Category Archives: burning behavior

Gulf Gusher Gone – The emergency is over

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That is RIGHT. Everything is OK now. Put on your best clothes, light the lights, put out the food on the table, crank the band up, hire the bar tender and let’s make some whoopy. Let the boats fly to the shrimp. Toss the pelicans in the air.

Well maybe not:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/gulf-oil-spill-altering-f_n_645607.html

Gulf Oil Spill Altering Food Web Scientists Say, Long-Term Impact Unknown

Posted: 07-14-10 09:21 AM

317diggsdigg

Gulf Oil Spill

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Scientists are reporting early signs that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is altering the marine food web by killing or tainting some creatures and spurring the growth of others more suited to a fouled environment.

Near the spill site, researchers have documented a massive die-off of pyrosomes – cucumber-shaped, gelatinous organisms fed on by endangered sea turtles.

Along the coast, droplets of oil are being found inside the shells of young crabs that are a mainstay in the diet of fish, turtles and shorebirds.

And at the base of the food web, tiny organisms that consume oil and gas are proliferating.

If such impacts continue, the scientists warn of a grim reshuffling of sealife that could over time cascade through the ecosystem and imperil the region’s multibillion-dollar fishing industry.

Federal wildlife officials say the impacts are not irreversible, and no tainted seafood has yet been found. But Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who chairs a House committee investigating the spill, warned Tuesday that the problem is just unfolding and toxic oil could be entering seafood stocks as predators eat contaminated marine life.

“You change the base of the food web, it’s going to ripple through the entire food web,” said marine scientist Rob Condon, who found oil-loving bacteria off the Alabama coastline, more than 90 miles from BP’s collapsed Deepwater Horizon drill rig. “Ultimately it’s going to impact fishing and introduce a lot of contaminants into the food web.

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The Gulf Spill Day 400 – Oh maybe it is under 80 but it feels that way

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Our latest update from LEAN. This is a group you should support.

Louisiana Environmental Action Network
&
Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER©

Helping to Make Louisiana Safe for Future Generations

E-ALERT
July 8, 2010
To view as a webpage – click here
The BP Oil Spill’s Toxic Effects Are Beginning To Be Seen, Scientist Frustrated By Lack Of Data
Oil/Water samples from Gulf…VERY TOXIC
Oil/Water samples from Gulf... VERY TOXIC

This is a very compelling video from a concerned citizen who decided to take his own samples of oil found on the beach in Grand Isle, La and have them tested at a laboratory. In the water portion of the sample the lab found propylene glycol, an ingredient in Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527A, at an estimated concentration of  430 parts per million. Propylene glycol only makes up 1-5% of the Corexit products, so, if this is indeed propylene glycol from Corexit then the concentration of Corexit as a whole is far higher.

According to EPA’s latest analysis of dispersant toxicity released in the document Comparative Toxicity of Eight Oil Dispersant Products on Two Gulf of Mexico Aquatic Test Species Corexit 9500 at a concentration of 42 parts per million killed 50% of the mysid shrimp tested and at a concentration of 130 parts per  million killed 50% of the silverside fish tested. Remember the lab found 430 parts per million of a material that makes up only 1-5% of the Corexit products.  This also does not include the toxicity of the oil itself or an oil/dispersant mix. Click the image above to go to the video or go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq65E7rmO_k Note: the lab technician refers to propylene glycol by one of its other names, propane-diol.

Researchers find evidence of oil spill in Gulf’s food chain
By Harlan Kirgan
Mississippi Press
June 30, 2010

Yellow oil droplets can been seen in a post-larval blue crab.
Harriet Perry, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory
Yellow oil droplets can been seen in a post-larval blue crab.

Oil droplets have been found beneath the shells of tiny post-larval blue crabs drifting into Mississippi coastal marshes from offshore waters.

The finding represents one of the first examples of how oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill is moving into the Gulf of Mexico’s food chain. The larval crabs are eaten by all kinds of fish, from speckled trout to whale sharks, as well as by shore birds.

The tiny droplets are visible under the transparent shells of the 2-millimeter-sized crabs collected in Davis Bayou, said Harriet Perry, director for the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory’s Center for Fisheries Research and Development.


