Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google NewsEverybody wants to do something about carbon emissions but few know how. We want to do better, but it is easier to just keep on doing what we have always done than to put the time, effort, and money needed into making changes. Utility companies that supply fossil gas — incorrectly known as “natural gas” — are under pressure from environmental groups because their product — which is mostly methane — releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when it is burned.Even worse, a great deal of the stuff leaks into the atmosphere, where it remains for 20 years or so. Methane is 80 times more powerful a planet warming agent that carbon dioxide, which means it is accelerating the slide toward warmer global temperatures. But fossil gas utilities have a vested interest in continuing their business model, which brings them substantial profits

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google NewsMy local public radio station, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), which broadcasts throughout Oregon and southwest Washington, has been running advertisements for a fossil gas utility named Northwest Natural over the past year. OPB has aired ads about the gas utility’s appliance store where users can go and buy fossil fuel-powered, climate crisis-causing machines that also create significant indoor and outdoor pollution problems (see below). Imagine the cognitive dissonance of citizens in my state when the largest county health authority in Oregon warns residents about the respiratory risks of burning gas in the home, and the statewide public radio station advertises appliances which do just that.Why Would Public Radio Take Money From Fossil Fuels?OPB issued a statement as to why it accepts advertising funds from a fossil fuel company, saying “We work with a variety of sponsors in our communities, unless they are engaged in illegal activity or make claims that are untrue, cannot be proven or that violate our policies.”While natural gas isn’t illegal yet in Oregon, there are over 130 cities, regions, and states that are banning its use, and cities and towns in Oregon are trying to do the same. Air quality districts in California are prohibiting the fuel because furnaces, water heaters, and stoves emit more NOx (aka smog) than fossil gas power plants!Fossil gas companies also often make claims that are untrue. OPB’s own reporting shows how Northwest Natural has used the same tactics as cigarette companies in trying to cast doubt on the health and climate problems caused by burning their fuel.Advertising fossil fuels on public radio is problematic because it legitimizes in the public mind the very substances causing our climate crisis