Power Rock to the Rescue

By Krista Macomber

Communications Assistant

Clean Air-Cool Planet

Children are impressionable. They soak up everything that is going on around them. During this stage, they form habits and opinions that can stick for the rest of their lifetime. The coal-industry group Families Organized to Represent the Coal Economy (FORCE) is apparently trying to capitalize on this.

I’d first like to acknowledge that, despite its name, FORCE is not actually comprised of families. As stated on its website, FORCE is for “Any Pennsylvania company doing business with the coal industry” and membership is “through coal and coal related company sponsorship.”

That being said, FORCE has released what The Daily Grist accurately described as “a wonderfully crappy coloring book for children,” “Eyes for Frosty.” From the quality of artwork right down to content, this book was clearly not created by a family organization with the best interest of children at its heart. To put it lightly.

“Eyes for Frosty” is the tale of three children who are building a snowman but have no coal for its eyes. The day is saved by Power Rock, a scary-looking superhero made out of coal, and his trusty little sidekick, Spurt.

Power Rock and Spurt take this opportunity to give the children a history of coal, explain how it is mined (completely disregarding mountaintop removal, you might notice), and show how important what it powers is (Video games! Yay!). With their job complete, Power Rock and Spurt then take off into the abyss, leaving the children with not only eyes for Frosty, but also a newfound appreciation for coal.

Now, this coloring book (or should we call it propaganda?) fails to mention that, if our current rate of coal consumption continues, there will be no more Frosty. Power Rock appears more evil with each frame, as he completely neglects to tell the children about the harm that coal is doing on our environment in his low-down on coal.

The irresponsibility of targeting such a vulnerable audience is especially disturbing to me. As adults, don’t we expect to be presented with all sides of an argument before forming opinions? Why not extend the same privilege to kids, who have such limited access to information on their own? They are going to have to live with the negative effects of coal mining and usage, so they have a right to know what they are.