Greenpeace Blog

Stop Esso: Julia Sawalha

Why particularly Esso?
They make 15.6 billion dollars a year in profit and they are not investing one dollar of that into clean renewable energy and the fact that they invested in President Bush's campaign and as a result of that Bush has backed out of the Kyoto Protocol is deeply disturbing to me. That they are sabotaging any international action on global warming is very frightening. I think that they are being a big bully and I think it's time we stood up to them.

You know I think as an individual you can feel really helpless in the face of environmental issues, I think as long as people know what is going on, this is the kind of campaign, like you can hear people beeping behind, they can really feel like they are doing something.

What would you say to motorists who are still buying from Esso?
I'd say don't put a tiger in your tank

What would your message to Esso be?
Be afraid, be very afraid.

You could say that all big oil companies are the bad guys of global warming. They have discovered more oil than we can use without causing irreversible damage to the climate, and they continue to search for more.

But Esso (ExxonMobil) gets the prize! Why? Because Esso:

• Esso powers the throne of George Bush
  Esso donated $1,086,080 to George Bush's Republican Party at the start of his election campaign. Unsurprisingly, Bush then did exactly what the oil giants wanted, pulling the United States out of the Kyoto protocol as soon as he was elected!

Offshore wind farm, oeresund

Today Greenpeace is taking the unusual step of publishing a leaked copy of a draft summary of a report detailing the future of UK energy policy.

The government is leaving the door open for a wave of dangerous new nuclear power stations across Britain, according to the confidential report, which is part of the government's Energy Review.

Timid targets for the generation of energy by renewable technology - like wind, wave and solar power - are also being set.

MV Arneb

Greenpeace is appalled that the British government thinks that the true facts about the nuclear industry should be kept secret from the general public. We are opposed to the nuclear industry and believe that the issues surrounding the industry should be openly and actively discussed so that the general public can make their own, informed, decisions. Millions of pounds of government subsidy continue to prop up this industry, and it is only right that taxpayers have a right to know the facts.