Environment

Bush Wins Earth Day Greenwashing Award (If There Were One)

The greens are getting pounded politically, losing almost every national battle they fight, including the new energy bill. Today, on the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, they can't even beat George Bush at the PR game.

Thirty-five years ago 20 million Americans demonstrated, rallied, teach-in'd, lobbied, danced and partied for a healthy, ecologically sound planet on the very first Earth Day. This unprecedented and massive grassroots mobilization was followed by a flurry of green political reforms (supported by many Republicans), from the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency to the first Environmental Impact Statements and the first national clean air and clean water laws. Now, even though surveys show enviromentalism is more widespread and popular than ever, with citizens donating hundreds of millions of dollars each year to Washington DC's big green groups, the movement is a political basket case.

Warm Feelings for Dirty Energy

At the Australian coal industry's annual conference, Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane chastised attendees "for allowing the debate over the nation's future energy supply to be hijacked by a 'green media machine.'" Macfarlane suggested the industry "start telling consumers about the work being done on low-emissions technology" and warning about renewable energy cost

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Pundit's Boston Bread Buttered on Both Sides

Massachusetts' Executive Office of Environmental Affairs "awarded a $10,000 contract to a Boston Herald op-ed columnist to promote the governor's environmental policies." The contract involves writing op-ed pieces and internal documents "to promote education, awareness, and acceptance of major policy initiatives." Three days after the columnist, Charles Chieppo, applied for the position, he filed a column praising

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Consumers Buy the Darndest Things

Afraid that their vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration might make Congress more likely to increase fuel efficiency standards, the automobile industry is "trying to polish its image." The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is claiming, in newspaper and radio ads, and on cleaning sponges given to Congressional staffers, that "cars are 99% cleaner than they used to be

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Terrorist or Activist?

"Under the draconian conditions of the USA Patriot Act," reports the Guardian, "the FBI can use covert surveillance of 'terrorists' without the necessity of getting a judicial warrant." Last year, the FBI identified "animal rights extremists and eco-terrorism" as "a domestic terrorism investigative priority," concerning even mainstream environmental groups.

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U.S. Scientists Say They Are Told To Alter Findings

Scientists employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say they have been told to change their research findings concerning the protection of plants and animals. A survey of USFWS biologists, ecologists, botanists and other science professionals sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility finds:

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Burson-Marsteller's Bromine Front Groups

As the European Parliament has come into power, the population of lobbyists, PR firms and front groups has boomed in Brussels. In a new report, the Corporate Europe Observatory exposes the work of global PR firm Burson-Marsteller on behalf of the bromine industry as it attempts to stymie bans on bromine-based flame retardants.

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