This Earth Day, Let’s Scrape Off the Greenwash
by Sheldon Rampton
Today marks the 38th annual celebration of Earth Day, and once again the event comes with its fair share of PR hype and misleading marketing campaigns. In the spirit of dedicating ourselves to genuine concern for the planet, today is therefore a good time to look carefully at corporate environmental claims, some of which consist more of empty rhetoric than real substance. Continue reading
Thomas Friedman, the author and NY Times columnist, was invited to Brown University to give a keynote speech on Earth Day, before a packed auditorium. His talk, titled “Green is the new Red White and Blue” was about how corporate environmentalism (based on putting a price on the atmosphere, and investing in biofuels and techno-fixes) can restore America to its “natural place in the global order.” Luckily, this outrageous neoliberal capitalist propaganda was interrupted with a surprise visit from the Greenwash Guerrillas. After splattering him with two green cream pies, leaflets were thrown to the crowd, stating:
Thomas Friedman deserves a pie in the face…
—————————–
“In fact,” said Willis, “these natural climate phenomena can sometimes
hide global warming caused by human activities. Or they can have the
opposite effect of accentuating it.”
—————————–
Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080421195005.htm
Larger Pacific Climate Event Helps Current La Nina Linger
ScienceDaily (Apr. 22, 2008) – Boosted by the
influence of a larger climate event in the
Pacific, one of the strongest La Niñas in many
years is slowly weakening but continues to
blanket the Pacific Ocean near the equator, as
shown by new sea-level height data collected by
the U.S.-French Jason oceanographic satellite.
This La Niña, which has persisted for the past
year, is indicated by the blue area in the center
of the image along the equator. Blue indicates
lower than normal sea level (cold water). The
data were gathered in early April.
Published on Monday, April 21, 2008 by The Independent/UK
The Great Migration Crisis
By Michael McCarthy
Many of the birds that migrate to Britain and Europe from Africa every spring, from the willow warbler to the cuckoo, are undergoing alarming declines, new research shows.
The falls in numbers are so sharp and widespread that ornithologists are waking up to a major new environmental problem – the possibility that the whole system of bird migration between Africa and Europe is running into trouble.