Tag Archives: president obama

What do Greenpeace and the Tea Party have in common?

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President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are at the center of the IRS controversy

President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are at the center of the IRS controversy

Robust democracy is essential for ecological health; democracy is guaranteed by rights afforded to individuals and groups in civil society.

Greenpeace applauds President Obama for demanding accountability up the chain of command in the matter of political discrimination by the IRS.

We believe as firmly in the rights of all members of society as we do in our own as an organization.  Stifling of political speech has no place in our society.  We have not always been granted that respect.  Greenpeace and allied organizations like the NAACP and Rainforest Action Network have been threatened – with the tax code as a weapon – by our ideological opponents and politicians allied with them. Continue reading →

Avoid buying Koch Industries products with new phone app!

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Here’s a cool new toy. A popular article on Forbes today details a new smart phone app called “Buycott,” which is catching the attention of shoppers who want to make sure their money spent on groceries and other basic products isn’t enriching corporations with bad records on social and environmental responsibility.

Take Koch Industries. Greenpeace has written extensively about the Koch brothers’ $67 million in support for groups that deny climate change science and promote industries that pollute our air and water, our politics, and our health. The millions of dollars going to groups like ALEC and the State Policy Network also serves to break unions, privatize education, and water down healthcare reform.

Those are good reasons not to give a dime to the multi-billionaire Koch brothers, who own the vast majority of Koch Industries’ private stock. Yet many consumers may not realize that buying products like Quilted Northern toilet paper or Brawny paper towels contributes to Koch profits through their giant pulp and paper subsidiary, Georgia-Pacific. Nor perhaps did the incoming Obama Administration realize that the 2009 inaugural carpet was made by a Koch subsidiary called INVISTA. What a crummy business deal–the President buys your carpet, then you coordinate hundreds of millions of dollars from billionaires determined to defeat his re-election bid…if only there had been an app!

“I have a question–who bought this Koch Industries carpet? Are you serious?!”

The President’s staff aren’t alone. You may well have Koch products in your house. Continue reading →

President Obama, consider this your “Need-To-Do” List

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President Obama has to support renewable energy in his second term over oil, coal and natural gas.

Here in DC outside of Greenpeace US’s headquarters, everyone’s getting ready for President Barack Obama’s big inauguration day this Monday. There’s a buzz in the air, street vendors selling hats with bedazzled “Obamas” and stern warnings from the city’s Metro system about packed trains and long lines.

While we congratulate President Obama in his second term, we’ve got a bit of a to-do list for him.  Actually, make that a “Need-To-Do” list. And it’s not actually for us. It’s for the future of every living thing on this planet including President Obama and his family. And the other guy’s. Continue reading →

Resilience from Rockaway Residents as Sandy Relief is Interrupted by Nor’Easter

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It’s cold and wet and hectic here in the Rockaway penninsula of Queens, New York City. Disaster relief efforts from hurricane Sandy are being interrupted by a Nor’easter storm that is now rolling in. As I type, the rain is transitioning to snow and word has it that the National Guard and the Red Cross are pulling out.

Snow is starting to collect on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Rockaway, NY.

While much of the country is focused on the outcome of the election, residents of Rockaway NY are buttoning up their coats, grabbing provisions and either buckling down or evacuating. Again.

That is, the folks who are aware that this storm is coming in. Not everybody is aware that an evacuation order is in place, and not everybody is willing or able to leave. Stranded residents are a major concern here right now. When Sandy trashed the area last week, some nursing homes along the beach were ordered not to evacuate, something fellow residents are feeling sore about as they look out for one another.

Enduring Sandy: A United Community Faces Challenges Head On

Despite miserable weather in the disaster zone and an ongoing lack of basic conveniences, I have seen incredible resilience from residents and relief volunteers in the Rockaways. Continue reading →

VIDEO: Romney confronted in Ohio, “Do you still think the rising of the seas is funny?”

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At a campaign event today in Etna, Ohio, Governor Romney was asked, “Do you still think the rising of the seas is funny?” Romney responded, “I never imagined such a thing is funny,” despite using rising sea levels as a punchline in his speech to the Republican National Convention.

