First the gloss from Rio. This was the UN’s largest ever conference with 45,300 delegates from more than 180 nations. The UN says it has obtained pledges worth $500 billion from governments and companies for projects aimed at reducing the strain on the planet’s resources. There are nearly 700 commitments from governments to supposedly cut … Read More
Protests
Shell’s History of “Corporate Malfeasance”
Poor old Shell. Last week it was humiliated in a spoof action by Greenpeace and the Yes Men. This week its corporate reputation takes a battering in a report by the Alaska Wilderness League. The 51 page report, published as Shell gears up to start drilling in the Arctic, makes devastating reading. It concludes that … Read More
“Pulling a Con Job” on Fracking
The leader of Canada’s opposition party, the NDP, Tom Mulcair has accused one of Canada’s leading oil and gas lobby organisations of “pulling a con job” whilst trying to promote fracking. Out political campaigning over the weekend, Mulcair slammed the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) for “deceiving the public when it says there are … Read More
Shell Spoof Goes Global
Maybe in retrospect Shell should not have injuncted Greenpeace for disrupting its drilling rigs heading for the Arctic. For all it has done has made its opponents more creative in the way they will campaign against the oil giant. Late last week, there was widespread confusion across the American media, the internet, including Facebook and … Read More
70,000 Ask Shell to Clean Up in Nigeria
Seventeen years ago I was one of many protestors at Shell’s AGM in London at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Centre that lies in the shadow of Big Ben, near London’s Parliament. There were two issues facing the oil giant that day: in Nigeria the Ogoni playwright, Ken Saro-Wiwa, lay in a disgusting and degrading humid … Read More
Shell in Nigeria: Its Worse than Bad
And so it goes on. It might be a different day but the ongoing vortex of violence, pollution, protest and conflict continues in the Niger Delta. The oil giant, Shell is at the middle of this vortex, as it has been for decades, with the company unwilling to take adequate steps to stop the violence … Read More
“Desperate” Shell Goes to Court Over Arctic Drilling
Last week I blogged on the landmark legal case against Shell by Nigerians that was being heard in the Supreme Court. That’s not the only court-room Shell was in last week. In an extraordinary preemptive legal strike the oil giant filed suit against more than a dozen environmental organisations that Shell believes might challenge its … Read More
Over 600,000 Say No to KXL
Once again it is the many versus the money. Starting at noon yesterday, a coalition of thirty or so environmental organisations, including Oil Change International (OCI) and 350.org set out to gather at least 500,000 signatures with 24 hours to stop the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The initiative came as a response to moves within … Read More
Blowing the whistle on Dirty Energy Money
On Tuesday, January 24, as Washington readies for the annual State of the Union address, more than 500 people in referee outfits are converging on Capitol Hill to “blow the whistle” on Congress. Why? Â Consider these two facts: 1. The American people believe (rightly) that Members of Congress are more responsive to their campaign donors … Read More
Protest Against “Big Oil Corruption”
At noon today, a coalition of environmental groups, including Oil Change International and 350.org will blow the whistle of “Big Oil’s corruption” on Capitol Hill, hours before Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address. Activists will be gathering at the Capitol dressed in referee uniforms and then heading to our old friends at … Read More