Ads across New York City take on decades of industry misinformation around “natural” gas
New York City — As corporate and government decision makers from across the globe gather to discuss the climate crisis during Climate Week, Roishetta Ozane wants them to know: LNG is Methane. And methane is harming her community.
A new ad campaign by Rainforest Action Network and Gas Leaks expose the truth about the climate, health, and safety impacts of “natural” gas, particularly gas exports, like the facilities being quickly built around Ozane’s home on the Gulf Coast. Currently there are 5 export facilities on the Gulf, with the industry asking the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission to approve more than 20 additional facilities. They’ll be built near communities that have higher than average cancer rates due to chemical pollution, and in ecologically sensitive habitats. Existing facilities have already been caught routinely exceeding their pollution limits.
The LNG is Methane campaign will garner over 12 million views and be seen in more than 1,845 locations. Subway, taxi topper & digital billboard advertisements revealing the health hazards of methane are scattered throughout the city during the month of September, including Climate Week. It also includes visibility on F.Y. Eye’s PSA Network, a community media cooperative with advertising space in nonprofit spaces and LinkNYC kiosks.
Hosted in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly, Climate Week is a gathering of international leaders from business, government and civil society to showcase global climate action. The ads are placed at critical locations around the UN to educate world leaders on the impacts of methane gas. The United States and European countries are expected to use COP28 to expand the development of liquified “natural” gas projects that threaten climate goals and harm Black and Indigenous communities on the Gulf Coast.
“There is no such thing as ‘natural’ rock – we call that coal. So why does methane gas get a pass as ‘natural’? People need to understand that this is a fossil fuel that harms our health, our communities, and our climate,” said Roishetta Ozane, Founder of the Vessel Project, resident & leader from Lake Charles, Louisiana.
“The expansion of methane gas to keep homes warm or exporting across the globe, is going to keep people and the planet sick. Methane is a fossil fuel that has serious public health impacts and is a climate super pollutant. NYC Climate Week is a critical time for world leaders to make bold, decisive moves to make communities healthy and safe, and to take critical action on climate. Methane gas is not a solution to the climate and health crisis,” said Ruth Breech, Senior campaigner on Climate & Energy at Rainforest Action Network.
“There’s nothing ‘natural’ about natural gas — it’s methane, a dirty fossil fuel more than 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide,” said Caleb Heeringa, Campaign Director of Gas Leaks. “The oil and gas industry has spent decades trying to brand methane gas as clean energy, while deepening our dependence on dirty energy that pollutes frontline communities and driving ever-worsening extreme weather disasters across the globe. It’s time to call ‘natural’ gas what it is: methane.”
See photos of the ads below, or access the graphics directly here: (Climate, Explosions, Health)