Greenpeace Praises McDonalds’ Eco-Fridge

Is Greenpeace turning over a new, softer leaf? The organization known for taking a hard-line stance against companies that are known to have unsustainable or polluting practices now seems to be more open to encouraging small steps toward improvement. First there was their dramatic turnaround on paper company Kimberly-Clark, and now they’re praising… McDonalds.

From Triple Pundit:

While McDonalds is one of the “last corporations [Greenpeace] want[s] to say anything good about,” (Greenpeace’s website says), Greenpeace has decided to give credit where credit is due (in this instance anyway). The interchange raises some interesting issues, since Greenpeace isn’t exactly known for being diplomatic (think “graffiti on Hewlett Packard buildings”) and Micky D’s has traditionally been far from sustainability-minded. Is this a Big Mac-sized mood swing, a fluke, or a genuine change – on both organizations’ parts?

The Greenpeace article emphasizes McDonald’s opening of a restaurant (in Denmark) equipped with environmentally-friendly refrigeration. Since traditional refrigeration systems contribute significantly to ozone depletion and climate change, McD’s eco-fridge maneuver is an important step in its purported efforts to green itself. It is also important since McDonalds’ oomph in the food service and refrigeration industries could cause a green-fridge domino effect.

But is eco refrigeration really cause enough for Greenpeace to drop its usually-militant stance against the global hamburger joint?

Triple Pundit reports that Greenpeace claims some credit for McDonalds’ decision to try green refrigeration, as it has been trying to convince them to take the step for at least nine years. So, it makes sense that the environmental organization would make a positive statement about it. In fact, Greenpeace has begrudgingly praised McDonalds several times in the past for changing certain practices, like feeding its hens genetically engineered soy.

A commenter further notes that “Greenpeace has a long history of working with companies willing to make real change on the ground. And yes, they will even praise those companies’ who have been slow to wake to sustainability issues: when they do good.”

However, there’s a fine line between recognizing small but concrete action, and allowing companies to claim they’re ‘going green’ because they changed some small thing while their operation as a whole is still as far from green as a company can get.

And while some may applaud Greenpeace for being a little less harsh, don’t we need some organizations to demand the best from people so we don’t all get caught up in a cyclone of half-assed action, greenwashing and undeserved praise? Let’s hope that Greenpeace doesn’t make this kind of thing a habit.

Link [Triple Pundit]
Photo credit: Greenpeace

Civil Disobedience is Necessary to Kill Coal

Civil rights activists didn’t sit around waiting for politicians to ‘see the light’ and take action – and neither should we. If we want to shut down coal plants and prevent catastrophic global warming, we’ve got to put our necks on the line: that’s the message that Salon is sending out in an article entitled “How to kill a coal plant”.

Civil disobedience works. The case of the Kingsnorth Six, Greenpeace activists who were acquitted by a grand jury on vandalism charges after scaling a coal plant and beginning to paint it with a message to Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is a great example.

From Salon:

In the Kingsnorth case, world-renowned climate scientist James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, flew to England to testify. According to the Guardian, he presented evidence that the Kingsnorth plant alone could be expected to cause sufficient global warming to prompt “the extinction of 400 species over its lifetime.”

Citing a British government study showing that each ton of released carbon dioxide incurs $85 in future climate-change costs, the activists contended that shutting the plant down for the day had prevented $1.6 million in damages — a far greater harm to society than any rendered by their paint — and that their transgressions should therefore be excused.

What surprised both Greenpeace and the prosecution was that 12 ordinary Britons agreed. The jury returned with an acquittal, and the freed defendants made the front pages of newspapers throughout the country.

The tumult also produced political results. In April, British energy and climate change minister Ed Miliband announced a reversal in governmental policy on power stations, declaring, “The era of new unabated coal has come to an end.”

The success of the Kingsnorth protest has inspired similar protests around the world, from West Virginia to Australia.

Americans are notorious for being reluctant to face unpleasant facts. The desire to conserve the status quo has lulled most people into a sense of apathy, compounded by the scurrilous efforts of the energy industry to prevent action that could harm their profits. But, simply waiting until catastrophic global warming consequences begin to occur will change their lives negatively more than anything else could.

Salon is urging environmentalists and anyone concerned about global warming to engage in nonviolent protests during this year’s U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. While as many as 100,000 are expected to take to the streets in Copenhagen itself, many more will participate in events in the U.S. at the same time. Learn more and pledge to join in at BeyondTalk.net.

