Cynthia McKinney Unsaddles in D.C. After Cross-Country Bike for Peace

Photo by Patricia Lake
By Kevin Gosztola

This week, Polidoc continues its production of Seriously Green. Yesterday, Cynthia McKinney was interviewed in front of the White House after she and others rode from Capitol Hill to Pennsylvania Avenue to mark the end of their biking trip with Bike4Peace from California to D.C.

McKinney compared her trip to running as a Green Party presidential candidate in 2008. She talked of what it was like to bike across the country when she had no idea how to bike at all. And, she discussed the need for Americans to establish a Peace Lobby that could combat policies of war.

The trip had its rough spots. McKinney fell and busted her lip on the first day. She had to return to her home in Georgia when she found out her house had been broken into. She missed part of the trip but rejoined Bike4Peace before the trip ended in D.C.

Later that night, Polidoc attended a National Press Club event with McKinney in the Sarah McClendon Room. The experience provided an opportunity for McKinney to show her spirit of perseverance to 30-40 people there who had packed into a room to eat dinner with her and celebrate the end of the bike trip.

She touched on her work as a congresswoman and mentioned how she was the only Democrat to lose in 2006 because, as Rahm Emanuel said, she was not a “team player.” She told of her travels with peace envoys that made attempts to break the siege and deliver aid to Gaza. She talked about how, on one of her trips, the Israelis rammed the ship she was on and also how the US Embassy could not be bothered to help her when she ended up in an Israeli prison except they did give her underwear.

McKinney also spoke of the way her family is constantly being spied on. She talked about her son being outside and a van rolling by with the side door open and people inside taking pictures.

There was an opportunity for Cynthia McKinney and Ingrid Betancourt, who ran on the Green Party ticket for president of Colombia, to meet since Betancourt was doing a book signing of her new book “Even Silence Has an End” at the National Press Club. Had they crossed paths, it would have been a rare opportunity for two former presidential candidates to meet each other.

The production continues through the weekend at a D.C. convergence of anti-mountaintop removal activists called Appalachia Rising.

International Climate Action Day Storms into San Francisco

Saturday marked a day of unprecedented international climate actions by activists in 181 countries who are building momentum to inspire political leaders to take substantial steps towards climate reform at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.

In the Bay Area of California, cyclists from as far away as Arcadia descended upon Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco in the culmination of the kickoff. City Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, urged people to push their municipal and state legislatures to take aggressive action to reform climate regulation, regardless of what the international community does (or does not) do.  A consistent fighter for green legislation in one of the greenest cities in the country, Mirkarimi most notably initiated the anti-plastic bag initiative which has since spread internationally.

The international day was spearheaded by the group 350.org and supported by numerous environmental activist groups, including GreenPeace. The number 350 represents the parts per million of carbon dioxide emissions that the atmosphere can bear if we want to avoid runaway global warming.

Corruption Floats in Water World

Where there is big public spending and no transparency, you will find corruption. And while no public/private sector is safe from malfeasance, the ever-increasing demand for clean water delivery opens the floodgate to covert practices in which billions of dollars leak into the coffers of individuals and private companies worldwide.

Investment in the delivery of clean water sector is always viewed as a high priority, creating costly infrastructure projects like damns that are rife with opportunity for squander. The pain of this financial abuse is hardest felt in impoverished communities worldwide, where up to 30 per cent of funds allocated by international financing institutions (IFI) like the World Bank are dribbled away through corruption. At this rate, the United Nations’ Declaration of its Millenium Goals is greatly impeded.

At World Water Week (WWW) this past week, Reporter Hannah Stoddard interviewed a panel consisting of private industry and non-profit sector activists. Amongst her guests were:

* Teun Batermeijer, Manager of the Water Integrity Network (WIN),
* Ramisetty Murali, Convenor for the Freshwater Action Network (FAN), and
* Thomas van Waeyenberge, Representative, International Federation of Private Water Operators (Aquafed)

All three guests agree that while plans made at large governance discussions like the WWW are academically useful, they are separated from the practical reality of the practices on the ground.

Batermeijer and Murali urge the creation of greater transparency both through the protection of whistle blowers and increased local control. They call for the creation of institutionalized mechanisms of accountability and regulation to bare pressure upon the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for taking bribes.

The Federation of Private Water Operator’s van Waeyenberge said, “Corruption is a part of every discussion that we should be having.” He argued that while private industry is a part of the problem, it can also be part of the solution. Private brokers are under constant pressure to root out corruption and, as on the ground implementers of public policy, they could share their experiences on successful policies on dealing with corrupt officials. However, van Waeyenberge balks at regulation and the consortium that he represents would prefer an independent regulatory body which may be less susceptible to fraudulent influence than a government run entity. He suggested that the various water stakeholders develop more trust with one another and forge an alliance against corrupt practices.

Murali and Batermeijer urge the international financing institutions (IFI) to monitor the water industry and make it more transparent and accountable so that journalists and activists can highlight inefficiencies and expose culpable parties, both public and private. According to Murali, the so called “Naming and Shaming” is easier when it is one individual involved; when it is a nexus of vested interests: politicians, bureaucrats, both ruling and opposing government parties, private sector companies and individuals, it is much more difficult and personally dangerous to ferret out the truth. Batermeijer also said that climate change will increase the need for regulation and oversight as demands become more acute.

