Koch-funded book argues against mine safety laws in West Virginia
I can’t think of a single thing the Koch Brothers would not do for money. As for the miners, they begrudge both regulations and salaries, and hope that the current downturn could lead to chain gang or slave labor.A couple of weeks ago, I proposed a boycott of Georgia Pacific, a key Koch Industries company. The Kochs paid $21 billion for GP a few years ago, largely because of established brands such as Brawny, Lycra, and Stainmaster.
The Kochs’ fossil fuel businesses specialize in the dirtiest fuels available, such as tar sands oil and mountaintop removal coal. GP has also carved out a niche by combining the worst forest liquidation practices with toxic chemical use. A GP house contains wood from forest liquidation and vast amounts of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen and major contributor to building sickness. Homes built from GP products are toxic, fragile, and cheap, and the owners fill them in with horrible products such as Brawny and Stainmaster.
We need to go after Koch by boycotting Georgia Pacific consumer products, since the supply chains for their coal, oil, and gas products are too dispersed. Included in the parking lot information tables would be fact sheets about their toxic and rapacious products, and the sordid history of Koch Enterprises, including climate denial and greenwashing campaigns. I’ve run this by a few Big Green groups and drawn a blank. It appears that Big Green is intimidated by the power of Koch. Instead, the word needs to get out, maybe with this motto: Things Go Badder With Koch.
There will be a big counterreaction, including intimidation and possible arrests. That’s OK, too, because when rats get light shed on them, they start to make mistakes.
Some friends of mine and I will do this on our own if necessary. If you’d like to join us for a few pilot big box store boycotts, please send an email to mike.greenframe@gmail.com.
This would actually have an impact, because the main value of GP products is brand recognition, which is why the Kochs ponied up the $21 billion. GP has even bought brands with a decent reputation (such as Northern toilet paper) and exploited it while returning them to forest liquidation origins.
CP readers, please let me know if you would like to join me on this and make it happen. If the Green groups are too timid to go along, maybe that’s better, since it would be a true grassroots, ground up operation.
http://climateprogress.org/2010/09/27/koch-funded-book-argues-against-mine-safety-laws-in-west-virginia/#comments