Oil Spill And The Green Movement: Tapping The Anger

New York Magazine:

So while the live-streaming underwater oil cam and the photos of oil-slickened pelicans are fresh on everyone's mind, activists have begun working them to their advantage. When they heard of Rauschkolb's highly visible (and relatively easy to engage) Hands Across the Sand stunt, the Sierra Club delivered about 25 of its top field staffers to organize beaches in eighteen states and Greenpeace sent five employees and 500 of its top volunteer activists. McKibben's group 350.org made sure that members of Congress were invited to events at beaches in their districts. Friends of the Earth's media team taught local organizers how to write press releases and deal with reporters. All told, more than a dozen national environmental groups, as well as liberal groups like MoveOn, signed on as sponsors and activated their massive e-mail lists.

Read the whole story: New York Magazine

Comments

[Quixo]

03:42 AM on 06/26/2010

Artists participate in Hands Across the Sand with drawings: http://youdraw.com/cgi-bin/recent.pl?artist=Hands+Across+The+Sand

[Benavi]

01:04 AM on 06/25/2010

Send Isner to battle the never ending oil leak:
at one point one of thems gotta take a leak break.

[lboucher]

12:30 AM on 06/25/2010

Being talked about is an explosion of a methane gas bubble near the spill site so large that it ruptures the ocean floor, explodes far above the water surface, causes wide death and destruction, with tsunamis following - not to mention that the existing well-head will be obliterated!

[WestcoastSteve]

11:00 PM on 06/24/2010

I used to just write letters about green causes to my representatives or to the newspapers, recycled like most people, took public transit more - the usual things a middle-class person thinks is enough to protect the environment.

Then I looked at the Gulf disaster, and realized how pitiful my efforts were. I was watching the news with my ten year old daughter when they showed pictures of the dying, oils-soaked animals, and she started to cry. What was I going to say, that this will never happen again? That the environment would be just fine when she grows up?

This is fighting time, folks. From here onward, the green movement has to be much more active, vocal and challenging to the big corporations. There can be no backing down.

So to that end, I just joined Greenpeace. My brother and friends said they didn't think I'd do something like that, but the time to just sit on the sidelines is over. The big oil companies don't give a hoot about letters or editorials condemning them, but they are deathly afraid of masses of people protesting at their facilities and physically blocking their operations. They are scared of the green movement attracting mainstream money and talents, and that they might end up having enough resources to challenge the oil companies on every front.

If you don't like Greenpeace, find another group. There's lots. But DO something. Now is the time. Don't be on the wrong side of history.

[juliettelucie]

03:59 AM on 06/25/2010

Wowa - I came across this randomly, and I find it really powerful. I work at Greenpeace and would love to be able to post that on our blogs. Would that be OK with you?

[WestcoastSteve]

01:06 PM on 06/25/2010

Yup, go right ahead.

I live in Richmond, BC, where I moved to in 2007 when I married my wife. Richmond is fairly rightwing, which bothers me. Too many people think the west coast is automatically progressive, but it's not.

Green activists in BC and Alberta have a big challenge on their hands: fighting the Alberta tar sands projects. Now that there is a disaster in the Gulf, eyes are turning once again to the tar sands, since environmental disasters can't happen on dry land, right? At least that's the logic, erroneous though it is.

Alberta's tar sands are bad enough, and the pipeline they want to build across the Rockies to the coast is even worse. Yup, lot of things for a green activist to fight for in Richmond, BC.

[Lisa Vickers]

04:56 AM on 06/25/2010

"Don't be on the wrong side of history" -- love it!!

[dragonmaster]

08:00 PM on 06/24/2010

The oil spill brings to light the dangers of oil drilling. Despite all the wonderful Pollyanna guarantees by the Oil Industrial complex- I wonder how many oil drilling rigs are on the verge of blowing up, or leaking.

The climate is beginning to react to the high amount of CO2- unless you are brain dead- or living in a cave- these extreme weather events will multiply- and even the blindfolded media may begin to report them.

The oil spill is just the beginning number of increasing nasty events in the 21st century - with more to come-soon.

[PotomacOracle]

10:41 PM on 06/24/2010

Its not just the CO2. Millions of tons of methane have been released. When and if the public a-large understands that danger there will be panic in the streets. Methane is 25 times more dangerous as a green house gas than CO2.

