GREENWASHING GLOBAL WARMING - Washburn University · 2008-07-10 · GREENWASHING GLOBAL WARMING...

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GREENWASHING GLOBAL WARMING Summer 2008 July 10, 2008 Leslie Charles Coover

Transcript of GREENWASHING GLOBAL WARMING - Washburn University · 2008-07-10 · GREENWASHING GLOBAL WARMING...

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GREENWASHING GLOBAL WARMING

Summer 2008

July 10, 2008

Leslie Charles Coover

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© 2008

Leslie Charles Coover

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The greenhouse effect results when certain gasses trap the energy of the sun as

it radiates upward from the earth’s surface. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere accounts

for about two thirds of the greenhouse effect.

For many years, numerous studies, including those published by the United

Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have concluded that

carbon dioxide emissions are creating climate change. This human-induced climate

change threatens to significantly melt polar ice caps, drastically increase sea levels,

alter patterns of rainfall, unleash more frequent and more powerful storms, augment

extremes in temperature, and worsen the biodiversity crisis.

Failure to take action concerning global warming will probably mean serious

consequences for humankind’s health and economic welfare. Fighting global warming

will require billions of people around the world to make major lifestyle changes, but

many transnational corporations, industry groups, and companies do not want change

because it is not in their strategic profit-making interests.

When organizations conjure up environmentally friendly claims that have no

substance, they are engaging in the practice of “greenwash.” In the US, greenwashing

has a history that goes all the way back to the 1960s. DuPont, Dow, Mansanto, Shell,

and W.R. Grace were the first to use greenwash. They developed a strategy to combat

Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, an expose on the terrible harm the pesticide DDT

was doing to the planet. Their efforts succeeded in casting considerable doubt on

Carson’s critique.

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During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, automobile, oil, and chemical

corporations spent over $1 billion a year on corporate greenwash. In the 1980s, as

environmental disasters became more and more common, greenwashing increased and

became more sophisticated. Corporations and industrial groups learned how to deflect

attention away from even their most blatant environmental catastrophes. By the 1990s

“corporate environmentalism” came into vogue. Corporations spent much more money

on claiming to be green through advertising than they actually spent on trying to fix the

corporate processes that were defiling the planet.

Oil interests are notorious for their use of greenwash, Chevron, Shell, BP

(formerly British Petroleum), and Exxon Mobil, all use greenwash to get consumers to

look the other way. Reduction in the billions (perhaps trillions) of tons of carbon dioxide

that are released into the earth’s atmosphere each day due to the burning of petroleum

products should be a major concern for the oil industry. Although public opinion

supports reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, the oil industry takes little action. The

oil industry claims to be developing renewable energy solutions, yet they allocate only a

fraction of a percent to this development while they spend the majority of their profits on

developing new sources of oil. Some transnational corporations have even donated

money to prestigious academic research foundations. By keeping control of the

research agenda they can wrap themselves in the garment of respectable

environmental research while preventing any research to take place that might threaten

their corporate profitability.

New techniques have been developed to burn coal more efficiently, and to

reduce carbon dioxide emission, but the coal industry resists these new technologies

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because they are more expensive than traditional techniques. Keeping a low profile,

and using greenwash to portray themselves as environmentalists, they try to get bills

passed that give them the authority to build dinosaur power stations that are so

inefficient that they waste almost half the energy they create.

All the major US automakers have resisted stricter corporate average fuel

economy (CAFÉ) standards. The terrible financial conditions of GM, Ford and Chrysler

attest to a short-sighted industry that lacks the foresight to address the global warming

crisis. Unfortunately, instead of trying to address the problem, the automakers seem to

be content with another round of greenwash that they hope will appease the public.

This, they probably believe, will eventually allow them to get back to selling vehicles that

have soaring levels of carbon dioxide emissions, but provide high-profit margins.

