Mayor's message against coal strikes chord
Guitar in hand, Rocky Anderson rails against ills of coal industry
By Jeremiah Stettler
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 10/05/2007 01:56:21 AM MDT
With an electric guitar strung over his shoulder, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson railed against the coal industry through rock 'n' roll Thursday as a potentially "catastrophic" contributor to global warming.
The mayor - wearing blue jeans and an untucked Hawaiian shirt - played lead guitar. The Paul Green School of Rock added keyboard, drums and vocal to the Democrat's thumping crusade against America's appetite for coal at three city high schools.
"Dirty coal, filthy oil," came the mayor's lyrics, set to the Beatles smash "Blackbird." "Threatening our world with catastrophe."
Rocky rolled out his anti-coal message to hundreds of students at East, West and Horizonte high schools Thursday, calling for a moratorium on the construction of new coal-fired power plants and the eventual elimination of all existing ones.
No other action, he said, will curb carbon dioxide emissions enough to keep global warming from causing devastating droughts, hard-hitting hurricanes and widespread floods in coastal communities.
"This is the most urgent challenge facing our planet," Anderson said.
The mayor's message comes as part of the National Day of Conversation on Climate - a 65-city event to explore causes and possible solutions to global climate change.
"I believe climate change is real," said Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon,
speaking to a crowd at The Leonardo late Thursday. "I believe it is a threat to our future and I also believe it is a question of public safety."
The downtown dialogue - staged at Salt Lake City's Main Library - included electric vehicle demonstrations, displays on alternate fuel displays and panel discussions on climate change.
But rock 'n' roll Rocky already had stolen the show, at least for the younger crowd.
"That was pretty cool, I must admit," said Joseph Savastano, a West High junior, after the mayor's guitar performance.
The mayor - once a guitarist in his own high school band - kicked off the performance with his own version of the blues classic "Baby, please don't go."
Anderson urged high-schoolers to cut their own carbon dioxide emissions by turning off lights, recycling and driving automobiles less. But none of that will matter, he said, if coal-fired power plants keep running.
The mayor's message - which included a call to political action - seemed to resonate with students at West High, who cheered Anderson's performance. Among them was Savastano.
"I feel a lot more strongly about this than I did before."
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