GreenPepper Blog

BP, Aquarium for the Pacific Partnership Could Prove Detrimental

By Ann Barlow, GreenPepper

The environmental impact from the Gulf oil spill has just taken a whole new direction. Unlike the danger to marine life, this one isn’t so direct or destructive – but over time its effect could nonetheless be highly damaging.

It seems that, like many companies and conservation/environmental nonprofits or NGOs these days, BP and the Aquarium for the Pacific have formed a partnership that would benefit both, thanks to a $1 million contribution from the former to the latter. BP would demonstrate its commitment to the preservation of marine life, and the aquarium could build on its programs.

As always, timing is everything, and this week, the aquarium is scheduled to unveil its new BP Sea Otter Habitat, with BP as a featured guest. Ah, AWKWARD, as my teenage daughter would say. Nonetheless, the aquarium has been very gracious about BP. And hey, maybe the otters can make room for some Gulf transplants just as Californians did with some displaced New Orleans residents following Katrina.

I doubt other nonprofits or NGOs would be quite so forgiving as the aquarium has been. Their mission is to conserve what we have and fix what we’re destroying. It’s only been in recent years that companies and NGOs have warily come together to solve problems, recognizing that they could achieve their respective goals more quickly and effectively if they partnered rather than battled. But it’s an uneasy alliance, particularly on the part of the NGOs, which fear the loss of their reputation and supporter base if they ‘sell out’ to greenwashing corporations.

There are precious few corporations that have achieved anything approaching perfection on the environmental front, but many NGOs have in good faith come to appreciate the genuine efforts some companies are making, and have forged alliances to undertake very important projects. My fear is that NGOs will in fact be criticized for these partnerships following the BP disaster and as a result will return to the old days of us vs. them.

If that happens, it will be another tragic loss to the environment at the hands of BP.

Drill, Baby, Drill Has Its Consequences

Guest Post By Steve Cody, author of RepMan Blog

Sarah Palin, John McCain and their Tea Party/Measuring Up brethren have been chanting 'Drill, baby, drill'  for some time now.

Wrapping themselves in the American flag, pro-drill Republicans say it's critical we plumb the oil reserves lying off the U.S. shoreline. To do otherwise, they argue, is to keep us held hostage by the Middle East oil cartel. But, at what price?

The horrific BP oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico is just the latest example of what will happen if we continue to recklessly drill, baby, drill. Five billion barrels of oil are pouring daily into the Gulf's waters and slowly, but surely, making their way towards shore. The carnage to wildlife and pristine shorelines may be catastrophic (and, New Orleans may once again bear the brunt of the damage). Making matters even worse, BP can't figure out how to cap the sunken oil rig's three separate leaks.

Republicans paint domestic drilling opponents as unpatriotic tree huggers. Maybe so, but the more companies such as BP are given free reign to drill into America's continental shelf, the more we'll see environmental disasters like the one unfolding in the Gulf.

It's time for even more significant investments in alternative energy sources such as nuclear, wind and solar. Nobody wants to be held hostage by the oil cartel, but right wing hawks like Ms. Palin need to wise up. Otherwise, her multiple children and grandchildren will not only be able to see Russia from their front porch, they'll be able to walk across an oil-caked Bering Sea to get there.

Guest Post By Steve Cody, author of RepMan Blog

Sarah Palin, John McCain and their Tea Party/Measuring Up brethren have been chanting 'Drill, baby, drill'  for some time now.

Wrapping themselves in the American flag, pro-drill Republicans say it's critical we plumb the oil reserves lying off the U.S. shoreline. To do otherwise, they argue, is to keep us held hostage by the Middle East oil cartel. But, at what price?

The horrific BP oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico is just the latest example of what will happen if we continue to recklessly drill, baby, drill. Five billion barrels of oil are pouring daily into the Gulf's waters and slowly, but surely, making their way towards shore. The carnage to wildlife and pristine shorelines may be catastrophic (and, New Orleans may once again bear the brunt of the damage). Making matters even worse, BP can't figure out how to cap the sunken oil rig's three separate leaks.

Republicans paint domestic drilling opponents as unpatriotic tree huggers. Maybe so, but the more companies such as BP are given free reign to drill into America's continental shelf, the more we'll see environmental disasters like the one unfolding in the Gulf.

It's time for even more significant investments in alternative energy sources such as nuclear, wind and solar. Nobody wants to be held hostage by the oil cartel, but right wing hawks like Ms. Palin need to wise up. Otherwise, her multiple children and grandchildren will not only be able to see Russia from their front porch, they'll be able to walk across an oil-caked Bering Sea to get there.

Three and Out

By Ann Barlow, GreenPepper

Today, the third power company -– Exelon -- announced that it was quitting the U.S. Chamber because of the latter’s increasingly strident perspective on climate change.  After the Chamber called for a ‘Scopes monkey trial’ on climate change, these energy companies (think on that for a minute) said enough is enough.

If energy companies that, like PG&E, still depend at least in part on heat-trapping fossil fuels to produce energy have thrown up their hands, then how much credibility can the Chamber continue to have?  If you don’t want cap-and-trade, for example, because it’s going to cost your business money, ok.  If shifting resources from old technologies and energy sources to new ones could make your business go away, fair enough. But a trial-type public hearing that challenges the basic science of burning fossil fuels?  I’ll tell you who looks like the monkey.

The U.S. Chamber looks increasingly out of step not only with the mainstream, but with reality.  Businesses that continue to depend on it to be their voice and source of wisdom do so at their own peril.