"CLEAN COAL" TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION

On Wednesday the 25th July we hit the crowded streets of Cornmarket, bustling with shoppers, tourists and locals carrying our bucket of coal and scrubbing brushes. We were Jack and Jill from the coal industry.

Smiling, young and beautiful we became the shiny new faces of the coal industry. Coal has largely caused the global catastrophe of Climate Change. It is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, producing far greater carbon per unit of energy than oil or gas. With such a burden of guilt upon its back its not suprising that the coal industry spent years denying the existence of man-made climate change. However, with the recent floods across the UK that have caused mass devastation to so many people, the coal industry realised it simply couldn't deny what was staring it starkly in the face. Houses have been flooded, businesses and livelihoods destroyed, and many have become deprived of essential resources such as fresh water. All these dramatic effects have taken place in one of the planet's most temperate zones, which begs the question 'just what could happen in places who have long suffered extreme weather conditions?' Predictions are that there will become millions of climate refugees, many places will became far less stable as wars erupt over the reduced resources, and extreme weather will cause a massive spread of infectious diseases in areas where there is no functioning health systems in place.

The logic would surely then be that to avoid climate change getting even worse, and to prevent runaway climate change (where we affect the climate so much that it spirals out of our control completely) we should stop burning fossil fuels such as coal and move towards other methods of energy generation such as renewable energy, while also radically cutting our energy consumption. But the new shiny coal industry with our best interests at heart, has declared that we don't need to do anything so rash. They've told us we can carry on burning coal as normal and living our lives as normal while at the same time tackling climate change.

'But how?' you may ask. Surely coal is dirty, filthy, and we can't claim ignorance like we could before.

'No', reply the coal industry. 'Coal does not have to be dirty. Coal can be 'Clean'. We've invented "Clean Coal"'.

"Clean Coal? How on earth can the dirtiest fossil fuel ever be clean?"

It is here that the coal industry haven't actually got an answer. But they are investing in technologies, while they continue to burn normal coal, that hope to one day achieve "Clean Coal" in our power stations. Until then they ask us to bear with them and remain loyal customers.

"But surely Climate Change needs to be tackled right now? Surely we haven't got time to wait for new technologies that might not even work to emerge?"

Jack and Jill listening to this problem and they realised that this was right: climate change did need to be tackled right away. So if coal had to be clean it had to be clean straight away. So they set to work in Cornmarket Street scrubbing coal with soap and water hoping to spread the word that coal could be clean.

The trouble was that no matter how hard they scrubbed at the coal it remained just as dirty. Also, as they desperately scrubbed they got themselves more and more filthy -hardly in keeping with the coal industry's new "clean" image.

Members of the public asked them how scrubbing the coal would actually take away the carbon from the coal, and poor Jack and Jill didn't actually have an answer to this. But in their defence no one else from the coal industry has come up with a better idea as to how to "Clean" coal. Some members of the public suggested maybe coal will never be "clean" and the only way to genuinely tackle climate change is to move away from coal entirely. Poor Jack and Jill. They're never going to get those lucrative promotions they seek in the industry if they are giving such a negative impression about the coal industry to the public. They didn't mean to get so filthy. They'd no idea coal was quite so dirty -the coal industry 'experts' told them it was clean!

Desperately worried about their careers, Jack and Jill resorted to booming "Come of Guys! Coal is as Clean as we are!" The only problem was, they'd forgotten they were actually completely coated in disgusting black coal stains. People just laughed at them.

At the end of the day, Jack and Jill became demoralised. They'd seen homes flooded across the UK and really wanted to do their bit for Climate Change. They were desperate to find a solution that would actually work, and the coal industry gave them that solution. "Clean Coal" seemed so perfect to them. It meant people could continue living just the way they do without any major changes being made, while at the same time solving the dilemma of climate change.

Yet at the end of the day when they were sick of being pointed at; laughed at; covered in coal and feeling a mess; refused entry even to a greasy spoon cafe for looking so disgusting, Jack and Jill questioned whether they hadn't just wasted precious time by listening to the coal industry. Time that should have been spent seeking the real genuine solutions that already exist. Solutions such as renewable energy, public transport, reducing consumption... Jack and Jill soon realised there were so many real solutions out there they didn't need to waste time with coal any longer.

They felt kind of bad for the coal industry though, because if coal really does have no future in a low carbon society, then nor does it's industry.

MEDIA REPORTS OF THE EVENT:

• http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/07/377021.html