What A Day!!!

No To Rex Tillerson, CEO ExxonMobil

Let's use this topic as a lesson of the media talking past each other. That's a nice way of me saying a lesson in conservative media (WSJ) talk past very legitimate concerns of the liberal media (NYT).

No, Suzanne Maloney, writing-in-the-WSJ, this isn't about the "chattering classes" being aghast at a just any old CEO being nominated for Secretary of State. The NYT made this point fairly emphatically (editorial link above), as do I. It is about that CEO having worked his entire professional career for one company with, allegedly, a long history of strategically working to combat science and, as if that were not enough, that CEO also having conflicts-of-interest with the head of state of a nation currently accused by the CIA of intentionally trying to destabilise the faith in the US electoral process. Your column inches given to the boy scouts is ghastly amid these extremely serious concerns.

Now, of course I can't fully prove that statement about ExxonMobil having a long history of combatting science, but it seems pretty clear, as I have been learning from Doubt is Their Product, that ExxonMobil has been one of the key examples of companies strategically working to create doubt about the negative externalities of their business model.

From Chapter 18, "The Bush Administration's Political Science":

There are thousands of scientists on our side of the debate and a mere handful on the other, but uncertainty can reign in the mass media and the public mind if that handful has a large enough megaphone--and they do because they are underwritten by ExxonMobil, by all analyses the hands-down largest funder of the warming deniers. According to the authors of the internal ExxonMobil memo titled "Global Climate Science Communications Action Plan", "[v]ictory will be achieved when...average citizens 'understand' (recognize) uncertainties in climate science; recognition of uncertainties becomes part of the conventional wisdom." 

Let's be fair. Can we link Tillman to this memo? No. Is he responsible for the whole company? No. Does having worked in Russia disqualify him? No. Does working with oil and gas disqualify him? Of course not.

But...and this is a huge, "but"...why on earth at this time and in this context would Donald Trump select such a person from such a company and with such a working relationship in Russia? Why, after promising to "drain the swamp", would he think that appointing the CEO of a company ranked No. 8 in lobbyists (2014) is a good idea?

I am against Rex Tillerson because his appointment raises doubt about the institutions of the United States in such a way that is extreme. Diversity matters of experience matters! Rex Tillerson does not have a diverse work history and even if he is the best diplomat on the planet, his CV and conflicts of interest radically undermine the very idea that we have checks and balances in our political system.

Without time to read Steve Coll's "Private Empire", you can listen to this 2012 interview on Fresh Air.

Thank you, Journalists!

Let's pause for a moment.

I want to thank all responsible and hard-working journalists, especially those who have felt so attacked in this last year. You are not "disgusting people"! I know the majority of journalists work hard to understand complex problems and relay that information to people. It is a public service, a check and balance in our political systems and a profession that needs to be vigorously defended.

I do not like all the news you have reported, but I never want a journalist to tell me what I want to hear. I want you to stretch my brain and make me think. I want you to increase my empathy by showing me an angle that I wouldn't see otherwise.

The point of journalism is not meant to provide people with "truth", but rather to tell as story. We, the news consumers, make your job impossible when we think you have to be "objective" above all else. What I expect of you is to be as transparent as you can be and to listen for other ideas that you consider relevant to that story. Then it is my job to take what you give me ask myself questions or to look of other reporting on the same story.

Finally, a request to those who have felt attacked. Do not let this profession become a political weapon. We need your questions and we need your integrity, even with many question yours. Good journalism is like oxygen to the brain and we need a lot more of it.

Thank you for your work!

No Proof

Further to my post about having a numb mind, here is the response to a report that claims there are chemicals typically found in fracking fluid that have been found in drinking wells.

The industry criticized the new study, saying that it provided no proof that the chemical came from a nearby well.

The full title of the article, Fracking Chemicals Detected in Pennsylvania Drinking Water, as well as the contents make me realise that you can't form an opinion on these matters by reading the newspaper.

But to the point, why is the only industry response to say "no proof". Why not something on well integrity or what they do to ensure well integrity?

Numb Mind

I often think blogging and thinking out loud is something I want to do more. Then I log on to twitter and feel this thumping noise of shouting. It's people just trying to tell me what's right, who's stupid, who's a hypocrite. Does Exxon Hate My Children? Should I get my divestment placard? Or is the evil Bill McKibben trying to get me to sit in a dark cave, breaking up with a female avatar of oil?