Hannah Stoddart, reporter for the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) interviews a panel of water experts from both public and private sectors in this audio clip.

Small Town Mayor Boosts Plastic Bag Ban

Fairfax just enacted its ban or plastic bags in retail locations on May 4, 2009.
Larry Bragman, Mayor of the northern California town of Fairfax, discusses the need for and commercial benefit of banning plastic bags in this video.

Advocates of the ban, including fellow city council member Lew Tremaine (Green Party) and lifelong resident Andy Peri, first brought the resolution forward to the city council last June. However, two bag manufacturers threatened to sue the town because the council had not conducted an environmental review. The council decided to make the ban voluntary. By the fall, an anti-plastic bag measure was on the ballot and passed with 79 per cent of the vote, thus evading the need (and expense) of an “environmental review”.

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Ashley Judd Rails Against Mountain Top Removal

During the I Love Mountains rally in Frankfort on Feb. 17, 2009, actor Ashley Judd took the podium to speak out against mountain top removal mining and in support of the Stream Saver Bill in this video.

(video courtesy of David Stephensen, Lexington Herald-Leader)

Household Cleaners Makers Face Lawsuit

From LATimes Greenspace

Environmentalists to sue for disclosure of chemicals in cleaning products

The makers of Tide, Ajax and other common household cleansers are being asked to come clean about their ingredients. Environmental and health activists announced plans for a lawsuit to make Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and two other major firms reveal the chemical ingredients of their cleaning products and their research on their effects.

Irish Green Party Holds YouTube Video Competition – Where’s the Beef?

The Irish Green Party launched a video contest on YouTube, hoping to utilize the social network to build a stable of green message videos makers as well as messages. Now, at it’s end, the contest has 8 videos entries, not all of them clearly on message. It’s a great idea for a grassroots party, but the lack of participation spells disaster. So, where are all the green videographers?

FUEL Runs on People Powered Demands

“FUEL”

Winner of this year’s Sundance Audience Choice Award for best documentary, “Fuel” premiered in Southern California over the weekend. The director-narrator Josh Tickell weaves his personal story with interviews from environmentalists, “green” celebrities, educators and policy makers to expose the manipulated world of fossil fuel oil industry and the hopeful promise of biofuel as an alternative.

Instead of going to a movie to escape from your problems,
go to a movie that might solve your problems.

To have the documentary “Fuel” shown in your area, the filmmakers recommend you send this sample letter to your local theater.

For more information on the movie and the community it is trying to engage, go to the Fuel website.

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Consumers Put Ads to Greenwashing Test

Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Green ads from Chevrolet, Ozarka and Toyota Prius are among the first to be scrutinized by consumers on a new Web site launched today by EnviroMedia Social Marketing, in partnership with the advertising faculty of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC). This online forum allows consumers to judge for themselves the green claims made by major advertisers.

The Web site — http://www.GreenwashingIndex.com — debuts from the nation’s capital one day before the Federal Trade Commission kicks off its first in a series of public workshops addressing environmental marketing claims. Ultimately, the FTC may update its “Green Guides,” which were originally established in 1992 as guidelines to avoid action by the agency against advertising with an environmental claim that is unfair or deceptive.

EnviroMedia principals Valerie Davis and Kevin Tuerff announced the Greenwashing Index(SM) from the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, Dec. 11 and called on consumers to submit ads. The first posts of real ads are now on the Web site, and consumers are invited to score those ads and post others.

“We’ve been witnessing a tidal wave of green advertising over the past year,” said EnviroMedia President Kevin Tuerff. “It’s our hope the Greenwashing Index(SM) will help eradicate bad environmental marketing claims and, at the same time, shine a positive light on companies making measurable reductions in carbon emissions related to climate change.”

What’s Greenwashing?

“Greenwashing,” a term that has been around for many years, is used to describe a company or organization that spends more time and money claiming to be green through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact.

“When an ad is posted and ranked on the Greenwashing Index(SM) site, it doesn’t necessarily mean a company or organization is not doing a good job with its environmental marketing claims,” said EnviroMedia CEO Valerie Davis.

“We’re providing a venue that educates consumers on what to look for in green
ads and an easy mechanism for evaluating them. Scores will range from ‘good,’
to ‘pushing it,’ to ‘total greenwashing.’”

GreenPeace of UK Greenwash of the Year Award Goes to…

United Kingdom’s Green Peace activists attempt to give the first annual Emerald Paintbrush Award to a company that has excelled in Greenwashing in this video. While the activists made it to the front desk of the award winner, British Petroleum (BP), they were hastily removed from the premises still holding the green award, the doors closed behind them.

The citation awarded BP for:

A multi-million dollar advertising campaign proclaiming its commitment to the earth, the sun and everything in between, and proudly announcing that the best way out of the energy “fix” is an energy “mix”.

In reality, the unnamed Tuxedo-clad activist said, BP had spent 93 per cent of its 2008 investment dollars in oil and gas exploration, drilling and distribution. Solar power received just $300 million dollar or just 1.3 per cent of BP’s total investment.

“So thanks must go to at this moment to BP senior staff, investment managers, strategists, and above all its advertising agency,” the jocular Green Peace representative concluded.