9.28.2012

Gem of the day

The New Yorker reveals what's behind an NY Times hunch about the 'amazing' synchronization of ad campaigns against Obama:

"'To see many of the anti-Obama ads that have run on television recently, it would be easy to conclude that they were made in the same studios, by the same producers working for the same campaign,' Jeremy W. Peters wrote on Tuesday...New Federal Election Commission filings reveal a reason why the ads are so alike in style and substance: they do, in fact have a production firm in common. Guiding some fifty million dollars’ worth of anti-Obama television ads that ran in August and early September, sponsored by three major separate conservative groups, is the hand of Larry McCarthy."

We need this for pro-renewable energy.

9.27.2012

Gem of the day

It's not like any sane person would pick up a feature on 'Capital Insights' sponsored and written by Ernst & Young and expect to find a remotely human view of the world.

But this gem blatantly saying 'active' investors need to be silenced still feels unreal:

"With investors increasingly taking a more active role in their investments, corporates need to make sure they are fully engaged with their shareholders in order to make certain that any potential problems are headed off before they begin."

9.25.2012

Gem of the day

Al Gore's Climate Reality Project plans their next reality check on the climate: this time it's 'dirty weather' as the selling point for people to sit up and pay attention. But given the hard and depressing truth, where's the inspiration for the future? (via NY Times)

"...the event will focus not just on the fossil fuel industries but on organizations that sow doubt that climate change is under way, [Project CEO Maggie] Fox said. By filtering ideas, knowledge, and awareness of climate trends, she said, social media can be a tool for 'overtaking the noise' created by climate skeptics."

Competing with the opposition for air time on the issues is definitely a problem given the CRP's other key objective:

"More broadly, the Climate Reality Project’s goal is to forge connections between nongovernmental organizations working on climate change issues around the globe with individuals to spread awareness, Ms. Fox said in an interview. 'There are something like two million environmental N.G.O.’s around the world working on climate,' she said. 'We actually believe we have the numbers — but we don’t have the mass.'”

Right - and none of those 2 million NGOs have a positive, engaging way of talking about how we can address this reality. What they do have is plenty of post-Copenhagen depression.

No one should underestimate the need to transcend climate skepticism in the US. But we need more solutions, not just more talking points.

9.24.2012

Gem of the day

More evidence that the digital/tech industry needs to seriously take stock of its role in sustainability: barrier or enabler?

In the case of Microsoft, 1970s-style tactics that confirm barrier status in a big way (via NY Times):

"Microsoft threatened to waste tremendous amounts of power by simply running giant heaters for no purpose, according to utility officials who said they were briefed on the matter by Microsoft, unless the penalty [$210,000 for running on back-up, highly polluting diesel generators] was largely forgiven. The idea was to burn the power fast enough to move closer to the forecast before year’s end...The Microsoft spokeswoman, Ms. Platt, said the company remained committed to the environment. 'Microsoft’s focus on efficiency and resource utilization has not changed,' she said."

And that would be economic, rather than environmental, efficiency Ms. Platt?

9.20.2012

Gem of the day

It's so nice to see Spanish oil company Repsol catching up to the slick, empty corporate comms its peers use to avoid talking about real sustainability challenges (hello BP, Chevron, Exxon and Shell).

#avoidingclimatechange


9.19.2012

Something that's actually good

Ingenious gem from Bill McKibben summing up everything that's wrong with behavior change + the environmental movement (via Rolling Stone):

"Since all of us are in some way the beneficiaries of cheap fossil fuel, tackling climate change has been like trying to build a movement against yourself – it's as if the gay-rights movement had to be constructed entirely from evangelical preachers, or the abolition movement from slaveholders."

9.18.2012

Another non-environmental wonder

Mitt Romney's vision for America: every man for himself and zero human rights to a healthy, safe life (via The Guardian).

"All right, there are 47% who are with him (Obama), who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, to you-name-it."

That's a great plan Mitt, considering the latest US census shows 1 in 5 American children lives in poverty and unemployment benefits kept 2.3 million Americans from falling into poverty in 2011.

9.14.2012

Gem of the day

Time to take another look at why renewables aren't getting the traction they need, especially in the US.