The corn-production industry walks in lockstep with the auto industry. Their

greenwash theater portrays corn-based ethanol as the magic bullet. Many scientists

have shown that the production of corn-based ethanol requires more fossil fuel than if

we just continued to use the fossil fuels. There are ways to produce ethanol that could

make it one component in an alternative energy continuum. This continuum includes

geothermal, tidal-flow, wind, solar, nuclear, and small-scale hydroelectric sources of

energy. Corn-based ethanol is starch-based. Ethanol can also be produced from

cellulose using woody plants. Cellulose-based ethanol shows promise because the

plants it is derived from are less labor intensive to cultivate. For example, Switchgrass

requires little fertilization and needs replanting only once a decade. The technology to

develop cellulose-based ethanol is still in its infancy, and major research funding is

needed, yet government funding goes almost exclusively to the development of corn-

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based ethanol. This technology offers no solution, but by using greenwash the corn

industry can realize huge short-term profits.

As stated previously, fighting global warming will require billions of people around

the world to make major lifestyle changes. Some measures will be less convenient,

such as riding bicycles to work and changing our driving and flying patterns. Other

measures will be more costly, such as developing public transit and highly efficient

railway systems. Instead of allowing greenwash to dissuade people from taking action,

public service messages should target the need to make lifestyle changes and the

methods that society can use to create these changes. Unfortunately, the

transnationals, industry groups, and some companies continue to use greenwash to

dismantle any effort that could bring real change.

Global warming is a very serious problem, and we can’t wait until wealthy,

powerful interests are ready for change. The time for talk is rapidly ending. The time

for change is now! The truth about global warming will be heard only when the massive

greenwash machine is pushed out of the way. Each day billions, perhaps trillions, of

tons of carbon dioxide are sent into the atmosphere. From space, earth’s atmosphere

looks like a tiny veneer that covers our planet. Can we afford to ignore humankind’s

effect on the planet? The choice is ours: live in harmony with earth’s ecosystem or

destroy it and ourselves.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................. iii

GREENWASHING GLOBAL WARMING ........................................................................ 1

Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 2

Figure 1: Forest Devastation ................................................................................... 4

Figure 2: Pine Beetles Kill Trees Throughout the West ........................................... 4

The Greenwash Machine ................................................................................................ 5

The History of Greenwash ........................................................................................... 6

Oil Interests .................................................................................................................. 7

Figure 3: BP’s “Education Campaign” ..................................................................... 10

Coal Interests ............................................................................................................. 11

Table1: Analysis of Some Coals Mined in the US.................................................. 13

Detroit and the US Corn-Production Industry ............................................................. 14

Is There a Future? ..................................................................................................... 16

WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................. 18

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GREENWASHING GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming is the slow steady rise of the earth’s average surface

temperature. A number of scientists believe that increased concentrations of

greenhouse gasses are linked to global warming. Global average temperature change

of just a couple of degrees is predicted to produce dramatic and widespread

consequences.

The greenhouse effect results when certain gasses trap the energy produced by

the sun. This energy, in the form of infrared radiation, is absorbed by greenhouse

gasses as the radiation moves upward from the earth’s surface. According to Kraushaar

and Ristinen in their book Energy and Problems of a Technical Society, “carbon dioxide

2CO accounts for about two thirds of the greenhouse effect.” For many years there

has been evidence that “human activities are leading to an increase in the concentration

of” carbon dioxide and other greenhouse “gasses in the atmosphere” (372).

Kenneth Fletcher’s article in the Smithsonian is about “Wallace Broecker of

Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.” Broecker “warned in the

1970s [that] carbon dioxide and other gasses released by burning fossil fuels” would

cause global warming (23).

In 1984, Warren Froelich, writing for The San Diego Union, said, “carbon

dioxide. . . released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels such as natural

gas, oil and coal, has been considered the principal” cause of global warming (A1).

Neil Campbell et al. suggest that a rise in average global temperature of less

than 2 � Celsius could ”raise sea levels significantly” by melting polar ice (770). Some

believe that dramatic climate change has already begun. In an article for The Nation

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Mark Hertsgaard suggests, “the floods in Bangladesh and New Orleans in the United

States, both low-lying places, serve as an example of the suffering endured as the

result of global warming” (22).

Global warming also has a direct impact on the biodiversity crisis. In Biology

Concepts & Connections, Neil Campbell et al. point out that “several researchers

estimate that at the current rate of destruction, over half of all currently living plant and

animal species will be gone by the end of the 21st century” (766).

