What’s worse than oil companies spending millions to buy off politicians? Oil companies getting them for free. The oil sector is vital to Canada’s economy, but so are a lot of industries and you don’t see them drafting government policy. From the CBC: A letter obtained by Greenpeace through access
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Things Are Good: Zara commits to go toxic-free
The world’s largest clothing retailer Zara has committed to going toxic-free. After pressure from the environmental-concsious group Greenpeace the company has joined a handful of other large corporations that are (or soon will be) disclosing what toxins go into their products and how those chemicals are dealt with. Zara’s commitment
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Coalition Calls On Duke Energy To Dump American Legislative Exchange Council
Duke-Energy.gif A coalition of environmental, civil rights and democracy reform groups today called upon Duke Energy to join the 38 other companies that have left the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. In their letter sent to Duke CEO Jim Rogers this morning, the coalition requests that Duke Energy "disassociate
Continue readingDrive-by Planet: Arctic ice cap melt: record low in 2012
Since satellite tracking began in 1979 the lowest readings of Arctic sea-ice have all been within the last six years. This year has seen a record breaking retreat of sea-ice with weeks of summer still ahead and more melt likely on the way. Independent: The US National Snow and Ice
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Conquering Coal – A Tale of One City’s Fight
shutterstock_91442597.jpg This is guest post by Megan Pitz. As another sweltering summer day over 100 degrees came to a close in the Washington, D.C. region, citizens of nearby Alexandria, Virginia witnessed the closure of the Potomac River Generating Station (PRGS) coal-fired power plant also known as the 'Mirant Plant.' The closure
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – Lana Payne criticizes two forms of cash hoarding: both the assets sitting idle in corporate coffers, and the money that’s been funneled offshore by wealthy individuals: By the end of each episode (of “Hoarders”)…the audience finds out if the featured hoarders have been
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Fine Example of Culture Jamming
The Yes Men are at it again and this time with Greenpeace to show how efficient Shell is….at killing all of us. They created a website called Arctic Ready that looks like Shell is looking for crowd sourced advertising content, and of course, people around the net have submitted some
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Greenpeace Clean Energy Billboard Rejected by Pattison
Greenpeace Rejected Billboard.png After a Plains Midstream Canada pipeline spilled between 160,000 and 480,000 liters of oil into Jackson Creek near the Red Deer River in Alberta this month, premier Alison Redford called the incident “an exception.” Yet, as Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Mike Hudema reports, this spill comes
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Northern Gateway Pot Pourri
Former chief of the Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation Terrance Nelson announces his run for national chief of the Assembly of First Nations: So, what is my plan? 1. Support the Yinka Dene! The Northern Gateway project is dead if I am elected national chief. The Kinder Morgan expansion will become
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Breaking: Leaked Rio+20 Earth Summit Final Agreed Text – Utterly Inadequate Response to Global Crises
Rio+20.png DeSmogBlog has obtained the final negotiating text that will emerge from the Rio+20 Earth Summit and it is an utter disappointment to anyone who hoped that world leaders would pull together a meaningful global agreement on ending fossil fuel subsidies or other needed steps to protect future generations from
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: ALEC Slips Exxon Fracking Loopholes into New Ohio Law
Exxon-Mobil-XTO-Energy-e1338448150794.jpeg This is a guest post by Connor Gibson, cross-posted from Greenpeace. Wake up and smell the frack fluid! But don't ask what's in it, at least not in Ohio, cause it's still not your right to know. Ohio is in the final stages of making an Exxon trojan horse
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Greenpeace Uncovers Shocking Photos Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Disaster
More than two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and BP's well spewed millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Greenpeace has finally been granted access to pictures that show the real impact of the oil on marine life. The pictures were obtained via
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Social activist groups can form powerful ‘One Big Campaign’ to take on Harper
Picture this . . . . The directors of 25 or 30 of Canada’s leading social activist organizations, unions and grassroots groups are hived away in a secluded location for a long weekend. At the conclusion of three exhausting days of discussion and argument, they announce they have created the
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Part Two of Three Part Series: What progressive groups must do to defeat, or stymie the Harper regime
Canada’s progressive community needs to make some significant changes if it hopes to slow down the assault being carried out on the country by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and their right-wing allies. The observations and suggestions I make in this three-part series are based on what I was able to learn during
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Heartland Double Standard: Institute Tried to Scam Greenpeace for Internal Documents
heartland logo.jpg A Heartland Institute front man* phoned a Greenpeace activist and lied about his identity in an effort to get her to turn over UN climate conference documents to which he had no legitimate access. Heartland senior fellow James Taylor then boasted about the scam in a press release
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Kochtopus Cato Institute Power Grab: A Historical Perspective
Kochtopus-3_0.png A new chapter is being added to the ongoing Kochtopus saga. On March 1 the Washington Post, in a story sure to fill the airwaves for the weeks and months to come, revealed the Kochtopus is suing the Cato Institute for control of the recently deceased and former Cato Chairman William Niskanen's ownership share in the think-tank.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Erin notes that the revenue gap being used as an excuse to demand massive cuts in Ontario is nearly entirely closed with a more plausible set of underlying assumptions and projections – and that’s without taking the look at revenue which was
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Erin nicely summarizes Don Drummond’s report on Ontario’s finances. But it’s worth noting that leaving aside Drummond’s own choice not to follow the instruction, anybody looking for a thorough analysis of Ontario’s fiscal realities should be able to discount the report in
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Greenpeace Calls On SEC To Investigate TransCanada’s Inflated Jobs Claims
keystone_xl_jobs.jpg Greenpeace USA President Phil Radford sent a formal complaint this week to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calling for an investigation into TransCanada’s use of wildly inflated jobs figures in promoting its application to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The letter asks the SEC to review
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