On Thursday, May 8th, I attended the Duke Energy Annual Shareholders meeting. I walked in just as Jim Rogers, the CEO, was being introduced. In my chair, I found a crisp copy of Duke’s 2008 Sustainability Report. Inside I found how Duke was “going green” by reel-less wire spools to cut back on wood usage and their praise of compact fluorescent bulbs. I can sleep better at night now, knowing power lines won’t be wound on wooden spools. After the business of voting on the Board of Directors, Mr. Rogers gave a short presentation about Duke’s future. He talked about their Job One, which was a triad of ‘reliable’, ‘affordable’ and ‘clean’. Other diagrams he used showed a similar triangle with energy, economy and environment connected. He explained his (ridiculous) rationale for building the Cliffside coal plant extension, that all other plants will be taken off line by 2050. He briefly mentioned renewable energy and focused on energy efficiency as the ‘fifth fuel’.
As rosy as this picture may sound, coming from the mouth of an energy behemoth, the harsh reality is much more dire. His double speak is dangerous and even with massive energy efficiency programs, building new coal infrastructure would make these moot. The bottom line is that we must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions very soon or risk further planetary catastrophe. We cannot wait until 2050 to take all coal plants off line. We cannot rely on nuclear energy to “bridge” us to a “low carbon future” (Tangent alert! This label “low” or “no carbon” is misleading in that carbon is everywhere as a building block for every living and non-living thing. Carbon dioxide is the culprit, along with other more potent greenhouse gases, like methane and nitrous oxide. If we had a “no carbon” future, barely anything in this world would remain! This message needs to be clarified in the media and among legislatures).
Back to the case at hand, after the presentation, the mics were open for questions from shareholders and their guests. Nearly all questions asked were critical of the coal expansion at Cliffside and the risky nature of new coal and nuclear investments. In my first comment, I communicated to Mr. Rogers that what we invest in today, my generation and younger kids will have to pay for in the future. I told him while he claims to be “green” by “building bridges to a low carbon future” that he is burning bridges by banking on the risky business of false solutions like nuclear and coal plants. My direct ask was could he commit to not build any new nuclear plants. He said he could not make that commitment and nuclear at this point would remain part of the equation. Other comments focused on mercury poisoning, pleas to cancel the Cliffside coal boiler #6 and reiterating the financial and health risks of nuclear. In my second comment, I reminded Mr. Rogers that mountain top removal mining was a reality and was critical of Duke for not taking the externalities of coal into the equation. I directly asked him if he could commit to not burning any more coal obtained from mountain top removal in Duke coal plants. He said he would “look into it” and that ultimately that decision was up to those who supplied coal to them and not theirs. ::insert shell game switcheroo here:: At this very informative meeting, I also learned that Jim Rogers was a lawyer before he became CEO of Duke Energy. This may explain his eloquent diatribes saying basically nothing but business-as-usual. Baloney! One other notable anecdote from the shareholders meeting was the way in which the womin were treated as they lined up to speak at the mics. Each person, nearly, waited their turn in line before speaking. (At one point, an older man stood up and began to talk out of turn, explaining how we shouldn’t worry about coal and that it had been used for hundreds of year, alluding to his ancestors.) A womin was speaking, delivering her comments to Mr. Rogers, when a older white man began to shout “Sit down!” “Sit down!” to her from his chair in the back, obviously disagreeing with her position. I was pretty taken aback by this show of patriarchy, however, she continued to speak until she was done, and then sat down. There is power held by those shareholders of Duke, and I too, am one of them. As a white privileged femail from the South, I was born into a family who worked many years for Duke Power (as it used to be called when I was little). I’ve considered selling all my shares (save for one, so I can still harass Jim Rogers or the next CEO at annual shareholder meetings) and investing my money in something better. Whether that is building my own solar hot water heater on my roof, or investing in a tidal power company, I don’t know. My great-grandma gave me the Duke shares I have today, so it is a decision I must make to sell them or keep them. I did not realize stock could hold sentimental value. : / This holiday season, keep your eye out for other greenwashing by major corporations with clever marketing ploys. Just by changing the background color on a website to green, does not an environmentalist make. I challenge all of us to think up and act on real community controlled solutions to climate change. It’s the gift that truly will keep on giving.
Coordinating environmental campaigns nationally is not a roll I saw myself in when I graduated with a chemistry degree, but I am learning a lot and appreciate the opportunity to do this justice work. 