The American landscape (via NY Times):

"With nearly two months before Election Day on Nov. 6, estimated spending on television ads promoting coal and more oil and gas drilling or criticizing clean energy has exceeded $153 million this year." [Getting aggressively consumer-facing, such as this I'm an Energy Voter campaign]

The mindset of major American NGOs in response:

"The Climate Reality Project is not buying television ads at all, focusing instead on social media, training and organizing. 'Whatever we would spend, it would just be washed away in this sea of fossil fuel money,' said Maggie L. Fox, the group’s chief executive."

“We are being outgunned by orders of magnitude...There is just no way we can compete with some of the richest companies in the history of the world," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.

Right.

9.12.2012

Gem of the day

Why we need Wikileaks for the oil industry (via the genius of Resource Insights):

"Many of these [OPEC] countries say that a detailed audit of their fields by independent observers is out of the question because oil reserves are a state secret...Are there reasons to believe that if we saw this data it would contradict the official overall number provided by some countries? In a word, yes."

And case in point:

"The United Arab Emirates has been reporting 97.8 billion barrels of oil reserves every year since 1997."

9.11.2012

Gem of the day

Mitt Romney makes it clear, one last time, that he has no idea how big a threat climate change and environmental degradation are to the American economy (via MSNBC):

"I’m not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet. I'm in this race to heal the American people."

Okay Mitt - go ahead and try doing that without dealing with the impacts of more natural disasters, rampant inequality, higher and more volatile prices from an oil-based economy, toxic pollution and food deserts for the poor.

And you can start by ignoring the $22 trillion the Clean Air Act has since saved the U.S. in healthcare costs.

9.10.2012

Gem of the day

Beverage giant Coca-Cola has a new campaign: A Billion Reasons to Believe in Africa. And they're not shy about stating why their campaign is just as refreshing as their sickeningly sweet drinks:

"The world may choose to see Africa as dark, hopeless and a home to war, famine, corruption, poverty and disease, but we at Coca-Cola choose to see this beautiful continent through a fresh and colorful lens."

And why is Coke best positioned to do this campaign? See this gem which unintentionally sums up why this is so, so wrong:

"Coca-Cola has operated on this continent for several decades with footprints that extend to every country."

You bet, Coke. Here's to making those sugary footprints even bigger.

9.04.2012

Gem of the day

One company's very special definition of why PR to attract employees is important to the business:

"We will not only be in a stronger position to win the war for talent, but will also increase the engagement of current employees."

Something that's actually good

Kurt Cobb via EnergyBulletin single-handedly debunks all of the myths we hold about oil:
  • Half of all oil consumed since the beginning of the oil age has been consumed since 1985
  • Peak oil does not mean that we won't find any more oil. We are finding oil every day. We're just not finding enough and putting it into production fast enough.
  • Peak oil does not mean we are running out of oil...The rate of production is the key, not the size of the world's reserves.
Oh, and then there's this magical gem:

"Perhaps it will seem puzzling that experts inside the industry--with a few notable exceptions--cannot grasp that the rate of production is the central issue. The best explanation I can offer is to quote author Upton Sinclair: 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!'"

Amen.
 

9.03.2012

Gem of the day

There are many, many things that could be said about former BP CEO Tony Hayward's latest venture. Here's one: it's the ultimate example of unsustainable, inherently risky business without purpose (via NY Times):

"Mr. Hayward, Mr. Metherell and Mr. Rothschild...set up what is known as a cash shell, a company with no business, just a promise that it will find one. It was called Vallares. Mr. Hayward then spent weeks in New York, London, Abu Dhabi and beyond, drumming up investors. Vallares eventually went public on the London Stock Exchange, raising $2.1 billion. That money, Vallares said, would be used to buy unspecified oil and gas assets in emerging markets, although Mr. Hayward hinted that he was interested in Kurdistan."

Even better is the quote from Mehmet Sepil, a 'pioneer' in Iraqi oil investment:

“I didn’t know anything about oil but the tank of my car,” Mr. Sepil recalls. 

Don't worry Mr. Sepil - neither does anyone who works in the oil industry.

9.01.2012

Another non-environmental wonder

Only The Economist would write about the global arms trade like this:

"America’s exports in particular are helped by a long-standing client base, which orders upgrades, spare parts and support services every year."