On the TV screen, a cartoon commercial shows lumps of coal singing Christmas carols; the modified lyrics reveal the wonders of clean coal energy. At the dinner table, my company includes two oil drillers, a pipeliner and a BP corporate leader. A nightmare I had last night? Nope, it was real - such was the setting in the living room of the family that adopted me for Christmas in Farmington, N.M. this past year.
I found it easier to contribute to the conversation after a glass of good wine; it gave me the foolish courage to point out that the 273 days of sunshine per year and the flat, open landscape seemed ideal for solar energy harvesting.
All heads turned to me in unison, forks suspended in the air. I struggled to swallow during the long seconds of silence that followed, broken only by the persistent singing in the background. To my relief, and also in unison, the stares turned into a harmless round of condescending smiles and nudging elbows around the table.
The three self-proclaimed roughnecks openly declared their love for their job.
"Drilling for oil is the most dangerous occupation in the world. I'm hooked on the adrenaline rush - not sure a solar panel can give me that," said one.
An explosion of laughter erupted.
"Nature is like a wild lion - taming her can give you a lot of satisfaction," shared another.
Brushing aside a frown, I plastered my face with all the enthusiasm I could gather to voice my preference for working with nature as an ally, naturally using what she so naturally gives us; the endless power of wind, sun, water all of it with a lot less waste, impact, effort, pain.
This startled BP corporate leader Mr. Sorrento into the discussion.
"Pain? We pay a lot of attention to people's well-being and standard of living."
He left the room. Moments later, he reappeared with a Christmas basket in his hands and a proud look on his face. The basket, a reusable shopping bag sporting BP's logo, was delivered to patients at Farmington's hospital. In a timely manner, dessert on the table put an end to the conversation.
Mr. Sorrento was right. The oil and coal industries PAY a lot of attention - keeping one's image clean doesn't come cheap. But cleaning one's image and cleaning one's act don't necessarily go hand in hand. The joyous commercial by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity doesn't sing about the heart and asthma attacks, the deaths, and the health care costs associated with coal.
It's time we grew up. We need to start calling things by their real name so we can spot a fake from 100 miles away - the "clean coal carolers" (check them out in YouTube) can sing until the cows come home: Coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels. There's no such thing as clean coal.
Hooked on a type of growth that keeps us perpetually adolescent, we have developed a taste for cartoon commercials and carefully wrapped Christmas baskets. Our new planet requires maturity, making hope a possibility.
"You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore," reads the welcome sign at the largest open-pit mine in Western U.S., the Navajo coal mine near Farmington. Well, on our new planet, our words need to match our intentions.
Ana Santos is the co-ordinator of Squamish Climate Action Network (CAN). In her spare time, she is a professional translator. You can contact her at [email protected] and read previous Moving Planets columns at www.movingplanets.net. The contents of this column do not necessarily reflect the views or principles of Squamish CAN.
