Category: Environment

Greenwashing is the unjustified appropriation of environmental virtue by a company, an industry, a government, a politician or even a non-government organization to create a pro-environmental image, sell a product or a policy, or to try and rehabilitate their standing with the public and decision makers after being embroiled in controversy.

John McCain’s campaign is going GREEN … and even trying to raise some funds via this greening. As a reach out to Birkenstock wearing eco-terrorists, it seems, the McCain campaign website now had eco-friendly items” for sale.  You too can have your “Bamboo Pique” “Go Green McCain Embroidered Polo Shirt with New Recycle Logo” in stone color, for just $50.  A ladies bamboo T-Shirt will run your $25.  An “unstructured organic cotton canvas” “Go Green McCain Visor” will run you $15. Time to raid your piggy-banks, you eco-terrorists, to help fund the “eco-friendly” McCain campaign.

$15 too much?  Well, there is always the $8 note book with that new recycle logo. “The lined sheets and notebook covers are colored with organic based inks.”

There are some things that fall beyond satire.

Who do they think they’re kidding?  Rebranding McCain as Mr. Enviroment?  Rebranding the Republican Party as the Eco-Friendly choice?  The McCain campaign must have a real disdain for the intellect of the American voting public.

The Politico gives us the transcript of the dictator’s latest interview (if, by “interview”, you mean yet another tedious exercise in reportorial fellatio).

The shrub lies about what his regime has done about the environment, acknowledges Global Warming, says others have to do the work on fixing it before the U.S. can even get involved, and lies again about why he’s done nothing.

Q: I wonder if in your eight years in office what the changes have been, in your view, of climate change?

THE SHRUB: I think it’s been more clearly defined as a problem. But what hasn’t changed is the realistic notion that new technologies are going to be the solution, and the fundamental question is how do you grow the economy at the same time, and at the same time encourage new technologies. And my administration has done more for the new technologies necessary to change our lifestyles without sacrificing wealth than any other administration.

Q: For the record, is global warming real?

THE SHRUB: Yes, it is real, sure is. But the solutions — having said that, the solutions have got to be measured and realistic — you can’t have a solution to global warming unless China and India are part of any international pact. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t accept what’s called the Kyoto Protocol, and therefore was labeled as anti-environment. I’m a realistic guy. If the major emitters of greenhouse gases are not a part of a solution, then those who are part of a solution are acting in a way that’s simply not going to — it will affect their own economies, but it won’t affect the overall global warming issue.

So, yes, I put forth a very realistic, straightforward program that makes sense.

Q: Acknowledging those constraints, you’re an oil man — some people say that climate change, global warming could have been your Nixon-to-China. Do you wish you’d done more?

THE SHRUB: I did what I think is necessary to actually work, Michael. I mean, I could have signed a — I could have supported a lousy treaty and everybody would have went, “Oh, man, what a wonderful sounding fellow he is.” But it just wouldn’t have worked. I don’t think you want your president trying to be the cool guy and not end up with policies that actually make a difference.

So the policies I’ve outlined are policies that will actually make a difference: nuclear power for generating electricity; battery driven cars; ethanol. There’s a variety of initiatives — clean coal technology — all of which will help us sustain our economic vitality and at the same time be better stewards of the environment.

I am numb.  I have seen far too much human suffering brought on by humans after a natural disaster had uncovered their inhumanity.  

I am haunted. The view from the hinterlands of Burma is biblical in its scope and complete in its destruction.

I am exhausted.  I could not stay.  There was too much disease (cholera and malaria) and the powers that be in my life would not let me become exposed.  

I am rude.  I am writing this as my lovely lady makes dinner and watches me out of the corner of her eye, worried at the darkness that has enveloped me, the depression she cannot shake me out of, despite her best efforts.  She’ll succeed eventually, but, for now, she is a comfort and for that, I am grateful, though I was rude to her earlier and feel ashamed.

A stumbling point for me in the practice of Buddhism is optimism.  I do not do optimism.  My thoughts on optimism parallel Ambrose Bierce.

Optimism: The doctrine that everything is beautiful, including what is ugly, everything good, especially the bad, and everything right that is wrong… It is hereditary, but fortunately not contagious.