Link [Salon]
Photo credit: Greenpeace

Greenpeace Gets Verbal Ass-Kicking Over Ancient Forest Toilet Paper

When it comes to any sort of environmental initiative, it’s usually Greenpeace that’s complaining that the effort is just not enough. They’re often purists, demanding more than people are willing to give, out of a noble sense of urgency and responsibility. But after they suspended a recent campaign to stop Canada’s ancient boreal forests from being cut down for toilet paper, one ecologist says Greenpeace gave in too easily.

Dr. Glen Barry, environmental sustainability policy expert and founder of Ecological Internet, sent out a press release entitled ‘Greenpeace Wipes It’s Soft, Virgin Butt with Canada’s Ancient Boreal Forests’:

Greenpeace’s long-standing campaign against “ancient forest crimes” by Kimberly-Clark was suspended on the basis of promises that 40% of its North American tissue fiber will be either recycled or FSC certified by 2011. The company traditionally has used 3 million tones of virgin fibre a year, which will fall to 2.4 million tons if they are successful. This atrociously weak target will legitimize continued destruction of Canada’s ancient forest ecosystems for throw away paper products for decades.

“In a world well past its carrying capacity, facing abrupt climate change and species and ecosystem collapse, we call upon Greenpeace to immediately disclose the ecological science that suggests primary and old growth forests can and should continue to be clearcut to wipe our asses,” questions Dr. Glen Barry. “It is just like Greenpeace to half carry out a campaign, achieve partial success, claim victory and move onto a more telegenic protest opportunity to fill their coffers.”

Ecological Internet calls upon Greenpeace to embrace substance over style (for a change) and immediately disassociate itself from the Forest Stewardship Council’s ongoing certification of first time industrial logging of primary forests as being “well-managed” while implying sustainability.

“No one including Greenpeace can tell us how many tens of millions of hectares of primeval forest ecosystems are being destroyed under FSC’s certification label for, amongst other things, toilet paper and lawn furniture. Until Greenpeace and friends stop greenwashing FSC ancient forest logging, we call upon committed forest protectors to resign their membership from Greenpeace and other ancient forest logging apologists, and to stop using virgin toilet paper, no matter how sensitive their behinds,” explains Dr. Barry.

Wow. It’s not often that Greenpeace is accused of not being tough enough on environmentally irresponsible companies. They’re known for being among the biggest hardasses in the world of environmental activism, yelling “bigger, faster, more” like a drill sergeant when companies take baby steps toward better practices.

But Dr. Barry has one-upped them, saying “There is no such thing as ecologically sustainable or even mildly beneficial first time industrial primary forest logging, and Greenpeace should be ashamed of itself for legitimizing the trade. If you support Greenpeace, you support ancient forest logging that endangers our shared being.”

Judge for yourself at Greenpeace’s Kleercut campaign website.

Link [Greenpeace] + [Forests.org]
Photo credit: Greenpeace

Greenpeace Takes Over Four Italian Coal-Fired Power Stations

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Greenpeace – like PETA – really knows how to make an attention-grabbing statement. Over 100 Greenpeace activists from around the world took over four Italian coal-fired power stations in an attempt to force Heads of State to take leadership on climate change. World leaders convened yesterday in Rome for the G8 Summit, and climate change was one of the issues discussed.

From Greenpeace, via PlanetSave:

In the early hours of this morning, the activists, from 18 countries, occupied coal conveyors and climbed smokestacks and cranes on the four power stations in Brindisi, Marghera (just outside of Venice), at Vado Ligure, (near Genoa) and at an old oil plant at Porto Tolle, (set to be re-opened as an experimental so-called “clean coal” power plant.)  Coal is the worst climate pollutant of all fossil fuels.

The Brindisi plant is Italy’s biggest coal-fired power station and the country’s largest single source of C02 emissions. Greenpeace plans to stop it from polluting by blocking the coal conveyor belts and preventing coal from going into the plant.

“Politicians talk but leaders act” said UK activist Ben Stewart from the top of the 160m high chimney at the Marghera plant.  “There is no more time to waste. The G8 leaders must stop putting the interests of big coal and other climate polluting industries ahead of the planet and take strong, decisive leadership on climate change. That means deep cuts in emissions by 2020, investing in adaption and mitigation in the developing world and halting tropical deforestation.”

