Stopping the Machine

Greenwashing: It’s the Biggest Game in Town

In Europe, protests against fossil fuel companies are becoming common. Will we in America, wake up and follow their lead?

When I write these articles, it’s because I’m searching for answers. I believe you being here are as well. I spend hours and hours reading books, news and scientific research, trying to discern the truth and share what I learned. Finding answers on how to change the trajectory we’re on is the most difficult part.

I have been struck by recent developments. The discovery of 65,000 dead salmon in Canada, unable to swim upstream because the water was too shallow from heat-driven drought, sickened me. The story of one billion Alaskan snow crabs “mysteriously” disappearing, ninety percent of their population, stunned me. The report, that nearly 70 percent of animal populations in the world has declined since 1970, saddened me. I find it deeply disturbing that so much beauty and wonder has been lost in my lifetime. Unprecedented, record loss.

Activism stood out. In Maryland, seven people were arrested ages 32 to 74 from a group called Declare Emergency, for bringing Capital Beltway traffic to a stop. The protesters united from all over the country: Vermont, Oregon, Maryland, North Carolina, New York and Michigan. Similar actions have been occurring across Europe, with Extinction Rebellion doing the same in the cities of Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Melbourne and the capital of New Zealand, Wellington.

Invariably, the protesters are dragged away and locked up. Public anger has been predictably scathing, but by far the most controversial protest was throwing a can of tomato soup on Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London. Two young people representing Just Stop Oil were arrested.

In all these cases, the people protesting are genuinely terrified of climate change, as we all should be. It threatens the underpinnings of civilization and survival. I hope you will consider my article Circumstantial Evidence for more thoughts on this. These protesters are sincere, willing to risk their standing in society, absorb fines they can’t pay, and spend months in jail to protect all of us. I ponder these acts and others, as they become increasingly common.

Our Greatest Threat

As a person who knows climate change is our greatest threat, from following the science, I admire these brave acts. As a person who worked in marketing and advertising for 25 years (regrettably), I find some of these tactics questionable in their effectiveness. They undoubtably get national and even international attention, good, but I wonder if they’re winning many converts? On the other hand, most people are either completely unaware of the dire situation we’re in, or naively believe technology will solve our problems. News flash, it won’t and no matter how well-intentioned EV drivers are, they barely scratch the surface of saving the earth. EVs, like other spurious technologies being pushed forward, are greenwashing, corporate cover to do business as usual. They wish you to believe our lives don’t have to change to save the planet, so they can continue harvesting the earth for profit, without questions. Please consider the environmental and human ramifications of this lithium mining operation in Nevada I wrote about recently. The IRA bill is greenwashing, as well. Its claims are based on best case scenarios we will not attain, as it is currently written. It’s telling that the fossil fuel industry has not spoken out against it. As I write, climate change is killing someone right now. It is a threat equal to or greater than nuclear war, and should be the lead news story every day and every night. To continue business as usual is to participate in ecocide and homicide. It’s erecting your own gallows. Remember, the media is owned by powerful people who have trillions of reasons measured in dollars to stay on this unsustainable path, that is bringing collapse. They don’t see it, or don’t care and believe they are above it all, including you and me. We are just commodities in their schemes. That’s why it’s not the lead story. That’s why I write and potentially risk myself. The truth must be spoken.

The Civil Rights Movement Offers Lessons

I liken growing climate protests to the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement was deeply unpopular with most white Americans, but came from the profound need to change a system of oppression and legalized crimes against humanity. Violent action was taken against peaceful protesters by the state, law enforcement and common citizens, driven by racist ignorance and irrational fear. The courageous blacks and others who marched and protested risked their lives, and in some cases lost them. The righteousness of their cause and thinking beyond themselves drove the movement. Without other tools at hand, civil disobedience was necessary to call attention to and stop systemic legalized evil.

The movement against oil and mining the earth is the same. Exxon knew that burning oil would result in greenhouse gasses warming the earth in the early 1970s, as did all the oil giants. Exxon’s own scientists were tasked with researching the issue, and they explicitly detailed what the results would be. Their predictions of global warming today were remarkably accurate. Rather than act on information that could save humanity, big oil engaged in massive disinformation campaigns for decades, that stalled life-saving environmental policy. It was the same strategy the tobacco industry used, that blurred the link to cancer for decades, causing millions of unnecessary, gruesome deaths. The same tactic is being employed now, in a 24/7 disinformation campaign about the new “green” economy. It’s a pack of lies.