Spill’s extent and the effects surprising those studying it

By Lee Shearer
Athens Banner-Herald
July 07, 2010

Scientists knew weeks ago that much of the oil gushing from a blown-out oil well deep in the Gulf of Mexico remained below the surface, suspended in deep, cold water.

But research they are doing now has surprised them at the extent of the spill and effects on marine life, University of Georgia oceanographer Samantha Joye said Tuesday in UGA’s Marine Sciences Building. Joye, one of the leading scientists tracking the spill, spoke at a weekly update on her research team’s findings.

Seawater samples the team took during a June research voyage had to be diluted before analytical machines could accurately measure the oil levels in them, she said Tuesday.

Other scientists analyzing the samples still haven’t told Joye the precise concentrations of oil they’ve found in the water. But they’ve seen enough to know the levels are much higher than what was found in an earlier research cruise in May, when they measured oil contamination in parts per million or parts per billion in areas close to the spill.

The more recent water samples, many taken hundreds of feet deep in the Gulf, contain much more oil, she said.

The water samples come from in and around vast plumes of oil, methane and other chemicals mixed with sea water that have been pouring out of a broken oil well since a BP-owned drilling rig, the Deepwater Horizon, exploded April 20 and sank four days later.

Get the full article here: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/070710/new_666367227.shtml

Gulf Oil Spill: Scientists Beg For A Chance To Take Basic Measurements
By Dan Froomkin
Huffington Post
July 6, 2010
A group of independent scientists, frustrated and dumbfounded by the continued lack of the most basic data about the 77-day-old BP oil disaster, has put together a crash project intended to definitively measure how much oil has spilled and where and how it is spreading throughout the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

An all-star team of top oceanographers, chemists, engineers and other scientists could be ready to head out to the well site on two fully-equipped research vessels on about a week’s notice. But they need to get the go-ahead — and about $8.4 million — from BP or the federal government or both. And that does not appear imminent.

The test is designed to provide responders to future deep-sea oil catastrophes with valuable information. But, to be blunt, it would also fill an enormous gap in the response to this one.

Get the full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/06/gulf-oil-spill-scientists_n_636981.html
SaveOurGulf.orgVisit SaveOurGulf.org to get more information about the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from Waterkeeper organizations across the Gulf Coast and donate to Save Our Gulf!

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Up Date On The Oil Gusher In The Gulf – Continue with carbon neutral houses tomorrow

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When news comes in from LEAN I try to give it some play.

Louisiana Environmental Action Network
&
Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER©

Helping to Make Louisiana Safe for Future Generations

E-ALERT
June 22, 2010
Don’t Miss Out:
Videos of LEAN and LMRK In Action!
Check out our Executive Director, Marylee Orr, talking about protecting oil spill worker health on Countdown with Keith Olberman.

Marylee Orr, Executive Director of LEAN speaks with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann of the health issues workers are encountering duing the cleanup efforts in the gulf
Marylee Orr on Countdown With Keith Olberman

And don’t miss BP Oil Hits Barataria Oyster Fishing Grounds by Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Dean Wilson and Media Guru, Jeffrey Dubinsky.

Rosie Philippie, of the near extinct Atakapa-Ishak tribe is interviewed by Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Dean Wilson. The 10 or so families make their living on the oyster grounds in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. These ground have now been inundated with oil from the BP oil disaster.
BP Oil Hits Barataria Oyser Fishing Grounds
click on the images to go to the videos
SaveOurGulf.orgVisit SaveOurGulf.org to get more information about the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster from Waterkeeper organizations across the Gulf Coast and donate to Save Our Gulf!

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More Tomorrow

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BP, Exxon And Chevron Have Bogs, I Mean Blogs – Holy mother of god

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I know. At one level this seems preposterous. Don’t they understand how naked they look. Or is naked their only option?

