Brian Lachman: "Clean" Coal

            When I first opened both of these websites I found an immediate difference. The site backing “clean” coal had a look of professionalism. The colors are mellow, light blue and green with a simple white background. The layout did not have fancy colors and cartoons, but charts and simple paragraphs expressing their argument. From the first impression, it seems to attract the regular Joe businessman. The top of the front page shows three people in casual business attire. They seem like the everyday businessperson. The slideshow quotes each person saying it is affordable and needed to run his or her business. In their arguments they seem to be quite repetitive. Every page seems to emphasize the fact that it is 77% cleaner and it is working on getting better. In only one section, it says that CO2 emission is not at regulation but quickly changes the subject. The argument looks very one-sided when you look at the members list and realize it is all coal-based industries. Its main argument is that America can rely on America because we have the coal. We use it in our day-to-day activity and it produces more than half of our electricity today. They are making the viewer ask themselves, “why find something else when we have an abundance of something we use everyday that can become cleaner?” They give us the feel that Americans love, let them take care of it, let us go on with our daily lives and they will let us know when they solved it.

The site protesting “clean” coal, however, had a completely different look and demographic. It is very clear the website is seeking younger adults. The background is black with yellow font and an immediate cartoon of a bird flying into a big bold quotation. At first impression, the view of the website is much catchier to the eye. This website is full of quotes and quick facts. The flaw in this website is that it seems as if that is all it is. It took me a second glance at the website to find the section on all the details. The argument they are expressing is that coal is still not clean. There is technology already that is clean, safe and already in use. They mainly talk about how coal is bad and leave it up to the links to explain solutions. The supporters are people trying to better the environment, not solely “clean” coal protesters. The argument does not seem as one-sided as the other website. They explain that if coal were truly clean it would be part of the solution. But the big “however” is that it is not and there is technology already there. The job of this website seems to get peoples feet wet in the subject, hoping that they will dive in.