I saw this over at Daily Kos this morning in a piece by Adam Siegel (cross-posted from his most-excellent blog Get Energy Smart! NOW!) and it’s enough to make you spit:
LoraxAg lines up $4.5M for clean coal gas plant.
[LoraxAg] is rounding up $4.5 million in its first institutional funding, with plans to use coal gasification technology to make farm fertilizer from almost worthless coal while creating no pollution.
Let’s just assume for a minute that LoraxAg’s process for converting coal into fertilizer actually “creates no pollution”. That’s not the only issue. Have you ever seen how coal is mined? They blow the tops off mountains. They dig gigantic pits into the earth and leave behind enormous amounts of devastation. Coal isn’t “dirty” only because it spews greenhouse gases. Coal is also dirty because it rapes the earth.
How dare these people call themselves “LoraxAg”? The denizens in Dr. Seuss’ story The Lorax are protectors of the environment. It’s such a complete greenwashing scam.
In case you were wondering, Brad Johnson at The Wonkroom checked. Nobody from Dr. Seuss enterprises has ever heard of LoraxAg or has given them permission to exploit Theodor Seuss Geisel’s character in this way.
“We had never heard of it until we heard from you,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises lawyer Karl Zobell told the Wonk Room in a phone interview. “We did not give permission for them to use the Lorax, which Dr. Seuss created. Typically we don’t like people to use Dr. Seuss terms without permission.”
I suspect a lawsuit will be pending.
I’m just sayin’…