Greenpeace was asking world leaders to agree to a stringent set of criteria in the fight against global warming, including ensuring that global emissions peak by 2015 and be as close to zero as possible by 2050, and committing, as a group, to cut emissions by at least 40% by 2020.

Unfortunately, the world’s major industrial nations were not able to agree on specific cuts to heat-trapping gases by 2050. In the end, the failure to establish specific targets was due to the refusal of emerging nations like China and India.

You can follow a live feed of updates on the Greenpeace website, including photos and observations from the protesters. Photos of the activists climbing scaffolding hundreds of feet above the ground are quite striking and can be viewed full-size at ScribbleLive.com.

Link [Greenpeace] via [PlanetSave]

Greenpeace Knocks “Traitor Joe’s” for Unsustainable Seafood

“Traitor Joe’s: Your one-stop shop for ocean destruction.” That’s what Greenpeace branded specialty retailer Trader Joe’s after they were rated dead last among 9 supermarket chains on seafood sustainability. Trader Joe’s scored lower than Winn-Dixie and Wal-Mart because it serves red list fish.

Fish on the red list is either imperiled, or comes from fisheries that harm other sea creatures like turtles, dolphins, seals and sea lions. Among those on the list are Atlantic Cod, Orange Roughy, red snapper, Chilean sea bass, grouper and yellowfin tuna.

Greenpeace sent out protesters dressed as Orange Roughy to the Trader Joe’s in San Francisco, urging the company to stop its environmentally unfriendly practices.

Click ‘Go’ below to watch a quick animated video:

From the Traitor Joe website:

Hello friends. Traitor Joe here. I’m up to my eyeballs in red list seafood. There is so much in my stores that I bet there is nothing left in the oceans. That’s the beauty about red list species. They are doing so badly in the oceans that they need extra help and conservation in order to survive. But will I help save them? Heck no! I need to make a profit and if that means I am helping these dwindling fish stocks to go extinct, oh well. I’ll still sleep at night.

After all, you’d never know my seafood was caught in ways that endanger ocean habitats and other marine creatures. Why? I conveniently leave the labels off my seafood. Ha, ha ha. Pretty good trick, right? My customers never know what they are really buying. That way I can pass the guilt on to you, so you can help me turn the oceans into a giant, empty bathtub without ever knowing. How’s that for giving my customers what they want?

As Greenpeace notes, Trader Joe’s could escape the harsh spotlight easily by removing all red list seafood from its stores. After all, their core customer base cares deeply about the environment – and is it really smart to alienate them?

The other retailers that have made no visible effort whatsoever to increase the sustainability of their seafood operations include Aldi, Costco, Giant Eagle, H. E. B., Meijer, Price Chopper, Publix and Winn-Dixie.

Wegmans, Ahold, Whole Foods, and Target were praised for their efforts to improve.

Link [Traitor Joe] via [Marc Gunther]

Find the Greenest Paper Products with Greenpeace’s Mobile App

If there’s one paper product most people can’t get around buying, it’s toilet paper. The environmentally conscious will seek out recycled versions, but sometimes it’s hard to tell just how earth friendly various brands really are. Instead of spending ten minutes reading the claims on the packaging, you can just whip out your phone and use a new mobile app released by Greenpeace to find out which paper products are easiest on the environment.

From Greenpeace, via Consumer Reports:

Our team of experts evaluated over 100 products and gave the “Recommended” rating only to those brands that: contain 100% overall recycled content; contain at least 50% post-consumer recycled content; and are bleached without toxic chlorine compounds. The app also has categories for those products that “Could do better” and those that you are advised to “Avoid.”

“Tissue products made from recycled content help to reduce our impact on ancient forests, protecting forest ecosystems and wildlife habitat,” said Greenpeace Forest Campaigner Lindsey Allen. “Customers who download the iPhone or Android version of the Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide can compare brands available at their local grocery store to find which brands are most environmentally sustainable.  For those interested in protecting ancient forests from clearcutting and supporting truly sustainable companies, this application makes informed decision making even more convenient.”

The app can also recommend the greenest paper towels, tissues and paper napkins (though, of course, reusable cloth alternatives are best). It’s available now for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and can be accessed by any phone with mobile web access at 3rdwhale.com/greenpeace/wap.

