GRAMWave rides are a traditional part of visiting Venice for those who can afford the hefty tourist prices, but I went a little off script on a recent visit and chose a different, but equally iconic, boat. We are here Venicean NGO that promotes the safeguarding of a city deeply affected by climate change and countless human activities, invited me aboard the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior ship, whose purpose was anything but tourist.
I have been on two Arctic tours with Greenpeace: one on the Esperanza (now defunct, not my fault!) and one on the Arctic Sunrise. He had previously sailed with two crew members who are now on the Rainbow Warrior, and here they were still, fighting for climate justice around the world.
A couple of weeks ago, while Britain was breaking not only its own all-time temperature record, but also Cuba, Singapore and Panama, there were still people shouting that everything was perfectly normal and that it was just an ordinary sunny day. . What kind of fantasy world do these people live in and who built it for them? My travel to Venice helped me answer this question.
I didn’t know it when I arrived, but the Greenpeace activists were about to organize a protest which involved moving through the lagoon city’s canals on traditional boats, while bearing the logos of major European oil and gas companies using greenwashing, marketing techniques that try to convince us they are environmentally friendly when it is quite the opposite: they want to keep us hooked on fossil fuels. This is killing the planet. Activists ironically billed it as the Last Tour of Venice, as the city is at risk of being submerged due to climate impacts in the Mediterranean region, such as we have recently witnessed with unprecedented heat waves and wildfires ravaging the region. .
Last October, Greenpeace and 30 other organizations launched a European citizens’ initiative calling for a new law ban advertising and sponsorship of fossil fuels in the EU, similar to what happened with tobacco at the beginning of this century. If the petition collects a million signatures in a year, the European Commission is obliged to respond.
Why is such a law important? Now, with widespread public support for climate action and the scientific community unreservedly singling out the fossil fuel industry as largely responsible for the climate crisis, the oil and gas companies, which for decades have deliberately slowed action climate, they are at their most vulnerable point. The industry is clinging to advertising and sponsorship as one of the last ways to stay afloat.
“Delay and deceive” is the new denial. Fossil fuel companies are investing millions in greenwashing while making meaningless net zero promises and introducing bogus “solutions” to disguise their decades of destruction. They are falsely painting themselves as allies and extending the term of their outdated business.
Scientists have had enough. For the first time this year a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change he exposed the disinformation strategy saying: “Who dominates the debate in the media and how open the debate can be, varies significantly between countries depending on the material and technological power of the participants. Fossil fuel industries have unique access to mainstream media through advertisements, shaping the narratives of media reports, and exerting political influence in countries such as Australia and the United States.”
More than 450 scientists he also signed a letter asking advertising and public relations agencies to stop working with fossil fuel companies and stop spreading climate misinformation. This is the first time that so many scientists have drawn attention to the role of public relations and advertising in driving the climate crisis.
Oil and gas companies buy prestige by patronizing museums, influencing the sphere of knowledge by investing money in universities, and gaining popularity when their logos are associated with sports. They invest heavily in buying a social license to continue business as usual, infiltrating our daily lives and disguising the damage. We urgently need to get them out of our brains, hearts and communities.
In the past year, thanks to tireless grassroots work, Harvard University it said it would phase out its fossil fuel holdings. In the UK, the National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish Ballet confirmed that they would not make further sponsorship deals with BP. australian tennis has eliminated the gas company Santos as a partner.
At the beginning of this century, the EU banned tobacco advertising and sponsorship after it was recognized that they increased consumption and concealed health warnings. Now, with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change and its indisputable link to fossil fuel companies, it is time to ban fossil fuel propaganda as deadly and criminal, and leading us inexorably towards climate catastrophe. Activism works. Together we can tell the people in power how we want to live and what needs to change.
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Emma Thompson is an actress and activist.
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