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/06/new-exxon-blog-targets-bp-fallout

New Exxon Blog Targets BP Fallout

— By Josh Harkinson

| Mon Jun. 14, 2010 5:16 PM PDT

Breaking news: You need not worry about the safety of offshore oil drilling. How do I know this? Well, let’s just say a hat tip is in order for Exxon’s new blog, Perspectives, which launched today with a post about the Deepwater Horizon disaster. “This devastating chain of events is far from the industry norm,” proclaims Exxon blogger Ken Cohen, who’s also the oil giant’s vice president of public and government affairs. “We all need to understand what occurred on this occasion that did not occur on the 14,000 other deepwater wells that have been successfully drilled around the world.”

Translated into the kind of language that actual bloggers use, Cohen’s missive appears to be saying that Exxon and the world’s other upstanding oil outfits shouldn’t be punished for BP’s bad behavior. “Energy consumers around the world need the energy and natural gas resources found in offshore and deepwater regions,” he concludes, “but they expect it to be done safely and in an environmentally sensitive way.

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http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/2010/06/14/addressing-gom-spill/

What happened at the Deepwater Horizon rig is a tragedy on many levels – from the terrible loss of life involved, to the ongoing impact of the spill on the environment, communities and businesses of the Gulf Coast.  Everyone at ExxonMobil shares in the concern over the accident and spill, and we have contributed personnel and equipment to help with the response.

The Presidential Commission’s investigation and others underway will help us determine what happened and what needs to be done going forward.  This devastating chain of events is far from the industry norm.  We all need to understand what occurred on this occasion that did not occur at the 14,000 other deepwater wells that have been successfully drilled around the world.

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http://www.bp.com/bodycopyarticle.do?categoryId=1&contentId=7052055&nicam=USCSBaselineCrisis&nisrc=Google&nigrp=Branded_Crisis_Management-_General&niadv=General&nipkw=bp_blog

Latest news:

Subsea operational update – 14 June. Preparations for additional planned enhancements to the LMRP cap containment system continue to progress. The first planned addition, to operate in addition to the LMRP cap system, will take oil and gas from the choke line of the failed Deepwater Horizon blow-out preventer (BOP) through a separate riser to the Q4000 vessel on the surface. Both the oil and gas captured by this additional system are expected to be flared through a specialised clean-burning system. This system is intended to increase the amount of oil and gas that can be captured from the well and is currently anticipated to begin operations in the next few days.

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http://www.chevron.com/wpc/blog/20080627/

Don Campbell by Don Campbell

Don Campbell

Don Campbell

Manager, External Communications

Don Campbell is manager of external communications for Chevron Corporation. A native of Canada, he earned bachelor’s degrees in art and journalism from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Campbell has more than 25 years experience in journalism and public affairs. He worked as a political reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. At the Calgary Herald, he covered energy and served as city editor. He also served as manager of investor relations and external communications for Husky Energy Inc. and as vice president of communications for the Calgary Health Region (Chevron Photo)

IFEMA-Feria de Madrid Convention CenterThe World Petroleum Congress takes place June 29 through July 3 at the IFEMA-Feria de Madrid convention center. The sprawling complex is in one of Madrid’s new business areas, just minutes by car or underground from the city’s Barajas International Airport. (Chevron Photo)
IFEMA-Feria de Madrid Convention CenterThe World Petroleum Congress takes place June 29 through July 3 at the IFEMA-Feria de Madrid convention center. The sprawling complex is in one of Madrid’s new business areas, just minutes by car or underground from the city’s Barajas International Airport. (Chevron Photo)

Energy prices have become a profoundly important issue to consumers, governments and the oil and gas industry today.

The problem is formidable: under pressure from worldwide demand growth and reduced spare supply, how does the industry continue to meet the needs of consumers in an affordable and environmentally responsible way?

As thousands of delegates from 61 member countries gather in Madrid from June 29 through July 3 for the World Petroleum Congress, this event blog will report on ways technology and new ideas are addressing these challenges and shaping the oil and gas industry.

Chevron participants to the Congress, which is held every three years, will share how they see the industry responding to this dynamic marketplace. The era of easy access to cheap oil is clearly over. The industry has already begun developing new technologies to deliver the energy that current and future generations will need to support their economies and prosper. The Congress will highlight some of this activity.

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I feel so unclean.

