Exxon’s Paper Towel Clean Up – April 10, 2013

It seems that company has been dumping oil from its Mayflower spill in a wetlands area after all

When news emerged last week that Exxon had surprisingly secured a no-fly zone over the area surrounding its 150,000 gallon spill in Mayflower in Arkansas, most people thought that here was Big Oil up to its tricks again trying to deliberately stop the public and press from seeing the extent of the destruction from the spill.

Photo courtesy Tar Sands Blockade
NOTE: Timestamp incorrect, added automatically by camera. This photo was taken just before sunset on Saturday, April 6, 2013. More images  here.

So activists from Keystone XL Blockade decided they should go and investigate.  They heard rumours that Exxon was… more

by: Andy Rowell

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Ecuador Offers Chinese Oil Companies 3 Million Hectares of the Amazon – March 27, 2013

Offer made the same day Peru declared a state of emergency in its part of the rainforest

If we are serious about weaning ourselves off our addiction to fossil fuels, then the most obvious place to start is where its ecological and cultural impact is greatest: the Arctic, the tar sands, and the Amazon.

The battle for oil in the Amazon has often been overlooked recently due to the fight to keep oil companies out of the Arctic. But the threat remains and is set to get much worse.

Photo by Caroline Bennett / Rainforest Action NetworkSeven Indigenous groups from the region have denounced Ecuador's planned drilling lease auction
saying it would devastate their home and cultural… more

by: Andy Rowell

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Obama Continues to “Drill Baby Drill” – November 28, 2012

The US plans to open up 20 million acres in the Gulf for drilling, yet talks big at the Doha climate summit

On Monday at the UN climate talks in Doha, the US claimed credit for “enormous” efforts on climate change.

Jonathan Pershing, a senior negotiator for the US, said: “Those who don’t know what the US is doing may not be informed of the scale and extent of the effort, but it’s enormous.”

Whether the US has taken enormous steps on climate change is open to debate. What we do know is that we have a newly re-elected President who in his acceptance speech said: “We want our children to live in a world without the destructive power of a warming planet”.

Photo… more

by: Andy Rowell

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The Next President Must Act on Climate – November 6, 2012

Nowhere in the world is the rising number of natural catastrophes more evident than in North America, says new report

As the world watches with bated breath as to who will become the next President of the US, there are increasingly calls that whoever wins the election must radically tackle climate change.

Whilst this election has been widely criticized for its climate silence, Hurricane Sandy may have just been a game changer in the political debate.

Sandy has certainly burnt a big hole in the pockets of the insurance industry, with estimated losses at some $15 billion.

The other thing that Sandy has done is brought the problem into America’s affluent backyard. Hundreds of thousands of people are still without power and basic sanitation days… more

by: Andy Rowell

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Greenwashing +20 – June 19, 2012

To an Unsuspecting Public, it Looks Like Big Business Cares About the Planet and is Demanding Action

If you open a copy of the Financial Times this morning, you will see a full page advert from the “Friends of Rio+20” with a message to the delegates at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

Photo courtesy Oil Change InternationalShell CEO, Peter Voser with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. "Despite all the years of rhetoric,
Shell is increasing its carbon intensity, its investments in risky and high carbon fuels, and reducing
its investment in renewable energy,” says a Greenpeace report.

These “friends” say they are an assortment of big business, scientific and civil society leaders, but a quick glimpse down the list reveals more big business… more

by: Andy Rowell

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