Consumer Reports adds that its own tests found Marcal’s ‘Small Steps’ brand to be the best value in recycled toilet paper.

Link [Greenpeace] via [Consumer Reports]

Demand for Palm Oil Destroying Indonesian Rainforests

The soaring global demand for palm oil is accelerating the destruction of the Indonesian rainforests. According to Greenpeace, palm oil plantations are linked to forest and peatland destruction which releases massive amounts of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

Be a Grassroots Online Organizing Intern for Greenpeace!

Still in college, or looking for a change? Greenpeace is seeking Grassroots Online Organizing interns to work in New York City during Spring 2009. This could be a fantastic opportunity to get started in the green collar field, so jump on it!

As a Greenpeace Online Organizing Intern you can:

-Build expertise in the most cutting edge online organizing strategies and tactics
-Launch a renewable energy revolution to combat global warming, stop the destruction of ancient forests, hold corporations accountable and yes, save the whales!
-Take on corporations and governments that are threatening the planet by working in the world’s best-known environmental activist organization!
Responsibilities:
-Use online tools like Facebook, MySpace, You Tube, Flickr, and blogs to promote and publicize priority Greenpeace campaigns.
-Recruit and engage online and on-the-ground activists in key regions.
Qualifications:
-Familiarity with blogs, online social networks such as MySpace and FaceBook, Flickr, YouTube and other web 2.0  tools
-Excellent written and verbal communications skills
-Strong online research skills
-Competency with excel and web databases
-Ability to learn quickly in a fast-paced environment -Intellectual curiosity and creativity
-Analytical and problem solving skills
-Commitment to protecting the planet
-Independent and self-motivated
-A sense of adventure

To Apply: Please send a cover letter and resume to organize@wdc.greenpeace.org Be sure to tell us where you found out about the position.

Applications and interviews are on rolling basis so please apply now!

This is an unpaid internship in New York City. College credit is available.  The start date is as soon as possible and applications will be accepted until the position is filled.  Days and hours are flexible.

Diverse perspectives and experience enhance the way Greenpeace selects and approaches issues, as well as the creativity and effectiveness of our campaigns.  Greenpeace strongly encourages applications from women, people of color, and other under-represented communities.

Greenpeace is an independent campaign organization, which uses non-violent creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems and to force solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.

Link [Greenpeace]

Who’s Who in Green: Joss Garman

At 14 years old, Joss Garman read an article that detailed how the destruction of just a handful of a certain species of beetle could damage an entire ecosystem. That was enough to spur the young nature lover to seek ways that he could contribute to saving the environment, and when he sought out his local chapter of Greenpeace in Wales to begin volunteering only to discover that there wasn’t one, he set one up.

Since then, Garman has built a reputation as an environmental activist and co-founder of ‘Plane Stupid’, the climate change campaign group that recently stole the headlines when it protested the construction of a new runway at Heathrow Airport in London. He’s been arrested more than 20 times, honored by The Guardian as one of “50 People Who Could Save the Planet” and was nominated by George Monbiot and Philip Pullman as one of the activists of the future.

Garman has campaigned against power stations, worked toward awareness about genetically modified crops and protested the war in Iraq. As a teenager volunteering for Greenpeace, Garman met Richard George, who co-founded Plane Stupid with him in 2005.

Plane Stupid’s main goal is to highlight the issue of short haul flights, which they believe is the single fastest growing threat to the climate. Nearly half the journeys taken in Europe are less than 500km, and Garman says if those flights were eliminated there wouldn’t be a need to continue building new runways which encroach upon green space.

Plane Stupid’s tactics have been criticized for their boldness and perceived insensitivity to travelers. They gate crashed an aviation industry conference and released balloons with rape alarms attached to them, and have staged sit-ins at runways that have disrupted travel for thousands of people.

Garman has been a visible figure in Great Britain as Plane Stupid works to turn the tide of public opinion against a third runway at Heathrow, appearing on television and writing columns in major newspapers. He appears in this GreenpeaceUK video against the Heathrow expansion, below.

In a January 14th, 2009 commentary in The Guardian, Garman called for pro-runway unions to rethink their position.

Should Britain be building a sustainable economy with a green fiscal package centred on creating millions of green-collar jobs? Or do we plough on with the industries of the past irrespective of their impact on disadvantaged people all around the world? For example, do union leaders not think that the £10bn of tax breaks offered to the airline industry each year could not be better spent in other areas? Do they not think that Brown’s £11bn VAT cut, which has made no difference on expenditure whatsoever, could be better spent creating an army of green workers or insulating homes and thus reducing the bills of Britain’s fuel poor?

