Occupy "Greenwashing" (tar sands ≠ sustainability) in Vancouver

The Deets:

Wednesday March 14, 2012
8:00 pm start
Vancouver Convention Centre
1055 Canada Place,
Vancouver, BC

The Call Out:

Join together to shame two hypocrites - Christy Clark and Peter Kent - and prevent them from ‘greenwashing' their image when it comes to sustainability. Let them hear the voice of local opposition to pipelines and tanker traffic on BC's coast.

Now here's a greenwashing ad that corporations would be proud of.

Greenwashing -- PSA from Petroleum and Plastics - from the comedy show "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" satirical PSA about the disingenuous attitude of petroleum and plastics industries towards the environment.

"So when you hear about an oil spill killing thousands of birds...think of deer, playing in a field. Look dolphins!"

Yesterday, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) took Obama administration officials to task for encouraging Americans to believe that the majority of the oil in the Gulf of Mexico had dispersed.

“People want to believe that everything is OK and I think this report and the way it is being discussed is giving many people a false sense of confidence regarding the state of the Gulf,” Markey said.

Johann Hari writes in The Independent that, "Our leaders are aren't giving us Hopenhagen - they're giving us Cokenhagen, a sugary feelgood hit filled with sickly additives and no nutrition. Their behaviour here - where the bare minimum described as safe by scientists isn't even being considered - indicates they are more scared of the corporate lobbyists that fund their campaigns, or the denialist streak in their own country, than of rising seas and falling civilisations."

Last week, Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil and the American Automobile Association (AAA) announced new programs that promote sustainability and a cleaner planet. The three corporations may have turned over a new leaf, but their efforts may actually be a case of corporate greenwashing. In today’s economic climate, many companies are taking advantage of consumers that don’t have the funds to be choosy about the environmental-friendliness of their purchases.