Introduction

In the following sections we will discuss the propaganda that many companies,

transnational corporations, and industry groups are using to convince the public that

organizations who defile the earth’s ecosystems are actually environmentalists.

Greenpeace coined the name “greenwash” for this practice of environmental whitewash

(Karliner 168–169).

Perhaps one reason advertising and public relation firms succeed in using

greenwash to mislead the public is that people do not always see, first hand, the effects

of global warming. The author’s epiphany came in July 2007.

In the summer of 2007, his wife and he visited the Rocky Mountain National Park

in Colorado. In one area of the park they drove for over 25 miles without seeing a

single live tree! An example of the devastation is shown in Figure 1.

The Moraine Park Museum is located just inside the east entrance to the park.

Park Ranger Don Cope works at the museum. In an interview with the author, Don

Cope talked about several issues, including the massive extinction of pine trees at the

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park. The Rocky Mountain National Park, the official park newspaper, published an

article about the cause of the forest devastation:

17 species of native bark beetles are known in Rocky Mountain National

Park and surrounding national forests; all have evolved with local forests.

Burrowing through the outer bark of conifers, these bark beetles lay eggs

which hatch into hungry beetle larvae which consume the living inner bark

of trees. (“Pine Beetles Kill Trees”)

Cope said the problem is not as simple as the eradication of the beetle. He said

there have always been times when large areas of the forest die because of warmer

temperatures—but never before on such a massive scale.

According to Cope, the problem is bad in Rocky Mountain National Park,

but it is also happening all over the West. (See Figure 2.) Increasing

temperatures and droughts allow the beetle to spread. He said it takes about

three weeks of temperatures below 30� Fahrenheit to completely eradicate

beetle eggs. Cope added, “We just don’t get temperatures that cold anymore.”

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Figure 1: Forest Devastation

These pictures were taken on July 28, 2007 on Bear Lake Road (east side of Rocky Mountain National Park). There are areas on the west side of the park where the forest is dead for as far as the eye can see. On the east side of the park the pine beetle devastation is still limited to intermittent (although numerous) clumps of trees.

Figure 2: Pine Beetles Kill Trees Throughout the West

“Perhaps due to general climate warming, average winter temperatures in the Rocky Mountains have been higher than normal over the past ten years. These milder temperatures have aided an outbreak of beetles during a time when trees were weakened by drought…. [Dark] grey in map shows extent of bark beetle infestations from Canada to Mexico.” Source: Adapted from “Pine Beetles Kill Trees Throughout the West.” Rocky Mountain National Park [Official Newspaper for the National Park Service] 17 Jun. 2007: 8.

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The Greenwash Machine

The United Nations appointed a group of “more than 2,500 of the world’s leading

climate scientists . . . in 1989, in 1990, and again in 1995,” to study climate change. In

The Corporate Planet Joshua Karliner quoted a United Nations report that concluded:

Without a serious reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (created by the

burning of oil, coal and wood). . . human-induced climate change

threatens to unleash more frequent and more powerful storms, melt polar

ice caps and thus cause sea levels to rise, increase the occurrence of

floods and drought, expand desertification, and augment extremes in

temperature. (qtd. in Karliner 15)

Karliner also quoted an article by Jessica Mathews who writes for the

Washington Post. Mathews suggests that “global warming has become another prime

target for those seeking to cast doubt on the scientific underpinnings of the

environmental crisis.” Furthermore, Karliner quoted Gelbspan and William Stevens,

who both reported that anti-environmental “attacks have intensified as scientific proof of

the inevitability of climate change becomes increasingly incontrovertible” (qtd. in

Karliner 14, 229).

Ecological sustainability is the “long-term viability of local, regional and global

ecosystems and the maintenance of the biological and genetic integrity of those

ecosystems” (qtd. in Karliner xiv–xv). According to Jari Karna et al. in a Greener

Management International article, corporations and industry groups often go to great

lengths to conjure up an image of sustainability rather than transform the operations of

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their company or industry—this is greenwashing—“environmental advertising without

environmental substance” (60).