Garman has also recently turned his focus to coal, aiding in the defense of the six Greenpeace activists who went on trial for defacing the chimney at the Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in 2007. The British government is set to begin making decisions about coal fire stations, and Garman is working with Greenpeace to broaden the opposition to coal that already exists in the community.

At just 24, Garman is proving that he has the chops to become one of the most passionate and prominent environmental activists of our time. He’s already got a decade-long record of activism behind him and the years to come will undoubtedly bring many more victories for Garman and his causes.

Joss Garman’s Green Score: 48,678

Link [The Guardian] + [New Statesman]
Photo credit: Times Online

Great Green Job of the Week: Digital Marketing Specialist for Greenpeace USA

Greenpeace is seeking a digital marketing specialist in Washington, D.C. Reporting to the Director of Online Communications, this position is responsible for developing and implementing a marketing strategy to grow Greenpeace’s overall online presence, our email list, and our web site traffic. This includes search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), banner advertising, social news and networking sites, and viral and guerilla marketing.

The successful candidate will combine best practices with creative strategies to promote Greenpeace campaigns and market the Greenpeace brand. The ability to work under tight deadlines, work well under pressure and handle multiple projects at once is required.

Responsiblities:

• Develop short and long term online marketing strategies for the organization and campaigns
• Research and implement web-based marketing activities including blogs/comments, banner advertising, social networking, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, viral marketing, and list buys.
• Implement guerilla marketing efforts through like-minded community sites and social news sites to promote our stories, blogs, videos, and actions.
• Develop strategies to enlist Greenpeace supporters in marketing efforts (Digg, voting, polls, banners/badges, tell-a-friend, blog comments, etc).
• Tailor specific marketing pushes to strategic target audiences/demographics as needed by individual campaigns.
• Create and optimize landing pages for SEM and viral marketing pushes.
• Work closely with the Online PR Officer and Online Community Organizer to coordinate major outreach pushes. Ensure consistent messaging and well-timed pushes across online channels.
• Work closely with the Online Fundraiser to promote fundraising drives.
• Monitor, evaluate, and report on the effectiveness of marketing campaigns on web site traffic and list growth and ROI by source.
• Other duties as assigned by the Director of Online Communications.

Qualifications:

• 2+ years experience in online advertising and marketing, specifically including expertise in search and other paid strategies to grow e-mail lists.
• Solid understanding of Google Web Optimizer and Google Analytics.
• Experience implementing viral and guerilla marketing campaigns.
• Strong written and oral communication and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent problem solving and analysis skills, combined with good business judgment.
• Demonstrated ability to be both strategic and hands-on with solid experience in successful project management.
• Must have a commitment to Greenpeace’s mission.
• Advocacy and campaigning experience a plus.

Contact information

Send inquiries to dachrist@greenpeace.org or mail to Toni Wright, Greenpeace, Human Resources Director, 702 H Street NW Wash. DC 20001. Or fax to 202-462-4507. No phone calls please. Closing date November 17, 2008.

Link [Greenpeace USA]

UK Court Decides Threat of Global Warming Justifies Breaking the Law

Talk about a precedent: a UK court ruled last week that the threat of global warming is such a pressing issue, that Greenpeace activists were right to cause more than $62,000 dollars in damage to a coal-fired power station.  Last October, the six protesters had scaled the chimney at the Kingsnorth power plant in Kent and painted Prime Minster Gordon Brown’s name on it.  The activists were upset about a plan to build another coal-fired power plant, which they said would be ‘a disastrous setback in the battle against global warming’.

From The Independent:

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a “lawful excuse” to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of “lawful excuse” under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

During the eight-day trial, the world’s leading climate scientist, Professor James Hansen of Nasa, who had flown from American to give evidence, appealed to the Prime Minister personally to “take a leadership role” in cancelling the plan and scrapping the idea of a coal-fired future for Britain. Last December he wrote to Mr Brown with a similar appeal. At the trial, he called for an moratorium on all coal-fired power stations, and his hour-long testimony about the gravity of the climate danger, which painted a bleak picture, was listened to intently by the jury of nine women and three men.