What the fuck is the Environmental Policy Alliance?

Doubt is Their Product. Been on my shelf for months after I read A Valuable Reputation in the New Yorker. Might postpone that urge to engage with twitter for some actual reading and thinking.

New Fish Fighter

I have really enjoyed Hugh's Fish Fight. I meant to watch the videos last year as one of my New Year's resolutions, so better late than never. Eager to explore The River Cottage Fish Book. I learned to skin fish tonight and must learn to cook more mackerel and sardines.

Vote Obama!

I can't listen anymore. It's seems like a numbing cacophony of stats from both sides that imply the other side is lying or telling half truths.

But I still woke up this morning and sent of my vote, which I trust might sway the results in the swing state of Vermont.

I didn't need convincing -- I have found the Romney/Fox News/Republican/Ayn Rand view of the world narrow, self-centered, short-term and historically unfounded. I got my problems with Obama and politicians and the way the world is moving, but I see the clear differences.

It makes my stomach twist up with nervousness that garbage like Obama's America: 2016 was advertising on the NYT Five Thirty Eight blog last week, just as the polls are to close. Some really helpful comparisons on a "Who's Who" on Obama's founding fathers!? This film panders to the very worst stereotypes and distortions. While there are many moral equivalency arguments to have about left and right wing "art", this is out of bounds for dishonesty and divisiveness. (Obama's thoughts on the film.) That the film is advertising on Five Thirty Eight and soliciting more tax-deductible donations!!! to spew shit before the election points right at the heart of what's wrong with money in politics. Thank goodness we have had Stephen Colbert mocking and educating us on the role of Super PACs.

Cutting through the loads of lies and counter lies and lies about lies, The New Yorker is comprehensive in its analysis to justify why Obama should get another four years. Read all the reasons, since they all matter, but don't miss the conclusion:

The reëlection of Barack Obama is a matter of great urgency. Not only are we in broad agreement with his policy directions; we also see in him what is absent in Mitt Romney—a first-rate political temperament and a deep sense of fairness and integrity. A two-term Obama Administration will leave an enduringly positive imprint on political life. It will bolster the ideal of good governance and a social vision that tempers individualism with a concern for community. Every Presidential election involves a contest over the idea of America. Obama’s America—one that progresses, however falteringly, toward social justice, tolerance, and equality—represents the future that this country deserves.

Or the New York Times or the Salt Lake Tribune... Yes, you knew how these publications would "vote", but the rationale and reasons -- dare we risk saying we value such talents in writing? -- hold together and make sense and are consistent with what we see happening in the world. And they show the contrast in this election, as well as why voting is a matter of great urgency.

I Have A New Crush

Wow, I have not heard of her before, but this Molly Webb lady has got all the right ideas in why smart cities will help save the world.

I did a quick image search on her there are a lot of pictures of her. Is that stalking?

I Had A Farm In Africa

Social change, for sure, but to what end? I just watched When China Met Africa, a short film with no commentary. Just images and exchanges. Very intense images.

A historic gathering of over fifty African heads of state in Beijing reverberates in Zambia where the lives of three characters unfold.

Mr Liu is one of thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs who have settled across the continent in search of new opportunities. He has just bought his fourth farm and business is booming.

In northern Zambia, Mr Li, a project manager for a multinational Chinese company, is upgrading the country's longest road. Pressure to complete the job on time intensifies when funds from the Zambian government start running out. Meanwhile, Zambia's trade minister is en route to China to secure millions of dollars of investment.

Through the intimate portrayal of these three characters, the expanding footprint of a rising global power is laid bare - pointing to a radically different future not just for Africa but also for the world.

Available until July 22, 2010.

Am I a "Desk Killer" Too?

Back on March 06, 2006, when this blog started, I started with an idea of complexity. While researching Kashagan and other really, really ridiculously interesting off shore oil platforms with questioned performance on environmental and social responsibility, I came across an organization in London called Platform, "promoting creative processes of democratic engagement to advance social and ecological justice". All good...

