http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/09/24/big-oils-favorite-governor-jerry-brown/
September 24, 2014
How Brown Greenwashed His legacy at U.N. Climate Summit
by DAN BACHER
Jerry Brown, one of the worst governors for fish, water and the environment in California history, spoke to world leaders at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York City on September 23 in a cynical attempt to greenwash his deplorable environmental record.
During his U.N. address, Governor Brown touted California’s controversial carbon trading policies as an example of “innovative climate strategies.”
“The California story is a very hopeful one,” Brown gushed. “It’s a story of Republican and Democratic governors pioneering innovative climate strategies. It’s not been easy, it’s not without contest, but we’re making real progress.”
“I believe that from the bottom up, we can make real impact and we need to join together,” added Governor Brown. “We’re signing MOUs with Quebec and British Columbia, with Mexico, with states in China and wherever we can find partners, because we know we have to do it all.”
Brown’s remarks at the summit are available here.
In a video message ahead of the Summit, Brown claimed, “We are carrying on because we know in California that carbon pollution kills, it undermines our environment, and, long-term, it’s an economic loser. We face an existential challenge with the changes in our climate. The time to act is now. The place to look is California.”
Yes, California, now under attack by the anti-environmental policies and carbon trading greenwashing campaign by Governor Brown, is definitely “the place to look” for one example after another of environmental destruction.
Once known as “Governor Moonbeam” for his quirkiness and eccentricities during his first two administrations from 1975 to 1983, has in his third administration transformed himself into “Big Oil Brown.”
According to Jessie McKinley in the New York Times, The “Governor Moonbeam” nickname “was coined by Mike Royko, the famed Chicago columnist, who in 1976 said that Mr. Brown appeared to be attracting ‘the moonbeam vote; which in Chicago political parlance meant young, idealistic and nontraditional.”
Thirty-eight years later, Oil Change International, a research, communication, and advocacy organization focused on “exposing the true costs of fossil fuels and facilitating the coming transition towards clean energy” has given Brown a new nickname, “Big Oil Brown,” for the large contributions he has received from oil companies and his support of fracking. The web page dedicated to “Big Oil Brown” features Jerry attired in a suit and cowboy hat like a Texas oil baron right next to an oil rig.
“California’s Governor Jerry Brown has a problem: he wants to be seen as a climate champion who understands the science and takes this crisis seriously. At the same time, he just proposed new fracking rules in California that would amount to a gift to Big Oil. He can’t have it both ways,” according to the web page.
The group has also created a spoof ad about “Jerry Brown’s Frackwater Cologne.”
…(read more).
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