Trump's America: State of Lies

Donald Trump deflects, distracts and exaggerates, but he is best known for his straight out lies. He has proven to be a master of the double-down. When he is caught lying he just lies some more. Even before he took office the New York Times wrote a piece titled, "Trump, Trapped in His Lies, Keeps Lying. Sad!". It is indeed sad, but the understandable outrage at his repeated deceptions misses the point.

Dishonest Don's malfeasance will live in infamy, however, his mendacity serves a darker end-game then most people realize. The unreality king lies to muddy the waters making it hard for casual observers to understand the issues, and that is the point.

The liar-in-chief has repeatedly deceived the American people and his own staff. The spin king lies about his business, he lies about his policy positions and now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he lies about his philandering.

Anti-Science Journalism Helped to End Progressive Climate Governance in Australia

The popular media's campaign of climate change subterfuge helped to bring down Julia Gillard's government in Australia. Anti-science propaganda has been rampant in the Australian press. A number of extreme weather events (droughts and floods) succeeded in drowning out the voices of those that oppose action on climate change and helped Gillard to get elected in 2010.  Subsequently a determined anti-science media campaign eroded Gillard's popularity and ultimately led to her downfall.

Popular media has flouted their journalistic responsibilities on climate change. A widespread campaign against Australia's carbon policy was adopted by the company that controls most Australian metropolitan newspapers. According to a 2013 study of climate science in newspapers,  the coverage of the Gillard government’s carbon policy was mostly negative (73 per cent to 27 per cent). Negative coverage (82 per cent) across News Ltd newspapers far outweighed positive (18 per cent) articles. The Daily Telegraph was the most negative (89 per cent). The Daily Telegraph has since continued its campaign against Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and bike riders.

Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner John Deans Talks Campaign Strategy

In an interview with Brandchannel, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner John Deans made it abundantly clear that there is a new highly effective approach that is taking businesses to task for their irresponsible practices. These Greenpeace campaigns are putting the extraordinary power of social media to work for the environment.

“We’re not your grandfather’s Greenpeace anymore," Deans told Brandchannel. "We’re part of a new, building movement with a new set of people who are social media denizens. Brands see it’s not going away and that Greenpeace is communicating directly with their customers."

Deans remarked about how quickly social media messages can be disseminated, “Social media tools have let Greenpeace latch on to the viral nature of online society – and find where people are in order to spark their interest.”

Greenpeace's Consumer Powered Pressure Campaigns

Greenpeace is waging very effective pressure campaigns that reach out directly to customers. Greenpeace encourages their supporters to take direct action and voice their concerns. Greenpeace has come a long way from their beginnings in the early 70s; in addition to protests and demonstrations, they are now using digital technologies to widely disseminate their message. Social media figures prominently in the Greenpeace strategy. These Greenpeace campaigns co-opt the brand message of the companies they are targeting.

Waitrose Bows to Greenpeace Pressure

In less than 2 weeks Greenpeace succeeded in getting UK supermarket Waitrose to rethink its partnership with Shell. The Greenpeace campaign targeted Waitros' stores in Shell gas stations because of the oil company’s plans to drill in the Arctic. This decision means Waitrose has shelved plans to expand on the number of  stores in Shell gas stations. Waitrose currently has two pilot stores and had planned on adding more in 2013. Yet again this underscores the power of consumer driven campaigns to influence the business practices of major brands.

Greenpeace's Consumer Powered Pressure Campaign Targets Levi's (Video)

Greenpeace activists in over 20 countries took to the streets, joined by over 175,000 people online, to demand Levi's make fashion without pollution. Despite hazardous chemicals being found in Levi's clothing items, and investigations revealing that Levi's suppliers in Mexico and elsewhere are releasing toxic chemicals into public waterways.

ZARA Mannequins Revolt! (Video)

As part of Greenpeace's global "Detox" campaign, more than 700 people, in over 80 cities, in 20 countries around the world protested, staged street theatre and conducted "mannequin" walk-outs to demand ZARA commit to eliminating the use of all hazardous chemicals throughout its supply chain. The participants, from Bangkok to Buenas Aires, also called on ZARA store managers to forward Greenpeace's Detox demands to their headquarters, after new research found traces of hazardous chemicals in ZARA clothing items, some of which can break down in the environment to become hormone-disrupting or even cancer-causing substances.

