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I've been working on this new feature for months.
It started with reporting on gas stove influencers. I got my hands on revealing industry emails & unpacked the layers of fossil fuel astroturf using America's favorite appliance to fight climate action https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/02/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/
It started with reporting on gas stove influencers. I got my hands on revealing industry emails & unpacked the layers of fossil fuel astroturf using America's favorite appliance to fight climate action https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/02/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/
It includes admissions by gas industry veterans downplaying how stoves can cause indoor air pollution linked to all sorts of health problems
“If we wait to promote natural gas stoves until we have scientific data that they are not causing any air quality issues we’ll be done."
“If we wait to promote natural gas stoves until we have scientific data that they are not causing any air quality issues we’ll be done."
An employee of Imprenta, a PR group working on behalf of SoCalGas, posed as a concerned neighbor on NextDoor to drive community opposition to electrification in one California city
Here are those NextDoor comments displayed on the front group's website:
Here are those NextDoor comments displayed on the front group's website:
One of the best parts of reporting this story was digging into the century of gas industry marketing telling us how great and wonderful the gas stove is.
My favorite has to be this "educational rap" from 1988:
My favorite has to be this "educational rap" from 1988:
One important takeaway: The fossil fuel industry doesn't really care about gas stoves. They are just using your love for an appliance to keep us hooked on gas and stop cities from cleaning up the building sector's climate pollution https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/02/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/
The tables have started to turn on the gas industry; the work of @RockyMtnInst and @bradytoday exposing stove indoor air pollution a reason why. They were an invaluable resource in reporting out this story. See this report for more on health effects: https://rmi.org/insight/gas-stoves-pollution-health/
For an EXCELLENT thread unpacking my #longread, check out the @motherjones feed: https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/1360008579801964545
like 100 people who don't read the piece flooding me with "but gas stoves are better" and I could write another 5000 words on that but this sums it up: https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/1359896170462601224
anyway it's not about personal preference. The industry's entire argument is about consumer freedom to choose your gas appliances. This is a sham. Millions of people don't have a choice between gas and electric, and have to put up with the health and planetary consequences of it
