Thomas Friedman gets Headshotted

It would seem Thomas Friedman took a pie to the face at Brown University during Earth Day recently.

He was there to harp about how corporations can lead the charge against global warming. A few students calling themselves "Greenwash Guerrillas" didn't like the fact he was a proponent of corporate greenwashing and threw two pies aiming for his head.

Aside from the fact Tom has a raging boner for corporate globalization, I agree with many of Thomas Friedmans thoughts and ideas in his books The World is Flat and The Lexus and the Olive Tree, both of which I have read. However, I do not think that corporations will EVER lead the charge for climate change. It is really quite simple, they are motivated by profit and America runs on capitalism; being environmental is generally not good for business because it means spending more $$ while forcing thinner margins.

Making people think you are environmentally conscious or "green", is great for business. This is where greenwashing comes in.



Here is the official statement from the Greenwash Guerrillas

"Providence, RI - April 23, 2008 - On Earth Day, we pied Thomas Friedman at the start of his keynote speech: "Green is the New Red White and Blue."
The goal was not simply to disrupt his talk and stain his ego, but to disrupt and expose all that he stands for and the university's corporate greenwashing of its image. In the spirit of true debate and free speech: We hereby challenge Thomas Friedman and all other green capitalists to a duel. This duel is about the debate over the future of life on this planet, and the ways in which corporate powers have hijacked this debate to make it the realm of "experts", policymakers, and consumers buying an array of "green" products. In exposing what Friedman supports, we open this debate to the public by questioning certain key elements. Carbon Trading and Carbon Markets, enshrined in the Kyoto Protocol and the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007, is the foundation behind green capitalism. In privatizing the atmosphere, the earth's carbon cycling capacity is handed over as property to the same corporate criminals that caused the problem.

"Biofuels," the much-touted alternative to oil, not only increase petroleum dependence, but are themselves a global humanitarian and environmental disaster in the making. Biofuels come at the expense of land for food, and from Indonesia to Columbia, traditional populations are being forced off their land for destructive plantations that are dependent on toxic chemicals, biotech seeds, and large petroleum-burning machinery. The list of false solutions goes on, while the planetary clock is ticking. If there are to be truly real solutions to the many problems we face, it will come out of transformative social movements and not corporate boardrooms. For these reasons, we challenge Thomas Friedman and all other green capitalists to a duel, in which we will continue to expose their shams while pointing towards the social movements that are already creating solutions and transforming society towards a liveable, healthy, and non-corporate future. For information:

http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/category/false-solutions-campaign/ Contact: greenwashguerrillas@gmail.com"

BOOM HEADSHOT!