Already we see the most extensive ice melt in the artic in recorded history. Freak weather is just beginning. Methane will create dead zones in the Gulf, it will foul the air, and ignite lightening storms unlike any ever seen in the Gulf.

And it is not an oil spill. You spill milk, coffee, your scotch, but BP has created an oil gusher of volcanic proportions. BP and the oil industry use the word spill to minimize the visual impact of their incompetence.

[dragonmaster]

06:00 AM on 06/25/2010

I understand what you mean regarding methane- C02 itself will soo reach 400ppm- the most in 3.5 million years.

Yesterday in Connecticut record heat- then a violent tornado decimated parts of Bridgeport CT- huge trees uprooted, brick buildings damaged, car windows blown out.
This month we have had 5 tornado warnings and funnel touchdowns.

The media is running in fear of the far right - many of their sponsors have a very conservative ideology. If the media even begins to print or have TV or internet coverage about the very serious threats to our future- they may have advertising pulled- the NYT and the Washington Post have both done a fine job of obstructing the truth from the public- the same holds true for the Networks- though NBC does report the odd weather with more fact based reality the the others.

[Mildmannered]

07:35 PM on 06/24/2010

Obama should put Colin Powell in charge of the entire oil spill situation.

[Overtone]

05:13 PM on 06/24/2010

It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing.
Elizabeth Kolbert: Field Notes from a Catastrophe

The dire dimensions of the gushing oil may prove much worse than has so far been grasped.

Can a thin film of oil on the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans accelerate Global Warming toward a Tipping Point that may endanger much life in the entire Northern Hemisphere?

A scientist has suggested the answer is yes!

Can the oil gusher be capped? Some qualified observers believe the answer may be no!

There is little evidence the White House or anyone else is developing contingency plans adequate to meet what may call for a massive emergency response.

See today's updated: What to Do? at http://www.aesopinstitute.org

The truly bold actions needed may create a huge number of jobs - and drive down unemployment in a manner resembling what happened in World War II.

Little known, and less believed, breakthroughs in energy could take us off of gasoline, oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power far faster than might be imagined. See for example the work of BlackLight Power that claims a barrel of water can replace 200 barrels of oil - I agree.

We need voices like those of FDR and Churchill to move the nation toward an adequate response to what may prove to be as great a crisis as humanity has ever faced.

[Coinyer101]

02:31 PM on 06/24/2010

I ain't too optimistic when 75% of folks approved of drilling offshore just before this happened, including the President.

We have to have a 'leader'....., and we don't. 'They' do have a leader, and he approves of drilling...,

[PotomacOracle]

11:14 PM on 06/24/2010

I agree. What if a vocal minority held sway over the survival of this nation, and forced it to do what the Republicans did to the Jobs Legislation today? Would not a majority of the people rise up to denounce that cynical minority? I think it should but probably won't because there is no imminent threat to the majority.

I think this cycnicism pervades both parties the Republicants more than the Democants. Thomas Frank has an interesting take on this corrupt cycnicism and says, in his book, "The Wrecking Crew", "A friend of mine summarized this concisely...Sweeping his hand so as to take in our fellow diners and all the contractors' offices beyond, he said, "So you think all of this is just going to go awqay if Obama get in?" This whole industry, this whole economy, all these profits?...The inevitable consequence of plutocracy...is bought government. As Justice Brandeis said..."We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."

"It is a bitter lesson that we will have re-learn all over again....At its core, liberalism is a philosphy of compromise, and without a force on the left to neutralize the tremendous magnetizim exerted by money, liberlaism will naturally be drawn ever further to the right...At least we know where to begin: understanding conservatism's cycnicism for what it is, and for what it has done globally."

[Tom Czubernat]

01:24 PM on 06/24/2010

CHHHHHHAAAAARRRRRRRGE!

[direct democracy]

12:55 PM on 06/24/2010

Joining the Green Party would be the obvious choice if conservatives hadn't demonized it.

[rich misty]

03:07 PM on 06/24/2010

Conservatives demonize and seek to utterly eliminate everything they do not agree with... On top of the fact that Conservatives are on the wrong side of history on everything.

