About those ugly wind turbines......

[hedgehog]

Elaborate Stunt Draws Attention to Need for Cleaner Energy Sources, and Midwest Gen’s Dirty Record in Chicago

Chicago, IL- Residents of the South Loop neighborhood were outraged yesterday to hear that Midwest Generation was purportedly building a new coal powered plant on a formerly abandoned lot at Harrison and Wells. The company, promising a plant with “a green roof,” even blanketed the neighborhood with fliers and pamphlets, advising residents that “construction and operation of the new plant will generate new revenue for local businesses.” Brochures, letters, warnings from the city, and solicitations from a legal firm were all part of a day's reading for the residents of the well heeled neighborhood, and they were not amused, flocking online to register their complaints.

....

The entire spectacle was pulled together by local activists—also calling themselves CUALC, for Citizens United Against Lower-Income-Neighborhood Coal—in collaboration with theYes Lab, a project ofThe Yes Men to help activist groups carry out media-savvy creative actions on their own. The goal was to raise awareness about the need for clean energy sources and push for the Clean Power Ordinance. Unfortunately dirty coal’s impact on Chicagoans’ health is no laughing matter.

Midwest Generation’s two Chicago plants, Crawford and Fisk, are located in the predominately low-income neighborhoods of Pilsen and Little Village. Residents in these neighborhoods experience higher levels of lung cancer, heart attacks, premature deaths, acute and chronic bronchitis, emergency room visits, asthma and other respiratory illnesses. As a result Chicago has one of the highest asthma rates in the entire country, and the plants also contribute to global warming, spewing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air every year.


http://theyesmen.org/midwest-gen

[flamingdem]

1. Very creative activism nt