Woman: “Do you still think the rising of the seas is funny?”

Romney: “I never imagined such a thing is funny.”

Man: “Is climate change still a joke to you?”

Romney: “As a matter of fact, if you’d like to – I know you’re filming – if you’d like to see my view on global warming, I wrote a book, and there’s a chapter on global warming and you’ll see what I think we can do to deal with it.” Continue reading →

Romney Wants to Play Dodge Ball in a Hurricane

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For the second time today, Mitt Romney dodged a question about Hurricane Sandy and climate change.

After standing by as his supporters drowned out a question about climate change with chants of “USA! USA!”, Mitt Romney was confronted again at a rally today in Virginia about his climate silence. An audience member on the rope line asked Mitt Romney “Given Hurricane Sandy, how would you address climate change as president?”

The opportunity to connect the dots was there for the second time today, but once again Romney dodged. Continue reading →

Corporate Confrontations and the DNC

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Protesters at Duke Energy

Protesters at Duke Energy headed off by police

The convention in Charlotte is over and I can’t help but write down some thoughts. Lots of environmentalists are happy that President Obama at least made some mention of climate change in his speech last night. I am too. That said, I think there are some systemic issues that I’d like to point out with what happened in Charlotte.

This city was unnecessarily locked down. Groups of between 15 and 20 officers on bike and on foot were everywhere. Tinted black Suburbans cruised the streets while massive checkpoints dominated the major thoroughfares. All areas of uptown Charlotte were gated and pathways were walled off. I saw one estimate that five miles of barricades have been ordered. That seems like an understatement.

Freedom of movement and speech should not be severely restricted in a functional democracy. It simply wasn’t this way 4 years ago in Denver.

Something is different.

Charlotte is the corporate headquarters of Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy. Here, these companies run the show. As Duke CEO Jim Rogers spoke last night about a “grandchildren test,” I couldn’t help but think there was a good deal of hypocrisy in the air.

He wants new nukes – those create radioactive waste that has a half-life of thousands of years. He is putting two new coal plants online within the next year – these will scour the land, poison generations of people and destroy the climate. He has no plans for new wind and solar.

Then again, this convention has been all about contrasts. Though called the “people’s convention,” it has been paid for by corporations. Despite the token displays of solar panels and recycling centers, there are four coal-fired power plants and two nuclear plants that ring the city.

Again, this is a corporate convention.

It’s infuriating that corporations can dictate the scope of our Constitutional rights to free speech, association, and movement has become surprisingly normal. The lines of police around the banks and energy companies headquartered here makes that abundantly clear.

That’s why I came to Charlotte and that’s why I’m an activist: to make things better. Not to be a partisan. We have an environmental objective in mind: a more just, diverse and ecologically sustainable world.

Whether Republican or Democrat, the next administration is going to have to make sure to keep that in mind.

Obama ad attacks Romney for saying coal kills…huh?

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President Obama aired a new ad in Ohio this week in which he decided it would be good politics to insult the millions of Americans who are choking on the pollution caused by coal-burning power plants. The ad says:

“When he ran for president, Barack Obama pledged to support clean coal and invest in new technologies, and here in Ohio, coal production’s increased 7 % since Obama took office … Obama’s also made one of America’s largest investments ever in clean coal technology, a $5 billion effort to create the next generation of coal-fired plants.”

The ad goes on to bash Mitt Romney for one of the more decent things he has ever done: boldly calling for the closure of a coal-burning power plant back when he was the governor of Massachusetts in 2003. Don’t believe it? Here’s video of what Romney said then:

Continue reading →

Add Your Name to 46,000 on Disaster Prevention Petition to Obama

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Dear Friends,

Thanks to all 46,000 of you who signed the petition to President Obama urging him to prevent chemical plant disasters like Bhopal. EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, recently gave the green light to assess all of their options to prevent chemical disasters. Soon we will have a meeting at the White House to present the petitions. Before we do we wanted to invite anyone who didn’t sign on to join in today.  We need to show the White House that they’re broad support for strong action by the EPA. So far over 100 other national, state and local organizations called on the President to take this action. Continue reading →