Exxon Hates Your Children

How many of you scream at the Exxon Mobile commercials claiming "to care about the children" when we know it is their public relations arm messing with people's heart and mind disconnects to distract and confuse?  Big lies from the big guys - daily, all day.

The following ad has been created to refute the big lie.  *LOLsob*



From Grist:

There are two groups behind this genius ad: Oil Change International — an advocacy organization that’s fighting for clean energy and against fossil fuels — and The Other 98%, which calls itself “a grassroots network of concerned people fed up with the status quo in Washington.” There’s actually a policy agenda behind the ad — eliminating subsidies for fossil fuels. Here’s the argument the two groups are making:

Imagine if your government gave a company a sweet deal to build your local playground. Then, that company dumped toxic waste underneath where your kids play everyday, just because it was the most profitable thing for them to do.

What would you do? Obviously you’d protect your children and demand that the company fully pay to clean up their mess … you’d demand that your government immediately stop sending your tax dollars — subsidies — to that company.

That company is Exxon, the playground is our planet, and the sweet deal they get is by way of massive government handouts.

The groups are raising money for an ad buy next week; “the locations and scope will depend on the online fundraising campaign,” Oil Change International’s director told The Hill. But it looks like one of the audiences they’re looking to reach is Fox News viewers … and I would pay good money just to see how they try and defend Exxon against this argument. “Exxon loves your children! They make it possible for them to drive cars!” “They’re just trying to make money … oh wait …”

Well, this commercial -- brought to you courtesy of Oil Change International and The Other 98% -- answers them. And guess what: ExxonMobil really hates it. Why? Because it tells the stark, horrible truth about how Big Oil and ExxonMobil harms children in real ways, far more than having a bad score on a standardized test. It has them so aggravated that they're pushing to have the ads removed.

Via The Hill: 

“The campaign is offensive to the thousands of ExxonMobil employees and contractors who work hard every day to deliver an essential product in a safe and environmentally responsible way,” the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Via Crooks & Liars:

Well, shoot. I'm sorry, ExxonMobil, but it simply tells the truth about what you're really doing.

The company and oil industry more broadly are battling proposals to end tax deductions, arguing the efforts unfairly single out the industry for punishment and would stymie energy development.

Oil industry critics say that the tax code should not reward fossil fuel development at a time when scientists are increasingly sounding the alarmabout runaway global warming.

In this day of real-time news, it's really impossible for Big Oil to disguise their malfeasance and greed with slick education reform PR campaigns. That's what they really hate.

Scientists! Not Just FIRE (Financial, Insurance, Real Estate)

Our community is filled with scientists, with many being internationally recognized leaders in their respective fields.  Most often this rich resource is not utilized by the Encinitas council majority, city manager, city attorney and city staff.  Councilwoman Teresa Barth has long made this point.  This is all going to change with a new city council made up of curious, engaging and open minds.

During this campaign, both Lisa Shaffer and Tony Kranz have made it a priority to engage this resource of expertise and international experience for the benefit of the community. Having the benefit of Shaffer's own credentials in the scientific community are part of this opportunity. Of course, simply having scientific knowledge doesn't necessarily ensure there is no controversy.  In fact, the scientific method demands testing, challenging and pushing the limits.  Our city government is not so fragile it cannot tolerate pushing the boundaries of the status quo and the outdated or no longer valid assumptions.

At the last city council meeting, Oct. 10 the agenda held the long awaited visitation by the San Diego Department of Environmental Health.  One of the key issues requested by Russell Levan and Teresa Barth 10 months ago was a full staff report on bioremediation of contaminated florist nursery soils so prevalent in Encinitas.  

Sadly, the presentation, council deliberations and vote were tightly bound to the Hall Property timeline and budget questions.   

Nonetheless, Councilwoman Barth tenaciously confronted all of the negatives, stressed the continuous improvement and the future freedom of healthy soils demanding no monitoring or maintenance.  She needs to be supported by more voices and votes on the dais with reality of nature as a focus rather than simply Realty®.

Month after month Russell Levan spoke up to the council and asked that this environmentally friendly approach to cleaning the soils of corrupted agricultural land be agendized and discussed openly.  He got part of his request. 

For those interested - Paul Stamets' TEDtalk on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.

Diversity in our community's makeup could stand this healthy, real attention.  The scientists are just one group that have as much value as the short term thinking and fixation on risk, fiscal outcomes through commercial, insurance, development and real estate.  This latter group and financial criteria, risk factors have been the only framework to judge any and all deliberations.  Don't take our word for it, watch clips and check out the posts.  

Tell-A-Vision: Beyond Sustainability

Now through Sept. 6 - disgusting national political money orgies, re-runs and a holiday weekend means you can toss the television.  But, we can share with each other our ideas or Tell-A-Vision. Here's one to start the conversation (and for the editor to try and work off the demons and disgust of the last week).

It's the perfect time to imagine Encinitas thriving in way that restores balance, replenishes and renews.  A campaign update (shown on her Facebook page) sent out to the hundreds of her supporters from Lisa Shaffer today,

"This election is about preserving what is wonderful in Encinitas and making good decisions about the future - land use, traffic, environment, business, financial management, and our overall quality of life. A few hours now could make a big difference in the next four years."