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Global Warming – Why it must be happening and why Humans must be causing it

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The Sun is cooling and shrinking. Scientists have predicted that this was going to happen and in addition they predicted that a little ice age might occur. There was much positing that there were longer solar cycles then just the moderately well understood 11 year cycle. The thought was that the Sun waxed and waned every 300 or 400 years. No one was sure. Then an amazing thing happened. As the solar flares died down the Earth heated up. That was when scientists turned to man and the atmosphere to try to get some answers. The answer appeared to be that all of the GASES (not just co2 but every gas we throw off – there are 20 or more) we dump into the air are heating the planet up. This could lead to climate destabilization. Well the Sun is still quiet. For 2 1/2 years the Sun has been quiet. That is unprecedented in the 150 years at least that we have been observing the solar cycles. For much more on this subject please see one of the best articles I have ever read on the subject.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627640.800-whats-wrong-with-the-sun.html

What’s wrong with the sun?

Video: Sun spots

SUNSPOTS come and go, but recently they have mostly gone. For centuries, astronomers have recorded when these dark blemishes on the solar surface emerge, only for them to fade away again after a few days, weeks or months. Thanks to their efforts, we know that sunspot numbers ebb and flow in cycles lasting about 11 years.

But for the past two years, the sunspots have mostly been missing. Their absence, the most prolonged for nearly a hundred years, has taken even seasoned sun watchers by surprise. “This is solar behaviour we haven’t seen in living memory,” says David Hathaway, a physicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The sun is under scrutiny as never before thanks to an armada of space telescopes. The results they beam back are portraying our nearest star, and its influence on Earth, in a new light. Sunspots and other clues indicate that the sun’s magnetic activity is diminishing, and that the sun may even be shrinking. Together the results hint that something profound is happening inside the sun. The big question is what?

The stakes have never been higher. Groups of sunspots forewarn of gigantic solar storms that can unleash a billion times more energy than an atomic bomb. Fears that these giant solar eruptions could create havoc on EarthMovie Camera, and disputes over the sun’s role in climate change, are adding urgency to these studies. When NASA and the European Space Agency launched the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory almost 15 years ago, “understanding the solar cycle was not one of its scientific objectives”, says Bernhard Fleck, the mission’s project scientist. “Now it is one of the key questions.”

Sun behaving badly

Sunspots are windows into the sun’s magnetic soul. They form where giant loops of magnetism, generated deep inside the sun, well up and burst through the surface, leading to a localised drop in temperature which we see as a dark patch. Any changes in sunspot numbers reflect changes inside the sun. “During this transition, the sun is giving us a real glimpse into its interior,” says Hathaway.

When sunspot numbers drop at the end of each 11-year cycle, solar storms die down and all becomes much calmer. This “solar minimum” doesn’t last long. Within a year, the spots and storms begin to build towards a new crescendo, the next solar maximum.

What’s special about this latest dip is that the sun is having trouble starting the next solar cycle. The sun began to calm down in late 2007, so no one expected many sunspots in 2008. But computer models predicted that when the spots did return, they would do so in force. Hathaway was reported as thinking the next solar cycle would be a “doozy”: more sunspots, more solar storms and more energy blasted into space. Others predicted that it would be the most active solar cycle on record. The trouble was, no one told the sun.

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Please finish the article. It is very long and there is a scholarly debate in the comments section about where the center of the Earth’s gravity is. This is kindofa hoot if you understand it. It is true our jokes are different from other peoples.

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I was going to post more about green washing But I kept getting this BP stuff

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It is Jam Band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALU5g6Qqi08?

What – do these people think?  That if BP goes bankrupt that the world would be a better place…please stop and think about it…

doug –

When we started our Boycott BP campaign, we knew we had to get their attention in a language BP understands – profits. Now, we know it’s working:

A chain of Convenience Stores in Philipsburg, Pa decided to debrand three of its BP-branded stations:

“We are debranding BP. We will no longer be associated with BP by the end of the month. We are doing this because of the backlash and bad publicity from the handling of BP’s catastrophe,” Sean Lay, vice president of operations, said in the report. “We don’t want to be associated with them anymore. We’ve had enough.”[Convenience Store News]

Our campaign has been covered by everyone from the New York Times to industry trade newspapers. You can be sure that BP is paying attention. Now, let’s turn up the heat.