The History of Greenwash

Over “50 years ago,” Rachel Carson, a marine biologist “became aware of the

damage Man was doing to” the planet. Carson published Silent Spring in 1962. She

“made a plea for saving the” earth’s ecosystems. Dorothy Turcotte notes in a Niagara

This Week article, “as a result of [Carson’s] book, the USA banned DDT and other

harmful pesticides” (1).

John Stauber in an article for PR Watch describes how “DuPont, Dow, Monsanto,

Shell, and W.R. Grace . . . developed a strategy to combat Carson and the fallout from

her book.” Stauber said these corporate efforts were “a prolonged carpet bombing

campaign” and that “the chemical corporations [succeeded] in casting considerable

doubt on Carson’s critique” (qtd in Karliner 169, 170, 272).

Jerry Mander describes the corporate response to the environmental movement

in the 1960s in an article for Communication Arts. He points out that “newly greened

corporate images flooded the airwaves, newspapers and magazines.” Mander calls this

“initial wave of greenwash” ecopornography (qtd. in Karliner 170, 272).

By the late 1960s, “oil, chemical, and automobile corporations, along with

industrial associations and utilities, were spending nearly $1 billion a year on

‘ecopornography.’” During the 1980s, as environment disasters became common

place, greenwash became more common and more sophisticated. By the 1990s

“corporate environmentalism” came into vogue. The corporate world went to great

lengths to put on a “shiny new coat of green paint.” ARCO petroleum hid its Los

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Angeles refinery “behind a façade of palm trees and artificial waterfalls. . . . DuPont

worked with Madison Avenue” to produce ads with clapping seals, jumping dolphins,

and flying flamingos, “all set to Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’” (qtd. in Karliner 170, 171).

A report called “Whose Summit Is It Anyway?” was published by the ASEED-

International Youth Network. According to this report, “the 1992 [United Nations] Earth

Summit in Rio [de Janeiro]” was funded by transnational corporations, including “ARCO,

ICI and Mitsubishi.” Walden Bello wrote an article for the Institute for Food and

Development Policy. In this article Bello reports that, in the years prior to the Earth

Summit, “Imperial Chemical Industries” (ICI) produced a toxic herbicide that “poisoned

tens of thousands of workers in Malaysia alone.” Nevertheless, ICI’s corporate logo was

prominently displayed at Earth Summit venues (qtd. in Karliner 172, 272, 273).

Oil Interests

In the 1980s Chevron began its “People Do” advertising campaign. The

campaign consisted of a series of ads that supposedly highlighted Chevron’s concern

for ecology and the environment. According to Lewis Winter’s article in the Journal of

Advertising Research, the People Do campaign was a “textbook case of successful

greenwashing” (qtd. in Karliner 173, 273).

One of Chevron’s ads featured a butterfly “’preserve’ at the El Segundo refinery”

in Los Angeles. During the time the People Do campaign ran, El Segundo “was listed

as the seventh-largest toxic polluter in Los Angeles County.” And, “the Los Angeles

Times reported that the largest oil leak in the country had been discovered” at El

Segundo. This oil leak caused “a 250-million-gallon lake of oil [to accumulate] under the

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vast refinery.” In “the neighboring community of Manhattan Beach . . . gasoline vapors

[seeped] into people’s homes” (qtd in Karliner 173, 246, 70, 71).

George Monbiot, in his article “Smoke and Mirrors” for the New Scientist,

suggests transnational oil firms “have created the impression that a large and growing

oil industry is compatible with preventing runaway climate change.” He contends that

the giant oil corporations attempt to “distract attention from the environmental impacts of

their activities” (pars 6, 8).

According to John Porreto, during the 2007 Exxon Mobil shareholders’ meeting,

“shareholder activists asked [Exxon] to set quantitative goals for reducing greenhouse

gas emissions and to commit to greater investment in renewable sources of energy.”

Exxon executives refused this request (13).

The Guardian, a reputable British newspaper, alleges “that the Exxon-financed

American Enterprise Institute (AEI) [offers] scientists and economists $10,000 each to

write articles undercutting the report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC). Travel expenses were also being offered” (qtd in “Consumer

Advocates” par 4).