[NewAmericanCenturySucks]

12:28 PM on 06/24/2010

The Gulf catastrophe is to the green movement as a brutal gang rape is to the feminist movement; seething anger may help ensure that justice is done - and that steps are taken to prevent recurrence - but it is very wrong to call the triggering incident anything but horrific. Full stop.

[gsmp]

12:27 PM on 06/24/2010

Excellent article. In my own - little person - way, I will continue to reuse, recycle, refurbish - the three Rs. I will continue to find ways to cut back, buy local, and look for American made goods or do without. The gardens are in and I've got over 150 tomato plants the proceeds of which I will can and share with others.
We can all do something in our own way, to cut down the carbon footprint.
Here's one, low-cost and mostly labor unintensive thing most people can do. Get a water purification system for your kitchen faucet or a system that fits in your refrigerator. Get a supply of appropriate filters and reusable/sanitizable bottles/travel jugs - AND GET OFF THE COMMERICIAL BOTTLED WATER CRAZE!!!!

[pirx]

02:47 PM on 06/24/2010

I hear, and do my best to obey! In fact, I have worked emergency response for years, and one of the absolute rules is HYDRATE!!! So one of the 1st fixtures on any site is an ice cooler of disposable water bottles. But this time (The BP oil cleanup) I am noticing that MOST of my coworkers show up with their own personal refillable water bottles, so the communal cooler is a riot of color and personal expression. I agree that a human life, saved by one or two (or two hundred) disposable water bottles is a good trade, but I am impressed that the younger generation, living in somewhat uncertain accommodations, takes the effort to minimize impact. When I ask about it, they shrug, they always carry water to workouts at home, why is this any different? There is still hope.

(Full disclosure - 2 of those refillables are mine)

[gsmp]

03:07 PM on 06/24/2010

I've been working on this for decades, pirx. Clean water is such a valuable resource and vital to life, I know the corps. have been working behind the scenes to control that, too.
The story about your co-workers and the artistry in the communal cooler is an unexpected benefit. Ecological responsibility and creativity gone wild!
Let's just give the youngsters the benefit of age and experience packaged in ecological and fiscal responsibility.
The internet is less than 20 years old. Hopefully, the kids (anyone under 40) will catch up and surpass us.
Fanned and faved.

[timetomoveon]

12:25 PM on 06/24/2010

For those who are feeling helpless and angry, join a conference call this Saturday at 10:00 a.m. pacific time. Thousands will participate with new thought leaders such as Deepak Chopra. The idea will be to set an intention and prayer, and join in activism to help the gulf. Sign up at http://www.evolutionaryleaders.net/gulf/

[Rope-A-Dope]

12:10 PM on 06/24/2010

could it be the impetus to real change? sure. will it be the impetus to real change? no chance

our government is too fractured, and our President is too waffly-kneed to drive anything meaningful home. (health care reform amounts to a huge windfall for insurance companies, financial reform does little to ensure economic safety down the road, drilling moratorium overruled and then walked back, guantanomo bay still open, don't ask don't tell not repealed, etc.)

by the time we get around to trying to save what is left of our lives on this planet it will be too late. footnote: idiots like Inhofe will still be crying "fake" to their last breath, make that our last breath

america is fast becoming a joke

[Tom Czubernat]

01:26 PM on 06/24/2010

Dude, it's precisely the type of ground swell, as described above, which will push real change. When they realize now, we are paying attention and outnumber the fear monkeys.

[curiousasheck]

12:09 PM on 06/24/2010

What Green Movement? You can't just slap a green label on a product and say wow look at us man. We're green!

Also you can't stand for something and say . . "Please don't be mean to me, please let me win sometimes"

[Tom Czubernat]

01:31 PM on 06/24/2010

While I agree with your second statement, you are misinterpreting the "Green" movement. They can slap all the slogans they want on their products. The most important part of the "Green" movement is we pay attention and know history. I don't know about other people, but I avoid Dow products because they have a bad track record. I don't shop at Wal-Mart because they have bad employment practices. I don't eat McDonalds because they have poor environmental record. I don't bank with JP Morgan because he shut down Nicola Tesla's inventive spirit . . . .

There's more. It's about being conscious, no matter what the talking heads or labels say.

[curiousasheck]

07:52 PM on 06/24/2010

True unfortunately to many in this country are unconscious while believing they are "awake".