Boycott BP until they plug the leak and clean up the mess
Join the Boycott today and we’ll send you a free bumper sticker to help spread the campaign

In spite of these early effects of the boycott, BP corporate headquarters is still playing games with the numbers and continues to escape accountability. Just this morning, the government updated estimates of the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf to be much higher than BP originally stated.

And yet, BP continues to deny the extent of the problem. A report from NPR asks: “BP officials insisted this week they have found no large plumes of oil concentrated underwater, although it begs the question: if the oil isn’t concentrated in the water, where is it?”

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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKA3tNoK8zM&feature=related )

And

ALERT: U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Republican Leader John Boehner want taxpayers to help pick up BP’s tab for environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Tell John Boehner: No BP Bailout!

Douglas —

How is this for outrageous? Republican Leader John Boehner actually suggested that American taxpayers should be hit with the bill to help clean up Big Oil giant BP’s spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And it gets worse…
Sign the Petition

In making this outrageous suggestion, Boehner was agreeing with one of the Republicans’ biggest shadow groups – a group that has pledged to spend more than $50 million this cycle attacking Democrats and trying to elect other Big Oil protecting Republicans to Congress. But it gets even worse than that…

Boehner’s suggestion of a taxpayer-funded bailout for Big Oil giant BP came after he and other Republicans accepted more than $188 million combined in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. This calls for an immediate response from Grassroots Democrats.

Visit our newly-launched website, BoehnerBPBailout.com to sign our petition denouncing John Boehner’s Taxpayer Funded Bailout for Big Oil giant BP – then help spread the word on Facebook and Twitter.

Now, for all the other happenings from the campaign trail, check out our latest edition of @Stake.

Your Response to Republican Congressman Don Young’s Oil Spill Outrage
Sign the Petition
Republican Leader John Boehner’s suggestion of a taxpayer-funded bailout of BP wasn’t the only Big Oil outrage by the GOP recently. Alaska Republican Congressman Don Young claimed that BP’s spill in the Gulf is “not an environmental disaster.” Thanks to you, we held him accountable.

More than 95,000 of you signed our petition denouncing Congressman Young’s ludicrous comments! You also sent a powerful message to other Big Oil-protecting Republicans that grassroots Democrats will be there to hold them accountable. Thanks again for speaking out!

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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkJWTQpvADU&feature=related )

Then there are the people bragging about defeating a resolution…a resolution mind you.

Dear doug,

Good news! With your help, on Thursday, the Senate voted to reject Senator Murkowski’s “Dirty Air Act” – a proposal that would have destroyed 40 years of progress on clean energy by gutting the Clean Air Act and stripping the EPA of its power to regulate the pollution that causes climate change.

The vote was close – 53 to 47 – but your calls and letters made the difference, putting the pressure on Congress to do the right thing.

Thanks to you, we won this fight – but the oil that continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico daily is a vivid reminder of the continued danger of depending on fossil fuels. With your help, we will continue to push for comprehensive clean energy and global warming legislation that will give us greater economic security, reduce pollution and global warming, and transition America to a cleaner energy future.

Thank you again for your activism and support. We will be in touch in the days and weeks to come with more ways of getting involved.

Sincerely,

Michael Town
Campaign Director, SaveOurEnvironment.org
info@saveourenvironment.org

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( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GdsrywWNQU&feature=related )

And

Dear doug,

Yesterday, thanks to your hard work, the U.S. Senate did the right thing — voting with the climate science and against a resolution that would have stripped the Clean Air Act’s protections against climate pollution.

The Senate is to be commended for defeating Senator Lisa Murkowski’s disastrously misguided proposal. But the truth is, in the face of the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history, Senator Murkowski’s resolution never should have even reached the Senate floor.

The fact that we had to work to defeat this legislation is a testament to the continued strength of the fossil fuel lobby. But the fact that we did defeat it gives us fresh momentum for the months ahead, as our nation confronts the costs of our dependence on fossil fuels more directly than ever.

This summer, we can and must set our nation on the path of independence from oil and other dirty energy.

Will you donate to support Repower America’s campaign to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation this summer?