Stay with me on this one, this Tell-A-Vision post on permaculture does relate.  Shaffer's quote above seemed a fitting way to say we don't have to view all of these areas in isolation and divided into separate issues as has been the way for so long. Shaffer is a leader in sustainability, so I know she sees these connections that Councilwoman Barth, council's only strong advocate for sustainability currently.  If these two were  joined by Tony Kranz there would be real advocacy for healthy food and all the other connections. On his Facebook page he says,

"Please like the page at the link below. It's an organization on a mission to change the world by helping kids to learn healthy eating habits. I think it's very worthwhile and believe you will too. Encinitas local Mim Michelove and her business partner Camille Sowinski are doing great work with the teachers and administrators at our elementary schools."  Healthy Day Partners

Good decision making would rely on the ability to "learn, unlearn and relearn" what our community needs to thrive in the 21st century.  Good decision making dismisses "truthiness" for the shallow and short term posturing of the status quo measured in spread sheets alone. Good decision making takes what is at hand, be it people or resources and increases value by utilizing everything possible. No mocking or belittling or marginalizing or blaming or attacking ever helped individuals or a community to flourish. That includes hippy bashing too.

Sustainability, public service, climate change and economic development have all been twisted by our council majority.  We instead can have so much more honesty and integrity if we had a council majority of Barth, Shaffer and Kranz open to ideas like these students from University of Massachusetts permaculture experiments have presented below.  The last, part 3, is presented first. It best connects the dots of growing healthy food to land use, business, environment, education, financial and community involvement.  Parts 1 and 2 for the curious.

And, a few hours now making a difference for the next four years - for the next twenty-four years is how we might envision. Right now it volunteering for the campaign, but it is like the planting of 101 trees in Leucadia recently, imagine permaculture gardens throughout all five communities, used to restore the soils on the agricultural acres at the heart of the city.  Imagine composting on a citywide scale as is done in many cities along the Pacific coastline.  Frugal, resilient, building health and economic strength - re-envisioning, re-skilling and so much more. Abundance available, but without the extractive and poisoning methods of conventional tilling agriculture.

It's important to note that there are so many positive garden experiments with school children and others throughout Encinitas, despite no support from the city council majority. Mim Michelove and Russell Levan have a million stories between them regarding the EUSD school district gardens. Sheet mulching, shown in part 1 below was one of the dozens of first steps taken at Paul Ecke Central's School As A Garden several years ago (2 volunteers instead of the 1,000 in the video). Zero cost is a really compelling idea for transforming and revitalizing the land. Let nature and time do the most of the work. (Picture the last 12 years of the Hall Property being enriched month after month with food waste, manure and mulch for no cost but hauling, for 144 or so months to restore the degraded soil.)

Part 1

Landscape design and permaculture planting could work miracles beyond healing the soil and growing food. As Councilwoman Barth said about capturing water runoff at Crest Drive's private property edges.

"Vegetation is the solution. The more you replicate the natural environment the better it is. This is where we need to get this storm water, this runoff addressed - in the landscape plan. Mother Nature knows how to do it, so let's step back and try to replicate that more than big drain pipes, curbs, gutters and pavers."

Part 2

Let's start allowing known facts and experiences in the natural world inform our conversations, our decisions about the present and the future.  All problems of the world solved in the garden, the man says. This lifted from the end of a post about trees transforming our world posted March 23, 2012.

This is a vision.  It could be a real conversations with experts in the field who live in our community or are available outside of our city staff regularly used consultants. Dump Stocks and Muir.  Vote Shaffer and Kranz. 

Designing the Future . . .

Just because the officials in charge refuse to acknowledge new realities, changing paradigms, credible science, expert experience, sound reasoning and dissenting insight; this doesn't mean we sit down and shut up.  We keep trying.  Our community is filled with individuals who have so much to offer. There is international recognition (with Bernard Minster being one), brilliance in other branches of science too. Russell Levan has demonstrated for decades that there is dedication here.

Possibly our best hope would be to charge each and every activist, advocate, commissioner and council watcher to select one or two people to mentor.  Even if our strong community members for example a former mayor, Sheila Cameron, could give a prepared piece to some neophyte to present to council and then have this new gal help prepare the next and so on - we'd bring a new wrinkle in the process. More than anything it would prepare another wave of activism.  Plus it would be harder for the complicit press and sneering mayor to dismiss so many wonderful contributions out of hand.

Speaking of expertise, the following two clips are filled with sound information and probing financial concerns for the Hall property park.

For many years the science, financial, ecological, design, historic, landscape, use and other concerns have been couched as either - or choices, or considerations that will jeopardize deadlines, EIR approval, regulatory constraints or other obstacles.  Most of these are and were just not true.  It was political worldview to deliberately use of this property to create win - lose battles that demonized individuals and communities.  The future holds the new culture possible for us where diverse ideas can be accommodated without needing accusations and blame as the only strategy.