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Greenwashing:
public relations boosterism
What is greenwash?
Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Tenth Edition
greenwash (n):
"Disinformation disseminated by an organisation so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.
Derivatives greenwashing. Origin from green on the pattern of whitewash."
Ecocentrism:
Eugene not "number one Green City"
"World's Greatest City of
the Arts & Outdoors"
world's most absurd slogan
TREES:
Transportation, Energy,
Environment, Sustainability |
TRANSPORTATION
after Peak Oil
WETLANDS Alternative:
West Eugene Transportation,
Land and Neighborhood
Design Solutions
West Eugene Collaborators:
Bypassing Sustainability:
Planes, Trains, Automobiles
Green Building & Boondoggles
ENVIRONMENT
Protection and Restoration
- ecoforestry:
selective logging to restore tree farms to forests
no clearcuts or biocides,
value added products
- green business, clean industry
myco and bioremediation,
- zero discharge
ban toxics to protect public health
carbohydrate
economy, no petrochemicals
- reduce garbage: waste is a terrible thing to mind
- intelligent (urban) design:
beauty not ugliness
(prevent strip mauls, billboards)
Polluted Air and Water
- Clearcutting the Cascades
& Coast Range
- Aerial Herbicides blanket our forests
- Slash pile burning - a huge waste of trees
- Toxic Eugene:
Plywood glue factories
Railroad pollution
wood preserving
- Grass Seed Capital of the World:
Pollen and Smoke Pollution
- Nano-pollution info at oilempire.us
ENERGY
for the Year 2025
Region 2050 & limits to growth
- build solar panel and wind turbine
factories
- convert grass seed farms to grow
biofuels
- require passive solar design in
building codes
- relocalize production to reduce
consumption
(fewer delivery trucks)
- retrofit buildings: conservation
& renewables
- initiatives for sustainable jobs after Peak Oil
SUSTAINABILITY
is not efficiency, it is zero petroleum
- paradigm shifts: psychological and political
- beyond boom and bust: steady state
economy
- local food security,
more community
gardens,
teach gardening skills at neighborhood levels,
protect farm soils
from "development"
regional inventories of food production and
processing
- economic stability needs democratic
decisions,
Campaign Finance Reform
- public health: single payer health
care
- support local economy:
strengthen
local businesses,
build downtown Farmers Market
not Whole Foods predator,
ban big box megastores & franchises
Human Rights City?
- Chinese Olympics
- June 1, 1997:
pepper spray used on
peaceful protestors
- rapist cops convicted of felonies
- scaring toddlers
- tasers
greenwash groups:
Activist Malpractice
Disasters:
preventative, permaculture perspectives
Disaster Mitigation and Land Use:
-
Eugene needs intelligent (urban) design
Hospitals, Earthquakes, Floods,
and Lahars
Troubled Bridges Over Water:
the I-5 bridge crisis
West Eugene sprawl in floodplains: WEP, Target megastore, Royal Node
subdivision
The Long Emergency:
Peak Oil and
Climate Collapse require paradigm shift
Katrina disaster shows the Federal
government response: we are on our own
Eugene: the bubble
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Eugene is not #1 Green City
It is better than some, worse than others
The City of Eugene’s marketing campaign to pretend it is the “World’s Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors” and America’s “number one” green city is embarrassing to those watching the city continue business as usual (along with some secondary policies that are small shifts appropriate for a multi-century journey toward sustainability).
The “arts and outdoors” slogan might be more accurate if applied to the Oregon Country Fair but it is a delusional description for Eugene, especially when many other cities (such as Portland, OR) have more vibrant arts communities, public support for the arts and more protected open space.
The “number one Green City” title was given to the City by a New York City based group that promotes garbage incineration as ecological and failed to acknowledge that Eugene’s economy is largely based on unsustainable practices such as clearcuts, RV manufacture, toxic chemicals (plywood glue), big box chain stores and construction of ugly, inefficient houses.
from the wikipedia entry on "puffery":
The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defined puffery as a “term frequently used to denote the exaggerations reasonably to be expected of a seller as to the degree of quality of his product, the truth or falsity of which cannot be precisely determined.” [1]
The FTC stated in 1984 that puffery does not warrant enforcement action by the Commission. In its FTC Policy Statement on Deception, the Commission stated: "The Commission generally will not pursue cases involving obviously exaggerated or puffing representations, i.e., those that the ordinary consumers do not take seriously."
Federal Trade Commission Policy Statement on Deception, 103 F.T.C. 174 (1984), appended to Cliffdale Assoc. Inc., 103 F.T.C. 110 (1984).
^ Better Living, Inc. et al., 54 F.T.C. 648 (1957), aff’d, 259 F.2d 271 (3rd Cir. 1958).