We must confront the growing plumes of oil now consuming the Gulf Coast and soon to affect much of the Eastern Seaboard. We must pass comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation — our best hope of staving off the catastrophic climate change that will dwarf the Deepwater Oil Disaster in scope and devastation. And we must accomplish all this despite the millions of dollars that big oil will spend to defeat us.

Yesterday’s vote shows that when we work together, we can defeat these forces. Over the last two years, over 250,000 of us have taken action to protect the Clean Air Act, including:

  • Submitting over 180,000 comments to the administration urging the EPA to enforce the Clean Air Act’s limits on greenhouse gases,
  • Making over 30,000 phone calls opposing Senator Murkowski’s proposal and
  • Writing over 7,200 letters to the editor.

This summer, it’s time to take exactly the same tenacity and commitment we have shown on these attacks on the Clean Air Act and win the biggest prize of all: comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation that transitions our economy to clean energy.

Donate now to support our campaign to Repower America:

http://cpaf.repoweramerica.org/cleanairvictorynd

We’ve won an important battle. Now, it’s time to win the war.

Al Gore
Founder
The Climate Protection Action Fund

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Please get out of my mail box.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mskqBz2cZTA&feature=related

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More On Green Wash – Somebody should start the Boo Hiss Award for the worst offender of the year

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I had no idea when I started this meditation how many sites there were that focused on the topic of Green Wash. Here is another with an excerpt of an article they cite. It will come complete with music tomorrow I hope.

http://www.greenwashingindex.com/

Site Goal #1:Help consumers become more savvy about evaluating environmental marketing claims of advertisers.

Site Goal #2:
Hold businesses accountable to their environmental marketing claims.

Site Goal #3:
Stimulate the market and demand for sustainable business practices that truly reduce the impact on the environment.

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http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/06/10/ftc-cites-kmart-tender-dyna-e-for-false-green-claims/

June 10, 2009

FTC Cites Kmart, Tender, Dyna-E for False Green Claims

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has charged Kmart Corp., Tender Corp., and Dyna-E International with making false and unsubstantiated claims that their paper products were “biodegradable.”

FTC charged the companies with making the following deceptive biodegradable claims:

  • Kmart Corp. called its American Fare brand disposable plates biodegradable.
  • Tender Corp. called its Fresh Bath-brand moist wipes biodegradable.
  • Dyna-E International called its Lightload brand compressed dry towels biodegradable.

Kmart and Tender have agreed to settle the cases against them while the case against Dyna-E will be litigated. The FTC says with the recent growth in “green” advertising and product lines, the agency will continue its efforts to ensure that environmental marketing is truthful, substantiated, and not confusing to consumers.

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More tomorrow.

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Green Wash – The enviromental pollution that keeps giving

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George Bush and his deregulationistas turned green into a bad name. From their expansion of organic products from 120 to well over 1,000 to their attempt to promote something mythologically called clean coal, the Bush administration was hell bent on destroying the environment.  Tragically he may be remembered as the man who set aside more ocean square miles as a wild life sanctuary than any other president…but that is another story…

here is a great site for it:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greenwashing

 SourceWatch needs your financial support to survive and thrive. If you’ve found this information on the people, organizations, and issues shaping the public agenda helpful, please make a tax-deductible donation now.

Greenwashing

From SourceWatch

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This is part of the Center for Media & Democracy’s climate change project.

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.

The U.S.-based watchdog group CorpWatch defines greenwash as “the phenomena of socially and environmentally destructive corporations, attempting to preserve and expand their markets or power by posing as friends of the environment.” This definition was shaped by by the group’s focus on corporate behavior and the rise of corporate green advertising at the time. However, governments, political candidates, trade associations and non-government organizations have also been accused of greenwashing. [1]

The 10th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary defined greenwash as “disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. Derivatives greenwashing (n). Origin from green on the pattern of whitewash.” [1]

In 2008 the environmental group Greenpeace launched a website Stop Greenwash to “confront deceptive greenwashing campaigns, engage companies in debate, and give consumers and activists and lawmakers the information and tools they need to … hold corporations accountable for the impacts their core business decisions and investments are having on our planet.” [2]

Contents

[hide]

The allure of greenwashing

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Of course Green Peace has to have their say:

http://stopgreenwash.org/

What’s this all about?

