# Coal - the caring commodity



## basilio (13 May 2011)

Found a creative new website set up to highlight the work that Peabody coal does to protect the health of children, particularly asthmatics, around their coal fired power station.

Certainly an interesting exercise in public relations.



> *Why Free Inhalers? Because COAL CARES.
> *
> Coal Cares™ is a brand-new initiative from Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company, to reach out to American youngsters with asthma and to help them keep their heads high in the face of those who would treat them with less than full dignity. For kids who have no choice but to use an inhaler, Coal Cares™ lets them inhale with pride.
> 
> Puff-Puff™ inhalers are available free to any family living within 200 miles of a coal plant, and each inhaler comes with a $10 coupon towards the cost of the asthma medication itself.




http://www.coalcares.org/index.html

Rest of the website is fascinating. They do a very special job on outlining the dangers of solar and wind power as compared to coal fired power stations.

http://www.coalcares.org/cleanenergy.html

Cheers


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## pixel (13 May 2011)

Good grief!
I've had my suspicion about the average American's sanity, but this takes the cake. 
Do they really believe that comparing birds hit by turbines with buman deaths will even mildly impress anyone? Or that the spectre of nuclear fusion in the sun will make people link solar panels to Fukushima? Not unless their readers are utter morons. 

but then again - some US citizens also believe the Earth is flat and less than ten thousand years old.


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## basilio (13 May 2011)

There was a bit of a follow up to this post. 

Have you seen the Christmas carol video of "Frosty the coal man?" Lovely way to frame the coal debate.


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## basilio (13 May 2011)

Just couldn't resist the Media press release from the website.


*



			Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) Announces "Coal Cares™" Initiative, New Nationwide Campaign Against Stigma of Childhood Asthma
		
Click to expand...


*


> ST. LOUIS, May 10, 2011 / PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Peabody Energy today announced the creation of an innovative new public health initiative designed to combat the stigma of asthma among American children ages 0-18. With Coal Cares™ (www.coalcares.org), Peabody will offer free, custom-branded inhaler actuators to children living within 200 miles of a coal plant, along with coupons worth $10 towards the purchase of the asthma medication itself.
> 
> "Too many young Americans face daily schoolyard taunting and bullying because of a condition over which they have no control," said Gregory H. Boyce, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Peabody Energy.* "By re-branding the inhaler as a cool, individualized, must-have accessory, Coal Cares™ will empower children to tell bullies: 'suck it up.'" Children can choose from a variety of youth-themed inhaler cases, from tween faves like "the Bieber" and "My Little Pony," to the "Emo" and "Diamond" inhalers for older, style-conscious youth. There's even "My First Inhaler," for tots.*
> 
> ...




http://www.coalcares.org/media.html


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## Smurf1976 (14 May 2011)

Surely this is a joke? 

Coal companies handing out asthma medication to anyone within 200 miles of a coal plant. That's a bit like fast food chains running a weight loss program or cigarette manufacturers running a hospital for cancer victims.

This just doesn't look believable. It's an attempt at comedy, surely...


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## Uncle Festivus (14 May 2011)

Thank you, Coal Cares, for your enlightening community service - I think we need to take a good hard look at these deadly wind turbines! 



> Wind turbines can kill up to 70,000 birds per year, or 4.27 birds per turbine per year. Coal particulate pollution, on the other hand, kills fewer than 13,000 people per year.




If only all American companies, not just Wall Street brokers & banks, could have such a noble community spirit as yours.



> Coal, after all, *is well supported and subsidized, directly and via tax breaks*. Wind and solar are not; they are in fact the epitome of risky investment. Sustainable, long-term government programs mean safety for all investors. Investing in coal will always be a smart move, especially with *well-supported, long-term government subsidies driving down costs*, and a near-complete absence of subsidies for so-called "alternative" energies.


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## Uncle Festivus (15 May 2011)

No more bites? Oh well.......



> An activist prankster group called Coal is Killing Kids has struck with a hoax website lampooning the coal industry’s resistance to federal pollution reforms.


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## Knobby22 (15 May 2011)

Uncle Festivus said:


> No more bites? Oh well.......




It is strange that they aqre doing a frontal attack. Usually their money goes to the climate change deniers.


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## jaystar86 (15 May 2011)

Well, that was certainly a fantastic laugh.


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## wayneL (15 May 2011)

Knobby22 said:


> It is strange that they aqre doing a frontal attack. Usually their money goes to the climate change deniers.




I'm sure there is a fishhook concealed in that statement somewhere. 

**********

Re Coal the caring commodity - think of it this way, without coal and other fossil fuels, in the short to medium term, we all starve or die of hypothermia.

Yes indeed, coal IS a caring commodity. Even basilio appears unwilling to live without it.


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## basilio (17 May 2011)

Wasn't  that a droll piece of work !

What made it so good , IMO, was the feeling that this really could be a Peabody inspired idea.  When one has a look at the creative license taken to minimize the effects of coal you could just about believe it was them.

Of course the Christmas Carols are priceless.* And they are from  the coal industry.* There was apparently an even better one where they used Come all your Faithful as the basis for a coal supporting carol. Seems to have disappeared though.


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