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Earth Day, Easter, Passover, rebirth: connect the dots
Plant a tree, park an SUV, raise a voice, forgive a debt, etc.
 By: Ish Theilheimer
When I was young, it was popular to say "never trust anyone over 30." Now that I'm 50, I know just how true that saying was.
Earth Day turned 30 on Saturday. Can we trust it? Thirty years later, "greenwash" - making polluters look like eco-angels - is the main thing most news consumers hear during Earth Week. This week, one of our favourite political sites (and a frequent source of SG news and columns) www.corpwatch.org announced its annual Greenwash Awards. The big winner this year was Ford. As Corpwatch notes;
On April 15th Ford sponsored the Heroes for the Planet concert in San Francisco…. The Heroes for the Planet march, concert and media extravaganza was the grand kickoff for one of the most expensive and intensive environmental advertising campaigns the world has ever seen. Ford recently announced that all corporate brand advertising will have an environmental theme. It expects to spend as much on this greenwashing as they do to roll out a new line of cars.
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Ford: a better idea for corporation greenwash |
To do so Ford has bought the services of one of the best anti-environmental PR firms in the business, Hill and Knowlton. John Stauber, editor of PR Watch, a group which tracks the public relations industry says the company is notorious. "Hill and Knowlton are the propagandists for the worst polluting corporations on the planet, and proud of it."
That's the worst of Earth Day. A lot of corporate hype.
Fortunately, people - not corporations - still own Earth Day. And we can use it.
The recent anti-IMF demonstrations in Washington showed how people can make a difference. The only reason IMF and World Bank officials and politicians like Paul Martin are even mumbling about forgiving third-world debt is because their polling shows that millions of world citizens want them to.
Why? Because events like the massive anti-IMF demo in Washington have highlighted the issues and ignited a debate. (For a Canadian eyewitness account, check out Holly Dressel's remarkable article.)
The demonstrators came from a lot of different places and perspectives but had one thing in common. They knew the global trading system is out of kilter and a threat to all of us as consumers, citizens and workers. Unless the people who produce food, lumber, wood and metals get decent prices and fair trading practices, the result will be economic turmoil - such as in Zimbabwe this week - and environmental disaster - such as the flooding in Mozambique last month.
The damages and dangers are not limited to the third world. Ask any Canadian farmer, logger, or tree-hugger. The climate's changing, every resource stock is declining, and commodity prices are essentially the same as they were 30 years ago. It takes a toll. We see it in the changing weather, dying regional and rural economies, and growing poverty and homelessness in our cities.
Consumers and citizens can fight back. For many, this past Easter / Passover / Earth Day weekend was far more than just another excuse to eat too much. Coupled with the anti-IMF activities, it marked the beginning of what, with luck and leadership, could become a worldwide movement to forgive Third World debt and create trade that leaves everyone better off.
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The ecumenical coalition Jubilee 2000 calls for the cancellation of the unpayable debt of the world's poorest countries and it's spreading internationally |
Jubilee Year - reason to celebrate?
A big part of this push could come from an ecumenical coalition called Jubilee 2000. It's an international movement calling for cancellation of the unpayable debt of the world's poorest countries. The Canadian homepage is at: www.web.net/~jubilee/English (the international page www.jubilee2000uk.org/ main.html is a vital resource too).
There's plenty we can all do at the local and personal level to sustain our green Earth. Suzanne Elston offered a lot of practical tips in her Straight Goods article, Global Party Celebrates Earth Day 2000.
Me, I intend to plant a few hundred little pine and spruce seedlings this week and a half dozen apple trees. And I've got to do something with that heaping load of horse manure on the back of the half-tonne (sold to me by neighbour and heavy horse-breeder Alex McGrath)! Maybe I can sell it to the mainstream media as content.
Problem is, our good old Earth gets too much BS and not enough of the real thing - straight goods.
- Ish Theilheimer
- April 23, 2000
- ish@straightgoods.com
PS: Please send your examples of Canadian greenwash:
 Straight Goods wants to know
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