Every day, Americans are bombarded with advertising about environmentally friendly goods and services. But how many really are green, and how many are just pretending?

dddot dddot dddot

About Shell Oil they say:

At a time when the fate of this federally protected area is so vulnerable and at risk of being altered forever by oil, Greenpeace felt it necessary to shed light on the ironic fact that Shell has used the place to brand its own image as green and actually caring about the environment.

The oil company ran a full-page print advertisement in National Geographic Magazine and several other publications, which featured a color picture of a diver swimming through deep blue water featuring brightly colored fish and coral. The statement in the middle of the ad says: “What do we really need in today’s energy hungry world? More gardeners.”

More gardeners? If that’s really what we needed, we could just stop drilling for oil all together right? All we need is more gardeners.

But Shell doesn’t really mean that at all.

They know that in today’s energy hungry world, oil is the food and the company’s main priority. Even through the thickest green glasses, few are going to dispute that fact.

The rest of the text on the advertisement reads that a Shell employee and marine biologist has been working with the company to protect the area.

But how much could the oil giant really be protecting when the company also actually drills near the vulnerable sanctuary.

The advertisement and words on the page are clearly for show.

Shell does have close ties to the Flower Gardens. In fact, an executive from Shell Canada, Rebecca Nadel serves on the sanctuary’s advisory council. Also on the team for the sanctuary is James Sinclair of the now notorious Minerals Management Service. At first glance, it doesn’t exactly look like those employed to protect the sanctuary are representing the most responsible organizations.

Shell has a cozy bed in sanctuary bureaucracy.

The company however, does donate money to Flower Gardens. The Green Life reports $5,000 of direct funding each year. However, the site also acknowledges that it costs nearly six figures to run one advertisement in National Geographic. For a drop in the bucket, the oil giant rebrands its image as being concerned with the underwater sanctuary.

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More tomorrow

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Green Washing – Why British Petrolium turned into BP

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It’s jam band Friday –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkGE-kNRUN4

In the mid 90s British Petroleum decided to change its image. They “initialized” their name. Up dated their brand by changing their color schemes to yellow and green and they announced that their gas stations would be energy efficient and included solar panels. They infact set up a solar division and I believe make and sell solar panels. All that to cover up for the fact that they were one of the most dangerous businesses in the world. So when people say, why are you talking about greenwashing now?  It’s because it’s a problem that can lead to the oil spew in the gulf.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkLCRMT-sdE&feature=related

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http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/findings/greenwashing-report-2009/

Greenwashing Report 2009

Greenwashing Report 2009 (French) Low-resolution PDF 2.9 MiB Greenwashing Report 2009 High-resolution PDF 9.5 MiB

Some Notable Findings from the 2009 Report…

worship_sm1A NEW Sin has emerged

98% of products committed at least one of the Sins of Greenwashing. Greenwashing is so rampant that a Seventh Sin has emerged.  The Sin of Worshiping False Labels is committed by a product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of third-party endorsement where no such endorsement actually exists.

kids_productsKids (Toys and Baby Products), Cosmetics and Cleaning Products

Greenwashing is most common in three household categories: Kids (toys and baby products), Cosmetics (beauty and health), and Cleaning Products.

increaseMore products are claiming to be ‘green’

The average number of ‘green’ products per store almost doubled between 2007 and 2008.  Green advertising almost tripled between 2006 and 2008.

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What you say matters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcKdNV2ep7I&feature=related

Oh and these people asked for links:

http://www.solarhotusa.com/

http://www.facebook.com/FoodIndependenceDay

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Since The Gulf Is Awash In Oil – Let us take a look at “Green Wash”

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While BP may be on the top of the Corporate Shit list right now, There are a lot of corporations trying to make themselves look “Green”.  Here is just one example. Look at the product list at the bottom.

http://www.futurefriendly.com/Home.aspx

P&G Future Friendly

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  • save water

    You can help preserve this precious resource

  • save energy

    Easy ways to cut your energy consumption

  • reduce waste

    Everyday ways to help reduce trash

  • sustainably

    manufactured

    Find products made using less waste, energy, and water.

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