I may have to change my pen name around these here parts from "Cowtown Pattie" to "Curmudgon Pattie".
Every time I read something like this, I get angry...angry about human stupidity. Do we never learn? Is there nothing that gives these big companies a conscious other than not performing per shareholders greed?
Now, before some wingnut starts spewing at me about how American needs more oil and how uneducated and whiney wildlife protectors are, I will agree that: yes, I like to drive my car. Furthermore, it is necessary to drive a private vehicle in the part of the country where I live, given that public transportation is far worse than scanty.
The same wingnuts should also grant me the concession that wildlife truly is endangered, especially our ocean-dwelling friends, and that big companies seldom give more than lip service to environmental stewardship. Yeah, yeah, we are the Land of the Free and Home of Brave. Spare me the patriotic rhetoric, I love my country as much or more than you.
However, I also care a great deal about how we as humans adversely affect our world.
In my heart, I know that letters of concern written to humongous corporate concerns are as effective as spitting in the wind, but for my own self respect, I have to try.
In the spirit of fairness, ConocoPhillips and Shell each have a link on their websites regarding the types of environmental efforts they contribute to and it is impressive at first glance. But, I am not naive enough to believe they do it for pure altruistic motive. Public Relations is just doing their job. My trust in our government and big bidness to do the right and humanitarian thing anymore is zilch, zero, nada, and GONE.
If you feel so inclined to join me to protest the type of seismic testing going on in Alaska, here are the snailmail addresses for ConocoPhillips and Shell:
ConocoPhillips
600 North Dairy Ashford (77079-1175)
P.O. Box 2197
Houston, TX 77252-2197
Phone: 281-293-1000
Shell Oil Company
P.O. Box 2463
Houston, TX 77252
Phone: 212-218-3112
Tell 'em CP sent ya - Curmudgeon Pattie.
Who Is Cowtown Pattie?
- Cowtown Pattie
- I was Lillie Langtry in another life, and might have a crush on Calamity Jane.
9 comments:
There is nothing curmudgeonly about doing the right thing and speaking up on behalf of those who don't speak human. Stewardship is our divine assignment. God must have known we were the only ones who would be able to screw it up.
Sing on Sister!
Thanks for the encouragement, Wanda.
These days, I feel so frustratingly under-represented, and unheard when it comes to environmental protection and nurturing.
I know that US commerce is suddenly all aglow with how "green" we are becoming, but for far too many companies, this new ecological embracing is just a way to puff up their public image, fatten the coffers and beat their chests.
Such charlatans deserve a reincarnation as a coyote in Texas who have lost all natural habitat and forced to adapt as a lesser suburbanite eating out of trash bags.
Think it's important we speak to specific environmental issues in an effort to effect change. Sometimes feels like we're pounding against a brick wall. Took 41 years after 19th Amendment first intro'd in Congress before it got passed. Progress is slow as I noted in my Mother's Day post.
We all need to ride bicycles more. Around here it is hard to ride everywhere, but I'm using my two wheels for short trips (paying the water bill, going to the post office or library).
This is especially important because I won't have a job after Wednesday.
Q: How much are you investing in alternative fuels?
The Shell Answer Man: I'd say about $1 billion over the last five years. We'll continue to spend at that level.
That's from the website -- seems like a paltry amount, considering the $30 billion in profit last year.
"And you came one day to the Revolution because you saw the most important vision That our circumstances must be changed fundamentally and without these changes everything we try to do must fail."
-from the play Marat/Sade
In 2001, when Dubya took over the White House, an old friend of mine from Texas wrote to me and said, "You really have no idea how bad this is going to be."
He would be happy as hell if he had been wrong. Turns out he was optimistic.
Bob Brady at "PureLand Mountain" has some recent excellent posts on environmental corporate happenings with genetics -- crops -- can only wonder what's next.
Our ridiculous dependence on petroleum is bad enough - it's exacerbated by our dependence on corn as a food crop. Read The Omnivore's Dilemma and you'll be appalled at the grip Big Corn (which requires oil-based chemical fertilizers) has on our country.
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