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights issued a news release about

Exxon’s research activities. The press release reports that Exxon Mobil made a deal

with Stanford University’s “Global Climate and Energy Program, funding that research

program with a grant of $100 million” (qtd in “FTCR” par 4). Exxon has “exclusive rights

to any discoveries from the research” for five years. Stanford has no vote on the

oversight committee. This means the university does not have the authority to set the

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research agenda. By cloaking itself in the garments of a “leading research institution,”

Exxon can milk the “image for all its worth” (qtd in “FTCR” pars 11, 9).

Another tool that powerful oil interests and their PR firms use to dismantle efforts

to create “greater public control and accountability” is to infiltrate elementary schools. By

greenwashing children, oil interests can “preempt the emergence of a new generation

of . . . environmental activists” (Karliner 186). The Ecologist quoted a BP (formerly,

British Petroleum) greenwash blurb:

Together we can make a difference—At BP we’re committed to making

positive contributions to a cleaner and safer environment for our children.

As part of our commitment, we’re educating today’s children so that they

understand more about environmental hazards and how they can

contribute to a greener and safer future. . . . . By educating today’s

children, we are all more likely to have a greener future. Our BP

Educational Service provides schools, nationwide, with literature and

resources. . . In partnerships with teachers, our employees design

classroom and site activities for young people. Today, over 230 schools

are involved in the scheme that continues to breathe a new spirit into the

curriculum. . . All you have to do is call us on 01202 244041. . . and we’ll

help you make a difference. Isn’t it great to see a caring, sharing oil

company doing its bit for the planet? (“BPs Sunny Side”)

Although The Ecologist made many attempts to learn how to make a difference,

there was never a reply from BP. (See Figure 3).

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Figure 3: BP’s “Education Campaign”

Source: “BPs Sunny Side. . .” The Ecologist 31.3 (Apr. 2001): 9. Academic OneFile. Gale. Washburn U, Mabee Lib. 10 Jun. 2008 <http://0-find.galegroup.com/ A73040689>.

Recently, Shell launched a new ad campaign in which it claimed it is using 2CO

wastes “to grow flowers” (Lucas 45). Nigel Campbell, press secretary for Greenpeace,

dismissed this claim. Campbell said, “Shell spends a tiny 0.06% of its revenues

investing in renewable energy, but a whopping 70% searching for more oil and gas. To

add insult to climate injury, they divert even more money into propaganda to convince

us that they are all about renewables. Shell and other oil companies should walk their

talk” (qtd. in Lucas 45). Unfortunately, corporate leaders seem to be very motivated to

walk their talk when it comes to corporate profit strategies, but very lethargic concerning

2CO emission reduction strategies. As fossil fuel prices rise, more species become

extinct, and the global climate becomes harsher; it will be interesting to see if the huge

petroleum concerns pay any attention to the public outcry.

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Coal Interests

Kathleen Sibelius, the Governor of Kansas, opposes the Sunflower Electric

Power Corporation’s plan to build a 1,400 Mw coal-fired power plant in Holcomb,

Kansas. Sunflower’s application to build the plant “was rejected by Kansas Health and

Environment commissioner Roderick Bremby. This decision was the first instance of a

power plant being cancelled because of carbon dioxide emissions” (Holcomb Expansion

(pars 3, 4). This was a watershed event for the many who believe that carbon dioxide is

contributing to global warming, and want to reduce 2CO emissions.

According to Tom Thompson, Legislative Coordinator for the Kansas Sierra Club,

Sunflower’s new plant would produce “11 million tons of 2CO ” annually. In an article in

Planet Kansas entitled “The Lid on Coal’s Coffin Stays On,” Thompson notes that during

the “2008 legislative session,” lobbyists who support Sunflower’s plan tried to refute

Bremby’s authority and pass bills that would give Sunflower permission to proceed with

the Holcomb project. Each of three attempts was vetoed by Governor Sibelius, and on

each occasion the Kansas Legislature was “unable to muster the . . . votes needed to”

override the veto. So far the powerful coal interests have been defeated, but it is likely

they will try again in 2009 (1, 7).

