The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism: From Cetaceans to Carbon Offsets to Financial Products
It’s borderline obscene that the question is “whales are majestic creatures whose worth doesn’t trump the human impulse to quantify.” It is one that has been considered seriously by economists in order to convince corporations to value wildlife. In her new book, The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism, Adrienne Buller dissects the asinine logic of “green” capitalist thinking, from putting a dollar value on cetaceans to carbon offsets to financial products like “sustainability-linked bonds.”
The definition in the book is a working one. It addresses a phenomenon we’re seeing in the US and in the UK where the corporate sector and financial firms have realized overt climate denialism and obstruction is not a viable strategy, so they’re slowly transitioning toward trying to shape and control climate policy.
There are two core tenets of green capitalism I identify. The first is that it’s an attempt to resolve the climate crisis in a way that minimizes disruption to our existing ways of organizing the economy, to existing distributions of wealth and power. The second tenet is pursuing decarbonization in a way that makes sure that there are still opportunities for profit-making and rent extraction in that decarbonized future. In contrast to, for instance, moving away from private car ownership to mass transit as a climate solution, the green capitalist framework is more about making sure we can transition to electric vehicles when we’re moving away from fossil-fuel-driven cars so that private companies can keep profiting.
I started my career in civil society by working for a non-partisan watchdog company which helped financial firms understand how they should align their portfolios with the goals of the Paris Agreement. That experience made me feel very cynical about the kind of approach that will deliver material change. The experience of going inside the heads of people in finance and figuring out how they comprehend the problem was very interesting. The book is trying to do that.
An Insider Look at a Democratic Candidate in New Mexico, David Vasquez, Defender of the Oil and Gas Industry, and Why the Buildings and Cars are On Fire
A Democratic House candidate in New Mexico, campaigning as a moderate in a tightly contested race, deleted tweets attacking the oil and gas industry, rationalizing rioting in summer 2020, and comparing the Trump administration to the Ku Klux Klan.
Vasquez, who has promoted himself in interviews during his campaign as a supporter of the region’s fossil fuel industry calling it “incredibly important,” previously called it “extremely toxic” and “irresponsible” in since-removed comments on social media.
Inside Elections rates the race as a toss up, and it’s one of 19 such races at the moment that could determine control of the House of Representatives this November.
In advertisements, Vasquez promotes himself as a supporter of police. He deleted a retweeted post about riots following the murder of George Floyd. Vasquez has repeatedly said he opposes defunding the police, but suggested he supported such a policy while speaking with a local station during a protest in 2020 – while wearing a face mask and without giving his name. “We need serious police reform in this country,” he said in the clip. “It’s not just about defunding police, it’s about defunding a system that privileges white people over everyone else.”
The now- deleted message from May 2020 states that the tip of the spear of the white supremacist system ends in cold-blooded murder of black individuals. “There is so much to undo, to unravel this system & shift power structures to fundamentally change this country. That is why the buildings and cars are on fire.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/politics/kfile-gabe-vasquez-new-mexico-deleted-progressive-tweets/index.html
Investing in the Oil and Gas Industry: What will the New Mexico Legislature do? Comment on Vasquez’ comments on the Carlsbad Current-Argus
In August, Vasquez told the Carlsbad Current-Argus that the oil and gas industry was important to New Mexico. The district is important, it supports an economy that supports small businesses that support this industry, and I think that is a good thing.
It would be better if the Dems avoided playing to the R’s talking points and playing on their field. It’s OK to oppose fracking, OK to support the Green New Deal, OK to support Medicare for all, OK to talk about progressive immigration reform, OK to stand for what you believe. #StayStrong,” the since-removed tweet from November 2020 reads.
Investing in oil and gas is irresponsible, with a link to an article about the decline of the fossil fuels industry.
The pardon of white, wealthy men who should be in prison is a glaring example of how the justice system works in this country. The white & privileged escape justice, while the poor, black, Indigenous & people of color are disproportionately targeted, sentenced & jailed #AmeriKKKa,” he wrote.
The words came from the Spanish word for Pendejos. Trump will pardon the con men who defrauded MAGA and the border wall will fall due to the erosion. Nobody will take responsibility. Trump’s AmeriKKKa. What a disgusting mess.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/politics/kfile-gabe-vasquez-new-mexico-deleted-progressive-tweets/index.html
Demographic Investigations into Climate Disinformation from the Oil and Gas Industry: After Donald Trump, BP America, and a White House Commentator
Donald Trump pardoned one of the defendants, but two others pleaded guilty and another had a mis trial.
In November of 2020, he attacked a commentator who was against student loan forgiveness, writing “Oh you mean this American economy suddenly isn’t fair for white man?” What will you ever do?”
He attacked people of color who didn’t think in the same way, saying they were vendidos who wanted to be part of the white establishment. Vendidos is a Spanish term that means a person is selling something.
Big Oil companies have engaged in a “long-running greenwashing campaign” while raking in “record profits at the expense of American consumers,” the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee has found after a year-long investigation into climate disinformation from the fossil fuel industry.
“Today’s documents reveal that the industry has no real plans to clean up its act and is barreling ahead with plans to pump more dirty fuels for decades to come,” House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney told CNN in a statement.
For example, lawmakers reported, BP has stated it strives to “be a net zero company by 2050 or sooner,” but the committee found internal BP documents that show the company’s recent plans do not align with the company’s public comments.
In a July 2017 email between several of the company’s high-level officials about whether to invest in curbing emissions from one of its gas projects off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, BP’s vice president of engineering stated that BP had “no obligation to minimize GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions” and that the company should only “minimize GHG emissions where it makes commercial sense,” as required by code or if it fits into a regional strategy.
A strategy slide presented to the Chevron Board of Directors from CEO Mike Wirth and obtained by the committee states that while Chevron sees “traditional energy business competitors retreating” from oil and gas, “Chevron’s strategy” is to “continue to invest” in fossil fuels to take advantage of consolidation in the industry.
In a 2016 email from a BP executive to John Mingé, then-Chairman and President of BP America, and others, about climate and emissions, an employee assessed that the company often adopted an obstructionist strategy with regulators, noting, “we wait for the rules to come out, we don’t like what we see, and then try to resist and block.”
It was hoped that the committee hearings would be like the 1994 hearings when tobacco companies insisted that cigarettes were not addictive and caused accusations of perjury and federal investigations.
The impact of House Oversight’s investigation into Big Oil will not be as immediate, but Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat and the chair of Oversight’s environmental subcommittee, said the findings have added to the historical record for the industry and its role in global warming.
In other cases, documents were heavily redacted because companies like Exxon said the information was “proprietary and confidential,” though the lawmakers noted that is not a valid reason to withhold information in a committee subpoena.