...and they I read a bit from their project "Desk Killer":

In post-war Germany’s attempt to come to a reckoning with the Holocaust, particularly after the trial and conviction of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 the term 'schreibtischtaeter' was coined. This can be translated as 'desk-murderer'. Strangely this term has hardly ever been used outside Germany, despite its clear relevence [sic] to much 20th century and contemporary capitalism.

This concept is at the heart of the desk killer's argument. International trade has never been less personal. The vast majority of BP's or Shell's workforce in London will never see the oil pipeline in Colombia or Nigeria that they work on daily from their desks, let alone meet the villagers intimidated, displaced or killed in order to enable those valuable pipelines to operate. This distancing creates the greatest imaginative challenge - how is it possible to link the BP head office at Finsbury Circus to Casanare? How is it possible to enable human beings in London to feel linked on a personal basis with human beings in Colombia? Or to link the people at the Shell Centre with people in Southern Nigeria?

It sounds a bit like Lev..."The main reason for the terrible cruelty between men today, apart from the absence of religion, is still the refined complexity of life which shields people from the consequences of their action."

But the reason I like Tolstoy and squirm at something like Desk Killer is that when I read Tolstoy, I see myself in the text, whereas Platform makes me think I am somehow disconnected from BP and Shell, which I don't think I am, even if I ride a bike instead of own a car. Still, the concept the "refined complexity of life" is an idea that has intrigued me for years. I hope they publish it soon.

"...first environmental activist group that 'the capitalists' DO like"

I am not ashamed to say I got there via The Economist. Carrotmob is thought-inducing and entertaining, somewhat cheeky, which always helps when pondering new ideas. Not sure what will induce all the other liquor stores in the video to change their light bulbs now, but know that I am thinking of it in a slightly different way, even if I don't find this anything like being INSPIR(RED) by Bono.

"Army Worms" Sounded Bad Enough

As if this story couldn't get any more horror movie-ish..."Pests that have ravaged crops in Liberia and sparked a national emergency, while threatening other countries in West Africa, are not army worms and remain unidentified, the ministry of agriculture said on Monday."

"Power From the People"

Just had a conversation with my wife about the potential for connecting energy producers, so as I troll through my backlog of nextbillion.net, I was excited to see this post on the potential to have kinetic energy production in the less developed world. Maybe she'd already read this. Ah, the trials of keeping up with the blogoshpere...a topic for another post.

The Footprint Chronicles

Patagonia, in a what I think is a sign of things to come, now has something called The Footprint Chronicles, which allow you to see four indicators for a selection of products: distance traveled, CO2 emissions, waste generated and energy consumption.

Obviously, there is no way to compare with similar products or really look behind the calculations, but it seems like it will only be a matter of time.

They issue their own caveat:

These examinations are partial and preliminary. Each season we'll examine a few new products. As we learn more, our examinations will gain more focus, and we’ll work to change our harmful practices with all the speed we can muster.

Very exciting and hope to see how others develop this idea.

(Not) Shopping Till I'm Dropping!

My friend at Global Lab is always reminding me about neo-liberal economic principles and consumerism and he's not the only one! Today I learned (via Four Hour Work Week Blog) about some who are going the beyond the No-shopping-for-a-day! stuff, which always seems pointless to me. Some have tried no shopping for a year!

I enjoyed this little exchange on broken head phones. I wonder how long I could last in such a Compact. Of course, I know that ending shopping would end economic growth and we can do that, right, Global Lab. ;-) But it is nice to be pushed to think a bit harder about how often we run to the shop for a new set of head phones when many-a-friend probably has an extra pair. I have two extra if anyone needs a set.

Here are the rules they set up.

I also liked what a reader named liz said after reading the rules...

ah... america... where the upper class can take the higher ground by resolving to live a consumer life somewhat like the majority, who cannot afford to choose such a lifestyle choice, and publish their efforts to make themselves feel better, while arguing inane cop outs of their original decision. go for the gold team america!

OK, Liz, you are right, don't be such a little anti-american. Can't they pose the questions and dare to think a bit harder about it all? Humor us, please.

Oh yeah, and Buy(Less)!

Mining my own business?

Mine Your Own Business will be hugely controversial as it makes us all think about the unintended consequences of blindly supporting environmentalist campaigns across the globe. It is a challenge to the green groupthink that allows westerners to deny progress to those who need it most.

Controversial indeed. For example, who would you select to play the evil environmentalist in this film?