Talk about strange bedfellows: Dow Chemical & Greenpeace on cap and trade

The Greenwash Brigade

We’ve had Dow Chemical in the Greenwash Brigade’s crosshairs in the past, so climate change skeptics chew on this: Greenpeace AND Dow Chemical are BOTH calling for action to combat global climate change. Greenpeace activists scaled Mount Rushmore on July 8th calling for President Obama to show leadership. That’s hardly surprising.

(Here’s a picture of the unfurled banner, via solveclimate.com:)

Greenpeace10.medium.gif

But the next day Rich Wells, the VP of Energy at Dow Chemical also encouraged congress to pass a cap and trade program to fight climate change, stating, “We believe the cost of inaction will far exceed the cost of comprehensive, far-ranging and expeditious action today.” Wells rightly expects that taking action can be good for the environment AND business.

Dow Chemical AND Greenpeace calling for action? It’s time to wake up, climate change skeptics. You’re as relevant as the Flat Earth Society.

July 14, 2009 by Jim Nicolow
1 comments

tags: cap and trade carbon emissions climate change dow flat earth society global warming greenpeace

Comments (1)

Allen | Respond
July 21, 2009 5:34 PM PT

If this is about calls for waking up, then it's time to wake up to regulations. Large established megacorps like Dow long ago realized they can use regulations to limit competition. This has nothing to do with the scientific debate over how the earth's climate functions but Dow using the government to keep others out of its markets.

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Meet the Greenwash Brigade

Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is a principal with Calyx Sustainable Tourism and works primarily on advancing sustainable tourism practices. She also specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the technical advisory committee of the Seattle Culinary Academy and a long standing member of the Chefs Collaborative.

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