I am particularly prone to pessimism (realism) when it comes to the response of our species to climate change. In reading the parable of the Burning House from the Lotus Sutra, I am tempted to wonder (which is as close as I come to hope).

At 2:28 pm local time a major M 7.9 earthquake struck China near the city of Chengdu in Sichuan province.   9000 people are feared dead according to Chinese news reports , but USGS  analysis shows that 200,000 people were exposed to violent to extreme shaking that could cause heavy damage in well built structures and very heavy damage in vulnerable structures.

Rescuers are searching  for victims.

By FishOutofWater

Moreover, close to a million people lived where strong shaking could cause heavy damage in vulnerable structures. This USGS analysis suggests that early news reports many be underestimating the extent of this disaster.

The city of Chengdu, in the Sichuan basin with about 5 million inhabitants, 55 miles east of the rupture, was spared from heavy damage because the earthquake rupture propagated from the southeast to the northwest sparing the cities in the basin. However, towns near the fault rupture well to the northeast of the epicenter were hit hard even though they were as far from the epicenter as Chengdu. In an earthquake like this the distance from the epicenter may be a misleading indicator of potential damage.

NPR reporters were visiting Chengdu when the quake hit

A Horrific Scene at a Middle School in Dujiangyan

We are just leaving the horrific scene at the Juyuan Middle School outside the city of Dujiangyan. Hundreds of parents are still standing in the rain as the army works to find children trapped in the rubble. One parent told us she could hear her son calling. A scene of utter desperation. Back a couple hundred feet was an area where rescuers — peoples armed police — were bringing bodies that had been retrieved. Families were rushing over to see whether the child was theirs. Under tents are families burning incense and candles and paper money next to the shrouded bodies of their loved ones. A terrible, terrible scene.

— Andrea Hsu

For those that may have family or friends in or near Chengdu, from a comment on an NPR blog:

Chengdu:

Please check with Consulate General of American in Chengdu.

Phone: (28) 8558-3992

Fax: (28) 8554-6229

Emergency: 1370-800-1422

Email: [email protected]

Emergencies

The ACS Unit provides emergency assistance to American citizens in distress: when an American is destitute, arrested, separated from minor children, or sick. In an emergency, the Consulate Duty Officer can be reached at any time by calling 1370-800-1422.

Dial 01186 before you dial those numbers if you dial from USA.

ITN News UK is reporting that experts predict the death toll in Burma will be over 100,000:

This is bolstered by the military junta’s own estimates:

The Burmese military says it believes 80,000 people died in the one district of Labutta in the Irrawaddy delta, which bore the brunt of the storm.

That figure would imply an overall death toll for Cyclone Nargis well above 100,000 people.

link: http://www.abc.net.au/news/sto…

And yet the authorities in Burma have put up roadblocks to international assistance, including receiving relief supplies and – more vitally – disaster workers as the situation on the ground deteriorates.

It’s time for us, all of us, to start changing the way we do business.

Recently, THE ENVIRONMENTALIST published an article entitled: Hillary Clinton’s ‘Victory’ in Pennsylvania: The Rush Limbaugh Effect.  The article discusses the potential impact on the primary numbers by those influenced to change their registration from Republican to Democrat, in order to vote for Hillary Clinton, as part of Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos.”

Today, our managing editor was informed that Mr. Limbaugh had mentioned our magazine on his radio show.

His comments and her response is here:

http://op-ed.the-environmental…

*/:-D

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

New guest contributors (and our staff) have managed to break new ground with these posts:  

The Gas Tax ‘Holiday’ Shell Game

Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain have challenged Senator Barack Obama over his refusal to support their proposal that would suspend the .18 Federal gas tax for three months this summer. ~snip~ The lone ‘expert’ in support of Senators Clinton and McCain in this scenario so far?  Spokesman for the Clinton campaign and SHELL OIL LOBBYIST, Steve Elmendorf.  

Hillary Clinton’s ‘Victory’ in Pennsylvania: The Rush Limbaugh Effect

What if Democratic voters and the uncommitted super-delegates come to learn that Rush Limbaugh had a greater impact on Hillary Clinton’s victory in Pennsylvania, and maybe Texas and Ohio, than say, the Reverend Wright, and the so-called ‘bitter’ comments?