Global Warming & “Carbon Neutral” hoax
The latest craze in the greenwash industry is the hoax that business as usual can be made “carbon neutral.” Planting trees and installing solar panels are good things - but they cannot put carbon from petroleum, natural gas and coal back into the crust of the Earth. Activities that promote alleged carbon neutrality rarely are accompanied by reductions in fossil fuel combustion. Practical steps toward a stable climate would have to include a moratorium on new road construction - which few politicians support.
www.cheatneutral.com
www.permatopia.com/carbon-neutral.html
www.oilempire.us/climate.html
Radical Honesty About Overshoot
Perhaps the single most important step is to admit that our civilization has “overshot” the planet’s ability to sustain it. Claiming that we can continue business as usual with accounting tricks such as “carbon credits” or relying solely on technological changes is dangerous denial. In the early 1990s, the United Nations Environmental Program, the Smithsonian Institution and many other eminent authorities warned the 1990s were the decade of decision on the environment. In 2005, the Dept. of Energy’s “Hirsch Report” warned it would take 20 years of serious effort to mitigate the impacts of Peak Oil -- but the peak is here, now.
www.oilempire.us/beyond-oil.html
Clearcuts and RVs are not "Green"
Eugene is the timber capital of Oregon and was built on destroying what was one of the greatest forests in the known universe. In the long run, selective forestry generates more board feet than clearcutting plantations -- but that would require a different economic paradigm (long term survival would be more valued than short term greed).
To tackle global warming and promote sustainability, the Oregon Forest Practices Act must be changed to ban clearcutting on private timberlands and prohibit the massive spraying of toxic herbicides, especially in municipal drinking watersheds.
When the orgy of clearcutting old growth forests began to run out, Lane County attracted Recreational Vehicle manufacturing as a partial replacement. These industries are not going to survive the end of cheap oil - but could be converted to bus manufacturing.
Green Business
Eugene’s air quality is only clean when it is raining. We are forced to breathe lumber mill dust, grass pollen in the late spring and grass seed smoke in the summer, herbicide sprays, corrosive acids from the Hyundai / Hynix chip factory, and toxic glues from the plywood companies.
A public health approach would require shifts to least toxic and non-toxic production and ban needless poisons. Every garden store in Eugene - except Down to Earth - sells 2,4-D, a component of the notorious Agent Orange sprayed on Viet Nam. If the City wants to be “green” it could ban the sale of Agent Orange components, since they cause breast cancer and testicular tumors.
Energy
Most people think of personal transportation if they think about energy consumption. But buildings consume as much energy as moving people and things -- and buildings last much longer than vehicles. Several jurisdictions in Europe now require solar energy installations on new buildings -- there is no reason why this should not be mandated everywhere.
Transportation
The City of Eugene helped pressure the Federal Highway Administration and Oregon Dept. of Transportation to select “No Build” for the West Eugene Porkway study. However, the City is not willing to convert their parcels bought for the WEP into parklands, which would be permanent cancellation. The City also hopes to spend at least $4 million to extend Roosevelt Blvd through wetlands along Amazon Creek to facilitate more waferboard houses at the edge of town. www.permatopia.com/wetlands.html has background info on WEP.
The Kulongoski administration is scheming with the Bush regime to expand Interstate 5 into a “NAFTA Superhighway” between Canada and Mexico. The Washington State component would include parallel truck only lanes and multiple utility corridors (power, water, natural gas, oil).
www.road-scholar.org/corridors-future.html
Food
Most of Lane County’s agricultural land is devoted to growing grass seed for distant lawns. Relocalization of the food supply would require using these lands for food, fiber and fuel.
A relocalized food system would include local food processing facilities for farmers. It is unfortunate that the site of Eugene’s former food cannery is now a Federal homeland security building.
Intelligent Urban Design and Democracy
The City of Eugene requires structural reforms to make shifts toward sustainability. The unelected City Manager should be solely an implementer of policies, not an insular, undemocratic position unaccountable to the citizens. Civil servants serve the entire public, not merely the elites who own construction, timber and real estate businesses. Structural reform is needed to end the culture of impunity at the planning and police departments.
More democracy would make it easier to stop continued urban uglification along West 11th, Coburg Road and Beltline. Two tests for Eugene’s alleged interest in sensible land use planning will be whether tens of millions in corporate welfare will be lavished on a rushed plan to convert downtown into a yuppie shopping maul and whether Triad Corporation will be allowed to relocate McKenzie Willamette Hospital to the least accessible location inside the Urban Growth Boundary. (Two better locations for the hospital: downtown Eugene, Second and Garfield)
A few years ago, Hood River, Oregon banned excessively large big box stores, a law upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Eugene still welcomes more Sprawl-Marts. Arcata, California banned new chain stores regardless of size - perhaps the most progressive land use law in the country.
Local Economy and Community Currency
Corvallis, Oregon has a community currency program called “Hour Exchange.” There is enough sentiment in the Eugene area to have a similar effort -- but an attempt a few years ago got bogged down in excessive meetings. A test for the Relocalization movement would be implementation of a similar system. www.hourexchange.org
Waste is a terrible thing to mind
In the late 1980s, dozens of U.S. cities banned styrofoam cups and plates (they are not “recyclable” and contain many toxins). The City could set a good example by only using washable plates for Council work sessions and other official events. In some European communities, festivals such as Saturday Market are required to use reusable, washable plates and cups. San Francisco just passed a ban on plastic bags (urban tumbleweed) and further efforts to stop plastic trash that strangles wildlife is needed.
Peak Oil task force
Portland and San Francisco have City sponsored Peak Oil task forces to examine how they will be able to cope with the end of cheap oil. While there were some interesting things in the City of Eugene’s “sustainability” task force, it did not consider in detail how energy shortages are going to impact the regional economy, with countless consequences for food availability, economic stability and social cohesion.
How humanity “uses” the rest of the non-renewable resources determines the future of civilization. Will we “spend” the remaining oil on solar panels or fighter planes? Will we relocalize economies or subsidize more Wal-Mart globalization? Who will be able to make these decisions?
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