Chevron, Chevron, Chevron
I’m not deluded about the nature of corporations, but why does it always seem like the biggest and baddest of them are so often the oil companies?
Chevron, based in San Ramon, has been in the news a lot lately. They were recently acquitted in a landmark human rights trial. Maybe U.S.-based multi-nationals might now have to worry a bit about killing poor people in other countries.
If it’s one thing that Americans of every political stripe can agree to, it’s that corporations have too much control over our public policy. We should work to change this. We should work for corporate harm reduction. Chevron and other oil companies already receive incalculable indirect subsidies through U.S. military intervention abroad - whether it’s full-scale invasions into countries like Iraq, or just pipeline-building operations in Afghanistan, plus an additional $5+ Billion in direct tax subsidies every year. This whole ‘corporate harm reduction’ thing might deserve a little more attention.
Chevron’s greenwashing ads are all over the city.
Chevron is already in The White House, with Condoleezza Rice - a Chevron Director. (Who can forget that damn oil tanker?) James Jones, another Chevron Director, was just named Obama’s national security adviser.
The Bay Area town of Richmond - a struggling town in many respects - has a Green mayor now, and she helped win a tax against the Chevron Richmond Refinery, which has been poisoning area residents for years. Now Richmond gets to decide how they want to spend that money - assuming a potential legal challenge from Chevron fails. If you know peeps in the area, make sure some of that money goes to bike and walk efforts.
Chevron is also blocking access to land that could help complete an important part of the Bay Trail. Since this is America, we can be reasonably sure that Chevron will not be able to hire armed goons to murder us. They might hire some folks to intimidate you and rough you up, but not murder you. Probably not. We should do what we can.
…Forgot about Chevron in Ecuador. Thanks, karen.
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December 4th, 2008 at 8:36 am
And, don’t forget the oil contamination Chevron is responsible for in Ecuador, where over a 1,000 people have died from cancer resulting from the 18 billion gallons of toxic water and oil Texaco (now owned by Chevron) dumped into the rainforest. Chevron refuses to clean it up, while people continue to suffer from cancer, skin disease and respiratory illnesses. Way to go, Chevron. Read more here http://www.chevronpit.blogspot.com and http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2008/11/ecuador-keeps-u.html
December 4th, 2008 at 8:55 am
If Chevron were to do something like, say, subsidize the Berkeley bikestation to let it expand, then they’d have something to talk about in those ads.
December 4th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Chevron’s greenwashing campaign has created an amazingly surreal spectacle that can be seen from the East Bay. Have you noticed the electric billboard on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge? You know, that two-sided giant array of lights, shining brightly all day and all night?
You guessed it — Chevron’s got an ad on it. And no, not the couple that might actually be appropriate for positioning next to a highway (”leave the car at home” or “consider buying a hybrid”?)… No, in Chevron’s infinite marketing wisdom, they’ve decided to put up the “I will use less energy” ad. On a giant lit-up 24/7 billboard.
I couldn’t make this stuff up. Chevron is doing Jon Stewart’s job for him.
Can someone please figure out a good vantage point to snap a photo of Chevron’s idiotic marketing, illuminating the bridge covered in the taillights of an evening one-person-per-car commute?