Here’s BP’s press release over at Earthtimes, via Earth2Tech

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GM hired Rush Limbaugh to do a radio ad about how Green a company they are.

Rush Limbaugh. The fat drug addict right-wing hypocrite ignorant jerkass blowhard.

GM. The most un-green company this side of Monsanto, the one that builds gas guzzling monster cars and blocks any bump in fuel efficiency standards, the one that Killed the Electric Car.

Green. The simple idea that we shouldn’t poison and destroy the world we live in.

It’s rare to find those things together in a sentence, rarer still to find them together without a lot of “nots”, “aren’ts”, and “scoffed at” in between.

Seriously, this actually happened.

Listen to the ad here.

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You know organic has gone mainstream when Wal-Mart starts selling it. In fact, organic products are the fastest growing segment of the agricultural market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says organic sales jumped 22 percent last year. A growing number of people are willing to pay a premium price to eat what they consider to be superior products and to support farming techniques that are better for the land.

But what does “organic” really mean? According to USDA regulations, a product called “100 percent organic” must contain all organic ingredients. If the label just says “organic,” a processed food product can have up to 5 percent non-organic ingredients by weight — if those ingredients are on the USDA’s “national list” of approved non-organic ingredients.

Until last month, there were only five ingredients on the list: cornstarch, water-extracted gum, kelp, unbleached lecithin, and pectin. But the list just got longer and there’s quite a debate taking place as to whether this is good or bad for consumers.

What just happened?
On June 9th, the USDA added 38 non-organic ingredients to the national list: 19 food colorings, two starches, casings for sausages, hops, fish oil, chipotle chili pepper, gelatin, celery powder, dill weed oil, frozen lemon grass, and a sweetener called fructooligosaccharides.

These 38 items, chosen from more than 600 requested by food manufacturers, can now be used as minor ingredients in 95 percent organic products if a company can prove to its certifier that an organic version is not available in the quality or quantity needed.

“There are a lot of organic farmers and a lot of organic producers who are very concerned about this,” says Phil Lempert, consumer reporter and the Supermarket Guru on NBC’s Today Show. “They worry that by adding these 38 ingredients it actually diminishes the importance and the credibility of a lot of the organic products that are out there.”

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LOL

Aquafina bottled water is tap water. You’re paying $2 for a plastic bottle and a bunch of tap water. Ha. Ha. Ha.

NEW YORK (Reuters) — PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry. According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world’s No. 2 beverage company will include the words “Public Water Source” on Aquafina labels.

“If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it’s a reasonable thing to do,” said Michelle Naughton, a Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman.

Pepsi Chief Executive Indra Nooyi told Reuters earlier this week the company was considering such a move.

Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co’s Dasani are both made from purified water sourced from public reservoirs, as opposed to Danone’s Evian or Nestle’s Poland Spring, so-called “spring waters,” shipped from specific locations the companies say have notably clean water.

Coca-Cola Co. told Reuters it will start posting online information about the quality control testing it performs on Dasani by the end of summer or early fall.

“Concerns about the bottled-water industry, and increasing corporate control of water, are growing across the country,” said Gigi Kellett, director of the “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign, which aims to encourage people to drink tap water.

San Francisco’s mayor banned city employees from using city funds to buy bottled water when tap water is available. Ann Arbor, Michigan passed a resolution banning commercially bottled water at city events and Salt Lake City, Utah asked department heads to eliminate bottled water.

Critics charge the bottled water industry adds plastic to landfills, uses too much energy by producing and shipping bottles across the world and undermines confidence in the safety and cleanliness of public water supplies, all while much of the world’s population is without access to clean water.

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The Green movement needs Paris Hilton like I need a hole in the head. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a Paris Hilton hater. I think she’s done remarkably well and is either a secretly shrewd person or has some really good handlers. She’s turned herself into a mega valuable brand and for as stupid and shallow as she seems (and may well be), you can’t knock her success in her field (being a stupid spoiled whore).

But great Yoda almighty Paris, stay away from Green. Drive your free Ford hybrid SUV, knock yourself out with recycling, but please don’t talk about it. You suck as a green role model and just come off sounding like… well… a stupid spoiled whore. That goes for you too Madonna.

From Ecorazzi:

Standing on the sidelines while everyone’s attention is focused on gal-pal Lindsay Lohan’s troubles, Paris Hilton has been quietly addressing her new image makeover/lesson learned lifestyle.

First up, some new wheels. While the hotel heiress was attending BPM Music Magazine’s “green party” in LA the other night, she announced, “I’m getting a car from Ford, a hybrid one. They gave me one. So, I think driving hybrid cars is the new way to go, and recycling.”

But wait, what’s this? They want to dump more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan!?!

Oh yeah, that’s right- BP sucks.

WHITING, Ind., July 14 (UPI) — An enormous BP oil refinery in Indiana is planning to pour significantly more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, it was reported.

The move by the British Petroleum oil refinery of Whiting, Ind., runs counter to years of efforts to clean up the U.S. Great Lakes, The Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

State regulators exempted BP from environmental laws to pave the way for a $3.8 billion expansion to let BP refine heavier Canadian crude oil. Regulators justified the move, in part, by noting the project will create 80 new jobs.

BP, which aggressively markets itself as environmentally friendly, already is one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes.

Under the new state water permit, BP can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan every day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish and the sludge is dense with heavy metals, the newspaper reported.

It’s good to know that all you need to do to dump more pollution in the Great Lakes is create 80 jobs. 80 frickin’ jobs! WTF…

Here’s another great post from Gristmill on the whole stupid thing.

congresspeople from the area are asking the EPA why they allowed this, including a Republican Congressman who said, “In my book, BP, which tries to market itself as an environmentally friendly company, now stands for ‘Bad Pollution.’”

Chicago city officials are exploring legal options and will meet with BP officials, who are gearing up a PR counter campaign. The Chicago Parks Commission will be soliciting petition signatures in the popular lakeshore region this weekend.

What I’m wondering is, why has BP been dumping 21 million gallons of waste in Lake Michigan even before this? Why is there a huge refinery near Chicago? The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago recently opened an exhibit about “The City of the Future,” and a team from the University of Illinois put together a presentation claiming that as we move deeper into the 21st century, fresh water will become more and more important. The Great Lakes will be one of our greatest resources, and currently hold 90 percent of North America’s surface fresh water and 20 percent of the entire planet’s.

Isn’t water more important than gasoline?