Jeff Goodell, in an article for Rolling Stone, compares the coal boom that is

currently sweeping the United States to a “swan dive off a very tall building.” At the

same “moment that scientists have reached a consensus that we need to drastically cut

climate-warming pollution, the electric-power industry is racing to build more than 150

new [coal-powerd] plants across the United States” (par 1).

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Texas electric-power company lobbyists, including those who lobby for “TXU, an

electric-power company based in Dallas,” make Kansas coal interests look like playful

kittens. Laura “Miller, a mother of three,” is the “mayor of Dallas.” She spends most of

her spare time “traveling to small towns in rural Texas near the sites of proposed plants,

urging residents to join the Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition” to help improve the state’s

“miserable air quality” (Goodell pars 2, 13).

The Texas power industry “already dumps more carbon dioxide into the

atmosphere than any other state in the nation. . . .TXU. . . announced plans to build

eleven new [coal-powered] plants” that would release an additional “78 million tons” of

2CO , each year, into the atmosphere. The new plants would affect the state’s already

terrible air quality. Most Texas power companies burn “low-grade Texas coal.” (See

Table 1.) All coal produces carbon dioxide when it is burned. Low-grade coals also

produce more waste matter, which lowers air quality. The city of “Dallas is currently the

eighth-most polluted city in the nation, and Houston is fourth.” Texas also “ranks first in

the nation in mercury emission from power plants.” This byproduct of coal-fueled power

plants “can damage the brains and nervous systems of fetuses and small children”

(Goodell pars 2, 13).

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Table1: Analysis of Some Coals Mined in the US

Source: Adapted from Kraushaar, Jack J. and Robert A. Ristinen. Energy and Problems of a Technical Society. 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1993, p. 47.

In an article called “Coal Is Over” for The Ecologist, Joss Garman contends that

“despite pleas from scientists,” the coal industry in Britain wants to build many more

“unabated coal-powered stations.” These dinosaur power stations are so inefficient that

they will waste “almost half the energy” they create. “Climate-friendly solutions” do

exist. Denmark has built power plants that run at a much greater efficiency using state-

of-the-art technology. In Germany, “250,000 green-collar jobs” have been created, with

“300 times more solar and 10 times more wind” power production than the UK produces

(15).

Britain could have pursued a more strategic energy policy, but it chose to let

others in the European league take the lead on solutions that could ultimately influence

the future of the planet (Garman 15). Unfortunately, the US also seems to have

“missed the boat.”

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Detroit and the US Corn-Production Industry

According to Charlie Cray in an article for Multinational Monitor, “Ford, GM and

Chrysler” have consistently blocked stricter “corporate average fuel economy (CAFE)

standards. . . .The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) [is] a

taxpayer-funded program intended to triple gas mileage.” PNGV was “formed in

1993. . . . Seven years and a billion tax dollars [later], the average gas mileage of” US

vehicles had fallen to the “lowest point since 1980.” Carbon dioxide emission on “1999

passenger vehicles” increased 5.5% from 1993 levels (6).

In March of 2000 the “Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)” released data

showing that Ford light trucks had the worst 2CO emissions in the industry.

Nevertheless, Ford began a massive PR campaign to portray itself as a corporate

environmentalist. Ford became the exclusive sponsor of “Time Magazine’s special

Earth Day 2000 edition.” To kickoff its role in Earth Day, Ford sponsored a “heroes for

the Planet” special concert in San Francisco (Cray 6).

While the American auto industry cripples efforts to increase fuel efficiency,

ethanol is presented as the magic cure. Consumers are told that this corn-based

product will let everyone drive SUVs “merrily into the future.” Elizabeth Palmberg, in an

article for Sojourners Magazine called “Do The Math,” suggests that “in theory,

agrofuels seem like a great idea. Plants are a renewable resource, and, while burning

agrofuels creates the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, the feedstock plants absorb an

equivalent amount of 2CO as they grow” (8).

Then Palmberg points out that “the rosy picture collapses completely when you

do the math.” When the fossil-fuel costs of producing ethanol are factored in, Palmberg

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asserts, “this is not a fuel source—it’s a massive exercise in greenwashing theatre, a

cycle that burns extra oil and adds to global warming. The force behind it is not

environmentalism, but the political power of” the US corn-production industry (8).