The Year of Change

This year signaled a change, with the intensity of fires, duration of droughts, severity of flooding, numbers of climate caused homelessness, staggering deaths tolls, and magnitude of damage to infrastructure and agriculture worldwide. Starvation, malnutrition and water born diseases are on the rise, from ruined sanitation and water treatment plants. Pakistan, a third of which went underwater, is the prime example. Jackson, Mississippi on a small scale is as well, from flooding and ignored infrastructure problems. We are no longer watching climate change, but an existential climate emergency. Joe Biden needs to declare it as such and employ WWII style policy, addressing this clear and present danger.

Most immediately, agriculture which depends on predictable weather conditions is being devastated. Drought this year and the war in Ukraine has ruined or stunted critical wheat harvests around the world. Other essential foods are under equal duress. Drought in California has resulted in pumping so much groundwater that land is collapsing. Electricity generation to tens of millions is threatened as reservoirs at Lake Powell and Lake Mead drop perilously low. Odds are good, they won’t generate electricity within a few years. If California, the fifth-biggest economy in the world, collapses, our national economy will go with it. Social unrest will prevail as millions lose their livelihoods and homes. Inflation will skyrocket. Such conditions are a text book for the rise of authoritarianism, and there are plenty of “leaders” in this country enamored of the concept.

The Danger of a Blue Ocean Event

We must also consider the rising possibility of a Blue Ocean Event (BOE). The melting of the Arctic and Greenland ice sheets are far ahead of schedule and accelerating. BOE is when the reflective ice that cools the earth melts away, until the melting is unstoppable. This would raise sea levels catastrophically, and the oceans which absorb most of the heat we produce would become emitters of heat. They are already too hot, which is why coral reefs and sea life are dying. Raised ocean temperatures put more moisture into the air, which is why Fiona was such a devastating hurricane. BOE also guarantees massive flooding of coastlines. Cities like New York and Miami could be wiped out. The US Navy takes this likelihood seriously enough to have developed a strategic plan. Part of that plan is because we and our rivals are interested in the new sources of fossil fuels that would be made accessible by Arctic ice melt. It’s insane.

Net Zero?

The catchy words Net Zero are thrown about. Net Zero is the idea we can zero out carbon emissions by 2050, not by reducing our greenhouse gas output, but by magically capturing the gasses, processing them through giant plants, and injecting them safely into the ground forever. This greenwashing technology is known as CCS, for carbon capture systems. Plants far way from theoretically geographically sound locations would be connected by pipelines, covering hundreds of miles in many cases. IRA assumes this unbuilt technology will succeed in its wishful emission estimates. The problem is this technology is already a proven failure. Billions of tax payer dollars financed this idea in the coal industry and proved that. Additionally, massive methane leaks in existing gas pipelines are well known, yet unreported by the industry. Capture gasses? Store them forever? We can’t even keep plastic bottles out of the ocean.

Lastly, IRA mandates require leasing and drilling wells on federal lands and in federal waters, before renewable energy projects can be implemented on them for TEN years. We don’t have TEN years. Maybe the international summit of COP27 in Egypt next month will result in some rational steps being taken, but I doubt it. Speaking of plastic bottles, the summit is being sponsored by Coca-Cola. China and the US, the number one and two greenhouse gas emitters, responsible for 40% of all emissions, have refused to adhere to guidelines established at these conferences thus far.

The Answer Calls for Courage

So, back to answers. The biggest answer is that the change we need lies with you and me. Scientists have done their jobs, but the government hasn’t, because it’s owned by billionaires, banks and mega corporations. We have allowed this to happen to us. We have been willing participants. The climate crisis, caused by overpopulation and overconsumption, is fueled by big oil. They have known the consequences for decades. This is a crime against humanity, your children, your grandchildren, you and me, every person on the planet, as well as our air we breathe, water we drink and the beautiful creatures we share it with. The crimes against African Americans that resulted in the Civil Rights movement were also crimes against humanity. It took risk, sacrifice, blood, pain and death to change that. That’s what it’s going to take again to save our planet and our lives. There are only two futures now. One where we pretend, do nothing and lose everything, or one where we stand up, take some hits and save our future.

Remember, there are many of us and just a handful of them. We can overcome. Please let me know what you think. I would love to hear your thoughts on the actions you think we should take.