The activists said they acted lawfully, believing that their attempt to stop emissions from Kingsnorth would prevent further damage to properties worldwide caused by global warming.  They said that their actions were designed to cause only the amount of damage necessary to close the plant down.

It’s pretty amazing that Johnny Law came down on the side of the earth – especially given the fact that the jury was made up of ordinary people, not necessarily environmentalists.  It’s a good sign that people are starting to take the threat of global warming seriously, and yet another wake-up call to turn away from coal and start using cleaner technology.

Link [The Independent]
Photo credit: Greenpeace

Who’s Who in Green – Michael Braungart

Michael Braungart, the subject of this week’s Who’s Who in Green, is a German chemist who was a founding member of Germany’s Green Party and co-developed the ‘cradle to cradle’ design concept. He’s also an author, and founder of EPEA (Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency) in Hamburg, Germany. For 14 years, Dr. Braungart has also been teaching process engineering at the University of Lüneburg in Suderburg, Germany.

Before he was a renowned scientist and professor, Dr. Braungart spearheaded the formation of the Chemistry Section of Greenpeace International, and became leader of the Chemistry Section in 1985. He spent years ‘climbing on dirty chemical plant chimneys’ and even lived in a tree as protest.

In 1995, Dr. Braungart and William McDonough joined forces to create McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, a consultancy firm that has helped giant corporations like Nike, Ford and Hermann Miller conform to the Cradle to Cradle concept.

Along with McDonough, Dr. Braungart wrote Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, a book that has revolutionized the way products are created and disposed of. In essence, the ‘cradle to cradle’ concept calls for all manufactured items to be designed from the beginning with the intention of eventually recycling it.

In 2007, Dr. Braungart addressed the Cradle to Cradle conference in the Netherlands. In the clip below, Dr. Braungart takes toy giant Mattel to task, calling them “the worst company I can imagine”.

The Cradle to Cradle concept takes its cues from biomimicry, with the slogan WASTE=FOOD. Not food in a human dietary sense, but in a sense of biological nutrients allowed to decompose naturally to be utilized by something else. Dr. Braungart explained it to the Royal Society of Arts in London:

“Traditionally people think linear from cradle to grave which means that at the end the whole earth will be a graveyard because we lose all the material. We have a lot of energy put on this planet but we don’t have material input except maybe some meteorites. But in this context we need to think about how to make material products that they go back into nutrient cycles forever. And we distinguish between two cycles – things which get consumed like food, like detergents, like shoe soles, like brake pads, are designed to be biological nutrients. Right now Australia looses about 5000 times more topsoil that is regained per time unit and so we need to rebuild soil to be able to feed all the people on this planet. That’s a biological cycle.

And the technical cycle are things like washing machines, TV sets etc. You don’t consume them, you only use them, they’re technical nutrients so you cannot design a TV set without heavy metals. I have been analysing a radio and I identified 2800 different chemicals in a radio yet do we really want to own toxic waste or do you just want to listen to good radio programs like this one for example. And then you see you don’t want to own toxic waste, you only want to have a service, but these materials are rare and they are toxic so they need to be able to be designed to go back in a technical nutrient cycle. So this is cradle to cradle.”

He’s been called a ‘radical ecovisionary’, but Dr. Braungart’s concepts are really quite simple. He believes that sustainability is the bare minimum – in order to go beyond simple maintenance, we must think in an entirely different way.  His theory is that we don’t have to work so hard at conservation and cutting back our footprint on the earth if that footprint is providing nutrients back into the earth. In essence, as he has said, “our footprint can be designed to be beneficial for the other species on this planet”.

In 2003, Dr. Braungart was honored with the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award for his work with EcoWorx carpeting tile. Dr. Braungart’s work has been published in numerous journals on science, public affairs, environment and design in the U.S. and Europe. He also teaches at institutions of higher learning all over the world.

Michael Braungart’s Green Score: 72,378

Photo credit: Braungart.com

Greenpeace Crashes Coal Meeting with Fake Identity

It’s like Silverleaf Resorts in reverse! Greenpeace got into the 2008 McCloskey Coal USA conference by posing as a pro-coal organization. Calling themselves the Institute for Energy Solutions, Greenpeace was able to become a co-sponsor and set up a booth at the conference. The McCloskey group figured out who they were, but decided to let them speak anyway.