Why a Dozen Clothing Giants Have Bowed to Greenpeace

There are powerful financial incentives that drive corporations to agree to the demands of organizations like Greenpeace. The customers moral concerns can undermine sales and thus it is very directly impacts the bottom line. A dozen clothing brands have now accepted Greenpeace demands to detox and before this there were campaigns directed against KFC, Shell, Mattel and Lego. Through its “Toxic Threads: Under Wraps” report, Greenpeace spurred a global movement that is succeeding in detoxing some of the major players in the clothing industry.

At least twelve clothing companies have decided to heed Greenpeace demands and reduce their environmental impacts including Mango, Esprit, Nike, H&M, Adidas, Puma, M&S, C&A, Li-Ning, Zara and now Levi’s.

Levi's Bows to Greenpeace Pressure

After a mere 8 days of pressure from Greenpeace, Levi's has agreed to become more environmentally responsible. Greenpeace alleged that Levi’s suppliers are some of the worst water polluters in the Mexican textile industry. The denim behemoth has said it will stop polluting Mexico's rivers and the company further agreed to eliminate the release of all hazardous chemicals in its manufacturing process by 2020.

There have been a number of Greenpeace actions that have encouraged Levi's change of heart. Hundreds protested outside Levi’s shop fronts in 80 cities around the world and in one demonstration at Levi's headquarters in Mexico, Protesters covered the area in foam to symbolize the toxic effluents that Levi's released into the country's rivers.

Calendar of Environmental Events 2012

FEBRUARY

February 2 : World Wetlands Day
February 20 : World Day of Social Justice

MARCH

March 14 : International Day of Action Against Dams and For Rivers, Water and Life
March 21 : World Forestry Day
March 22 : World Water Day
March 23 : World Meteorological Day
March 26 : Earth Hour

Cyber Monday 2010

In 2010, Cyber Monday takes place on November 29, and it is the biggest online shopping day of the year. On this day buyers are shopping online to take advantage of the deals offered on the web. This year a record breaking one billion dollars was spent online.

Online shopping is generally a greener way to shop, this is due to the fact that trucks can deliver goods efficiently and it takes a lot less energy to run a warehouse for boxes of goods than a mall.

According to a 2007 survey done by Conservation International, more than one-third of consumers indicated they will shop more online and in catalogs to save on gas.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) said that 70.1 million people plan to take advantage of 2010 Cyber Monday deals. The NRF also estimated that 88% of retailers will have special deals. Web retailers offer big discounts, free gift cards, and free shipping in order to entice buyers.

Even prior to Cyber Monday, online shopping was on the increase. On Thanksgiving Day, Paypal showed a 25% increase in 2010 over 2009, and this may be an indication of increases for 2010 Cyber Monday sales.

In the UK, online retailers are bullish about the run up to Christmas with sales estimated to rise to £6.4bn in December, according to IMRG, the e-commerce trade association. Last December, consumers spent £5.5bn online – itself a 17 per cent rise on the year before. The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index for October revealed the highest October growth since pre-recession levels.

Chris Webster, head of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini said: “The market continues to grow ahead of our expectations and this is a crucial time for e-retailers to beat the competition by using innovative strategies and tactical promotions in the run up to Christmas. The web is consistently seen as the place to go for bargains and retailers with an online presence should use this to their advantage.”

Bjorn Kvarby, European Managing director of Shopping.com, said: “2010 is proving to be an incredible year for online shopping, as consumers begin to realize just how easy, time-efficient, and cost effective it is to find what they are looking for online.

"We’re already predicting overall growth for Shopping.com at 23 per cent for December 2010, year-on-year, and believe it’s going to be a bumper Christmas for the online retail market.”

To shop for products made by companies that manufacture greener products, seeThe Nature Conservancy's Green Gift Monday site, which is part of a campaign to turn Cyber Monday in a sustainable direction.


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