On the Side of Tomorrow Against Coal Power

"If we want our voices to be heard, we have to shout very loud" - Nana Abena Afriyie Kwarkye

On a wet morning of Monday July 15, about 40 campaigners from the Ghana Youth Environmental Movement (GYEM) embarked on a journey to fight for tomorrow— a battle against coal. The Ministry of Energy had received a proposal from a Chinese Energy Group to construct a 700MW coal-fired power plant in Ghana. The immediate response from the youth environmental movement was a loud big no; coal power isn't the future young people in Ghana deserve. So we lined up in-front of the Ministry’s facility with our placards, signs and messages and rejected coal power. We took the side of tomorrow against coal.

The argument of the coal industry and its supporters is a weak one modeled on economics; having lost the debate centuries ago on the grounds of health and ecosystem. Unfortunately and fortunately for activists, their own economic argument continues to be exposed as a reeking hoopla that flies in their faces no matter how they slice it.

They argue that coal is cheap, readily available and as such a dependable commodity for power. And so when the Communications Director of the Ministry of Energy, who received our submission against the proposal on behalf of the Minister, argued there and then that “coal is not the dirtiest fossil fuel”, we were assured it was another lost debate.

With its devastating effect on human health and catastrophic impact on the environment and planet, coal is now an economic albatross, China as a classic text book example— cost of pollution from coal to the Chinese government runs in excess of $100 billion per year. This is more than twice the GDP of Ghana. How worse can this get?

So why then has the coal industry still convinced people to deny science, reason, facts and reality; choosing profit over people and economics over ecosystem? I leave the answers for you to discern. The reality is that the fossil fuel industry is heavily funded and as an icing on their cake, they enjoy subsidies. Therefore being pitched as activists against dirty energy in a mortal combat is probably equivalent to dismantling a skyscraper with a carpentry hammer.  But not really, we can build a movement that can win the fight for a green future.

We need to build a movement that is commensurate to and/or more powerful than dirty energy to shift power towards tomorrow. Our movement won’t win campaigns overnight but holding hands and standing strong for a clean future, joined by our passion and courage give us a lot of hope and hope is everything we need. We are a movement so we are willing to do the difficult, the different, the dissenting and the daring—that is courage.

In our submission to the Ministry of Energy, we made it very clear that coal-fired plants do not represent the future we deserve; one that is powered by clean energy and to live in a less polluted or a pollution-free environment. And we are going to demand it, not only for our future but for that of unborn generations. That is justice— to choose the side of tomorrow against coal power!