Environment

Faulty Accounting

Submitted by Bob Burton on

The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against a Scottish energy utility that claimed that a tree planting scheme funded by consumers volunteering to pay a higher tariff would offset their carbon emissions. The ASA told Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) to withdraw a brochure promoting the scheme. SSE had argued that the average household produced 4.65 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from gas usage and household waste.

No
Main Source: 
Guardian (UK), October 12, 2006
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Climate Change
Environment
International
Marketing
Science

Blowing in the Wind

Submitted by Bob Burton on

A five-year long study into the 1959 meltdown of a nuclear reactor near Simi Valley in California has concluded that it could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer. The report could not be more specific because the U.S. Department of Energy and Boeing, the parent company of Rocketdyne, refused to provide the weather data crucial to modelling where the radioactive pollution went.

No
Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2006
Topics: 
Issue Management
Nuclear Power
Environment
Health
Secrecy
U.S. Government

Bottled Water Babies

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

Bottled water is a $10 billion industry, but companies are "determined to push ... into new demographics," by "distilling products aimed at children," reports Bo Emerson. "The multimillion-dollar marketing campaign includes animated ads on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and broadcast TV that features kids triumphing over boring parents with the help of the bulbous (Nestle-brand) bottle. ...

No
Main Source: 
Cox News Service, October 3, 2006
Topics: 
Children
Environment
Marketing
Public Relations

If We Stop Using Highly Toxic Chemicals, the Terrorists Will Have Won

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

"An analysis by the Department of Homeland Security found 272 chemical plants nationwide at which an attack or accident could affect at least 50,000 people and an additional 3,400 plants at which more than 1,000 people were at risk," reports the New York Times.

No
Main Source: 
New York Times, September 21, 2006
Topics: 
Terrorism
U.S. Congress
Environment
Health
Lobbying

Breathless Audacity

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The largest study yet of lung problems among 9/11 rescue workers shows bad news. "Nearly 70 percent of the rescue and cleanup workers who toiled in the dust and fumes at ground zero have had trouble breathing, and many will probably be sick for the rest of their lives," reports Amy Westfeldt. The study, conducted by the Mount Sinai Medical Center, monitored the health of nearly 16,000 ground zero workers.

No
Main Source: 
FireDogLake, September 6, 2006
Topics: 
Terrorism
Environment
Ethics
Health

Another Setback for Logging Company's $A6.9 Million SLAPP

Submitted by Bob Burton on

Victorian Supreme Court judge Justice Bernard Bongiorno has struck out the third statement of claim in a SLAPP suit by the Australian logging company Gunns. In December 2004, Gunns initiated the legal action against 20 environmentalists and environmental groups, over their campaign against the logging of old-growth and wilderness forests.

No
Main Source: 
The Age (Australia), August 29, 2006
Topics: 
Activism
Democracy
Environment
International

Some Like It Hot

Submitted by Bob Burton on

Numerous climate change skeptics have spent most of the two decades denying increasing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations were anything to worry about. Donald J. Boudreaux, the chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University and an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, takes a different tack.

No
Main Source: 
Chicago Tribune, August 13, 2006
Topics: 
Climate Change
Environment
Think Tanks

BP's Adman Got Suckered by His Own Scripts

Submitted by John Stauber on

BP is the most successful oil company at greenwashing its own image. Unfortunately for BP, the recent news about its massive oil leak in Alaska and the shutting down of its corrosive pipelines have revealed the truth -- it really is all about oil profits. In the New York Times , a BP adman admits that even he was suckered.

No
Main Source: 
New York Times, August 14, 2006
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Climate Change
Environment

No Green on the TV Screen - Networks Short the Environment

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

"Environmental coverage -- not counting natural disasters and weather -- dropped nearly to record low levels in 2005 on the three national broadcast networks' weekday nightly newscasts," according to a new study by Andrew Tyndall. Throughout 2005, the newscasts of ABC, CBS and NBC combined spent just 168 minutes on environmental news. Since 1988, the three networks have spent an average of two percent of their newscasts on environmental news and four percent on natural disasters.

No
Main Source: 
Environment Writer newsletter (US), August 2006
Topics: 
Environment
Media

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