'Clean coal: as useful as a porous condom' – comedian Robin Williams
Source: YouTube video of the late comedian Robin Williams giving his humorous impressions on climate change for the TBS 2-hour television special, Earth to America, June 30, 2005.
Notes: This TV special was hosted by Tom Hanks and taped at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. This show used comedy to raise awareness about global warming and environmental issues.
This Robin Williams joke highlights an earlier Climatebite by environmental advocate and CNN Crossfire co-Host Van Jones:
"'Clean coal' represents a breakthrough —in the marketing of coal. But it does not represent a breakthrough in the burning of coal."
In that earlier post, Climatebites writer John Russell wrote on why 'Clean Coal' is a very questionable and dubious solution.
National Geographic stated this in its April 2014 edition article Can Coal Ever be Clean?:
"Environmentalists say that clean coal is a myth. Of course it is: Just look at West Virginia, where whole Appalachian peaks have been knocked into valleys to get at the coal underneath and streams run orange with acidic water.
Or look at downtown Beijing, where the air these days is often thicker than in an airport smoking lounge. Air pollution in China, much of it from burning coal, is blamed for more than a million premature deaths a year. That’s on top of the thousands who die in mining accidents, in China and elsewhere."
National Geographic, the IPCC (Ingovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and comedian Robin William all seem to agree that 'clean coal' is as about as useful as a porous condom.
Image Source: Brian Ettling