From Reuters:

Greenpeace spokesman Carroll Muffett was allowed to speak against coal as a polluting fuel for a few minutes, and the team manned a booth offering information and anti-coal paraphernalia.

“It’s a lot of value for the money,” said Muffett of the $8,500 co-sponsorship fee that made the Greenpeace front group publishers of the conference brochure.

In the brochure, an ad for the fake Institute seems pro-coal, but if readers go to the www.tomorrowsenergytoday.org website, they are redirected to www.coal-is-dirty.com.

The Greenpeace team handed out business cards that read: “The Institute for Energy Solutions is a joke. So is clean coal.” The cards were signed Greenpeace.

Awesome! We’re glad to hear they were able to get their message out. Of course, they did manage to offend a few people by using Muffett’s 9-year-old daughter and two boys aged 10 and 11 to hand out athsma inhalers and masks. Muffet rebuffed the criticism by declaring that the real issue is the fact that the coal industry causes athsma in children.

Props to our friend Kevin Grandia of DeSmogBlog for getting his Coal-is-Dirty.com site linked up!

Link [Reuters]
Photo credit: Flickr user greenpeace.italia

Patrick Moore of Greenpeace Falls to Dark Side; World Collectively Yawns

Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore has defected, advocating for something he once fought against, and our response is: who cares?

Moore, who once stringently opposed underground nuclear testing, is now supporting the use of nuclear power. He believes that building hundreds of nuclear power plants is the only viable alternative to coal-fire electricity generation, stating that wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal and other renewable energy sources simply don’t have enough potential.

Moore now represents the Clean Air and Safe Energy Coalition, a nuclear-backed energy group, and has also taken on several causes that don’t jive with Greenpeace values, such as old-growth logging. He claims that a background in science has caused him to see things differently.

From Idaho Statesman:

“We don’t believe we have been making too much electricity,” he said. “We believe we’ve been making energy with the wrong technologies.”

His critics, like Andrea Shipley, executive director of the Snake River Alliance, say he has simply sold out.

“The only reason Patrick Moore is backing something as unsafe and risky as nuclear power is he is being paid by the nuclear industry to do so,” Shipley said.

There are those who will try to turn this into a big to-do about the reality of climate change, but the fact is, his credibility has gone down the drain, and one more person cheerleading dumb causes like nuclear energy won’t amount to much. Patrick Moore becoming a Sith Lord isn’t going to put a dent in the cause.

Link [IdahoStatesman]

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Axis of Corporate Evil: Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, and the NRA Hired Black Ops Private Security Team to Spy on Green Activists

Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, and the NRA hired the private security firm Carlyle Group to get all “black ops” on eco-activists asses. They rumaged through their garbage to find confidential documents (the lesson here- shred your papers) and even social security numbers.

A private security company organized and managed by former Secret Service officers spied on Greenpeace and other environmental organizations from the late 1990s through at least 2000, pilfering documents from trash bins, attempting to plant undercover operatives within groups, casing offices, collecting phone records of activists, and penetrating confidential meetings. According to company documents provided to Mother Jones by a former investor in the firm, this security outfit collected confidential internal records—donor lists, detailed financial statements, the Social Security numbers of staff members, strategy memos—from these organizations and produced intelligence reports for public relations firms and major corporations involved in environmental controversies.

In addition to focusing on environmentalists, the firm, Beckett Brown International (later called S2i), provided a range of services to a host of clients. According to its billing records, BBI engaged in “intelligence collection” for Allied Waste; it conducted background checks and performed due diligence for the Carlyle Group, the Washington-based investment firm; it provided “protective services” for the National Rifle Association; it handled “crisis management” for the Gallo wine company and for Pirelli; it made sure that the Louis Dreyfus Group, the commodities firm, was not being bugged; it engaged in “information collection” for Wal-Mart; it conducted background checks for Patricia Duff, a Democratic Party fundraiser then involved in a divorce with billionaire Ronald Perelman; and for Mary Kay, BBI mounted “surveillance,” and vetted Gayle Gaston, a top executive at the cosmetics company (and mother of actress Robin Wright Penn), retaining an expert to conduct a psychological assessment of her. Also listed as clients in BBI records: Halliburton and Monsanto.

Evil motherbleeping corporations. Souless, hungry, exploitative corporations. Grrr… This stuff makes Mr. Cranky Green mad!

Link [Mother Jones] via [The Raw Story]