The US government currently offers “a 51-cent credit” to companies “for every

gallon of ethanol they blend with gasoline.” This seems like a great opportunity to save

the planet. Unfortunately, the ethanol-production process doesn’t reduce carbon

dioxide emissions. The fossil fuel needed to grow crops, distill biofuel, transport inputs

and outputs long distances, and manufacture farm machinery is about the same as the

ethanol that is produced. Some have estimated there is a net loss! Additionally,

production of ethanol takes a lot of food out of production. One SUV ethanol tank fill is

worth about “450 pounds of corn.” That is “enough to feed a person for” an entire year.

The demand for corn to produce ethanol has also increased world corn prices—this

spells “malnutrition and [starvation] for many of the world’s poor” (Palmberg 8).

But the biofuel picture is not completely bleak. Ethanol distillation “from cellulose

(using woody plants)” instead of “starch (using corn or other food crops)” shows

promise. This type of technology can produce fuels from alternative crops. Switchgrass

is one example of an alternative crop; it requires little fertilization and “needs replanting

only once a decade” (Palmberg 8).

In Brazil ethanol has been produced successfully from starch. Mae-Wan Ho, in

an Institute of Science in Society press release, notes that the biofuel industry in Brazil

is often “held up as a model of sustainable biofuel production.” However, some

scientists believe that Brazil’s “rapidly expanding biofuel industry” (and corresponding

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deforestation) could produce extreme ecological, human, and economic havoc (pars 10,

1).

Many researchers are increasingly concerned that the deforestation of the

Amazon rainforest will greatly increase carbon dioxide emissions: “Much of the rainfall

that sustains the forest is recycled; water is absorbed by trees and returned to the

atmosphere by evapo-transpiration.” Long-term drought in the Amazon basin could

“seriously reduce the already diminishing global food supply.” This would “send ever

larger amounts of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere,” and create a

“catastrophic, upward spiral of global warming” (Ho par 24).

If cellulosic fermentation technologies are to become commercially feasible and

environmentally sustainable, the corn production industry’s greenwash machine will

have to be pushed out of the way. That means ending irresponsible government funding

using taxpayer money. Financial support needs to be redirected to technologies “that

will work.” If the corn industry’s propaganda machine can be stopped, “locally produced

cellulosic ethanol [could] take its place among a combination of renewable energy

sources, including” geothermal, tidal-flow, wind, solar, and small-scale hydroelectric

(Palmberg 8)

Is There a Future?

Elizabeth Palmberg points out the connection between globalization, the

American lifestyle, and global warming:

There’s a lot of waste we can cut. We don’t need to ship practically

everything we buy thousands of miles across the ocean. (Don’t put that

New Zealand apple in your mouth—it’s soaked with low-grade maritime

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fuel!) We don’t need to drive sport-utility behemoths, live in McMansions,

or avoid mass transit. It’s not going to be easy, but in return we will get

better-tasting food (in season), a coastline that’s not under water, and a

planet for our grandchildren to live on. (9)

Clarke, in his article for U.S. Catholic, stresses that “as ice caps melt and polar

bears paddle furiously for [any] icy safe haven” that is left, some people are awakening

to their role in climate change (46). But the greenwash machine is not going to just

quietly go away. Many powerful interests are much more concerned about profits than

they are about reducing carbon emissions. These interests feel that “drastic change is

too costly for apparently insignificant results” (qtd. in Beauchamp 131).

Clarke asserts that global warming will probably “reverse the decades of social

and economic progress in Asia, where 60 percent of the world’s people live.” The

Millennium Development Goal was to “halve global hunger and poverty by 2015”—

global warming will make this goal essentially unattainable (46).

We “can’t wait on the wealthy” and powerful transnational interests. “The time for

talk is rapidly ending; the time for real change is now” (Clarke 46). Only by confronting

the massive greenwash machine can the truth about global warming be heard. We

must know the truth if we are to create a new renewable energy technology to replace

the old fossil fuel technology. The need for this change becomes increasingly critical as

each new millennium day passes. The choice is ours: live in harmony with our planet or

destroy it and ourselves.

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