean coal factory-essentially, a nonexistent location.
Poke around the group’s Web site. Find out facts about coal consumption while killing canaries—ie, “Virtually all the new coal plants that have been proposed will, just like their predecessors, release 100 percent of the CO2 they produce into the atmosphere, where it will linger-and contribute to global warming”— and aspiring filmmakers are even encouraged to have a hand at PSA making for the environmental group.
