Environment

Timber Industry Lobbies Against EPA Air Emissions Regulations

by Laura Miller — November 12, 2002 - 12:00am

"The Forest Products Industry National Labor Management Committee, a group that says it wants to 'balance economic and environmental concerns' when it comes to managing America's timber, paid Ogilvy PR Worldwide $100,000 during the first-half of this year to make its case in Washington, D.C.," O'Dwyer's PR Daily writes. The group lobbied against EPA regulations on new industrial emissions. "The Committee members include the American Forest & Paper Assn., and forest industry groups in California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Louisiana and the Rockies. It also counts the International Assn.

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O'Dwyer's PR Daily, November 12, 2002

GM Wins Greenwash Award

by Laura Miller — November 7, 2002 - 12:00am

"What are they thinking? GM's 'Introducing the Saturn VUE' ad, which ran in Newsweek magazine, compares their new SUV to endangered arctic species," the public interest group CorpWatch writes. "Never mind that SUVs produce carbon emissions that contribute to the global warming that's melting polar ice floes like the one pictured in their ad. And never mind that General Motors vehicles alone account for about 1.65% of the world's carbon emissions -- a significant amount for a single company.

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CorpWatch, November 7, 2002

Industry Friendly Appointments to Lead Panel

by Laura Miller — October 7, 2002 - 11:00pm

Congressional Democrats accuse the Bush Administration of stacking the Center for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention with "individuals who are affiliated or openly sympathetic with the views of the lead industry." Their report "Turning Lead Into Gold: How the Bush Administration is Poisoning the Lead Advisory Committee at the CDC" details recent changes to the panel, noting the removal or rejection of several academic experts on lead poisoning.

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Press Release from Rep. Ed Markey, October 8, 2002

Fish Don't Need Water

by Sheldon Rampton — October 1, 2002 - 11:00pm

"More than 35,000 fish lay dead in the bed of the Klamath River and the death count continues to rise. These are not just any fish. They are wild salmon, both coho and chinook, the very totems of the Northwest. They suffocated from lack of cool water," writes Jeffrey St. Clair. "As the death toll mounted, Gale Norton, the grim boss of the Interior Department, acted befuddled and suggested that the die-off in these foul waters was a strange natural mystery.

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Counterpunch, October 2, 2002

Coughing Up the Truth

by Sheldon Rampton — September 15, 2002 - 11:00pm

A week after the 9/11 attacks, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Director Christie Whitman issued a news release claiming that air pollution caused by the collapse of the World Trade Towers was no big deal. "I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington, D.C. that their air is safe to breath and their water is safe to drink," she said.

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Washington Post, September 16, 2002

Greens Accused of Helping Africans Starve

by Sheldon Rampton — September 12, 2002 - 11:52am

U.S. AID Administrator Andrew Natsios has accused environmentalists "of endangering the lives of millions of famine-threatened Africans by encouraging their governments to reject genetically modified U.S.

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020830-2441442.htm

Sustainable Development: Rest In Peace!

by Laura Miller — September 3, 2002 - 11:00pm

"Sustainable Development is dead. Its demise came, ironically, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development," CorpWatch's Kenny Bruno writes in his report from the UN meeting in Johannesburg. "It's not that the phrase wasn't invoked. It was, ad nauseum. But it was hardly discussed. Instead, sustainable development was deemed to be whatever compromise governments happen to reach on trade, subsidies, investment and aid, and whatever projects corporations see fit to finance. 'Sustainable Development' is now officially meaningless."

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CorpWatch.org, September 4, 2002

And The Winner Is ...

by Laura Miller — August 29, 2002 - 7:43pm

Coinciding with the World Summit on Sustainable Development taking place in Johannesburg, the Green Oscars announced this year's winners. In the category of Best Green Actor for achievement in Corporate Greenwash, the award goes to BP, for their Beyond Petroleum rebranding campaign, and their "Oil is old news" ad.

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EarthSummit.biz

America's 10 Worst Greenwashers

by Sheldon Rampton — August 28, 2002 - 11:00pm

EcoPledge.com, a coalition of environmental organizations that uses boycotts to put pressure on environment-abusing companies, has joined Earth Day Resources in putting out a report titled "Don't Be Fooled: The Top 10 Misleading Environmental Claims of the Year." The report calls attention to the companies that have made the most misleading claims about the environmental benefits of their products and industries

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Alternet, August 29, 2002

Clean-Up By Redefinition

by Laura Miller — August 13, 2002 - 11:00pm

"Florida's environmental bureaucrats are in the process of removing 600 bodies of water from the state's 'impaired' list by changing the rules. They redefined impaired," Palm Beach Post editorial writer Sally Swartz reports. When a lake or river is classified "impaired," explains Swartz, the state is required to set a limit on how much pollution can be dumped into the water. If a body of water isn't on the "impaired" list, there are no limits. Large developers, corporate farms, and other industry would benefit from the redefinition.

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Palm Beach Post, August 14, 2002
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