‘Friends of the Earth’ endorse Obama

The Friends of the Earth Action, the PAC political arm of The Friends of the Earth environmental organization, has endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President, citing Senator Obama’s stand for “real energy solutions instead of sham Clinton-McCain ‘gas tax holiday'” as the key reason for endorsement.

More at THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

TA!

Cross-posted from THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

30 days after the Bush Administration removed Yellowstone’s Gray Wolves from the endangered list, a lawsuit has been filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council to stop the toll on the small population, which is now at 37 dead wolves and counting.

On the very day that these wolves lost their Endangered Species protection, a crippled wolf named “Limpy,” one of the most photographed wolves in Yellowstone’s famous Druid Peak pack, was shot to death when he ventured outside the park.

Another wolf was stalked for over 35 miles by snowmobile before being overtaken and shot. Another was found dead on the side of the highway, his still-warm body torn apart by bullets. And, tragically, at least four female wolves have been killed just prior to the denning season, which could doom some of the region’s wolf pups.

The Gray Wolf was taken off the endangered list earlier this year, after repeated attempts by the Bush Administration to remove them from the list, despite their marginal population.

More below the jump…

Who Remembers the Snail Darter case?

Or the Crazed Rabbit that attacked Jimmy Carter’s fishing boat in the 70’s?

This is the tale of the tragic flooding of the Valley of the Little Tennessee River, the heroic folks who fought the TVA action, the creative lawyers and law students who won the precedent setting supreme court decision, the brave settlers whose farms were taken and the stoic Native Americans whose homeland it was before – and the roles of the snail darter and the crazed rabbit.  And how it all comes down to – you guessed it – politics.

I meant to write this a couple weeks ago, but got distracted by my own environmental activism, Sierra Club monthly and quarterly meetings, showing William McDonough’s great film the Next Industrial Revolution, Earth Day events, lobbying in the state legislature for an increase in the coal severance tax, and an on-site with some other activists and OSM of a mountaintop removal site.  

I originally thought I might tie this up with a message about activism to effect change.  Don’t know that I’ll make it to that point, as I am certainly demoralized recently about my own local efforts. And am ready to take a break in my garden for the summer.  Maybe that’s change enough . . .

But the story of the snail darter case is a great one . . .

Cross-Ranted from The Wild Wild Left, my wild little blog!

Rant!

I don’t know if you know or not, but the US and Canada have been fighting for quite a while about lumber. It appears that the U.S. has been import overtaxing the hell out of Canadian lumber for a while now and are about to lose another ruling at the World Court for a NAFTA violation about it.

In 2006 the US was supposed to

Instead they gave it all back to Canada with a Billion Dollar return condition; a billion dollar congressional bypass play.

Guess what the Bushinistas did with that Billion Dollars?

We just celebrated Earth Day–ooooo we–a whole day to celebrate the earth, now there is something Americans can get into.  They do not have to give up anything, just listen to a few speeches and such. then go back to 364 days of polluting and such.But we were gonna talk about organic foods, so I will jump down off my soapbox on Earth Day.

Large food conglomerates are buying out organic brands. Hain Food Group, for example, owns such brands as Health Valley, Celestial Seasonings, Bearitos and Garden of Eatin’. And who are some of the principal investors in Hain Food Group? ExxonMobil (gasoline, oil spills and global warming); Philip Morris (tobacco); Monsanto (genetically modified foods and hormones); and Lockheed Martin (weapons of mass destruction). What does this mean?

Clearly, as large corporations continue to take control of the organic industry, ethical and safety standards are falling. Free range, for example, does not necessarily mean that the chickens or cows are spending much, if any, of their time in bucolic bliss. And from an environmental perspective, an organic artichoke from California might avoid pollution through pesticides, but it uses a great deal of fossil fuel pollution to arrive at your front door. As Stephen Hopp, points out, “Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars.”

But that isn’t the only thing we should be worried about. For example, There are only six corporations control 98 percent of seed sales around the world. Some of these companies genetically modify their seeds so that you must buy their expensive fertilizers to make the seeds germinate. These companies also promote growing limited varieties of plants, which is troubling from a biodiversity standpoint.

My point is that, if you go to the store and buy organic foods….you may be mislead.