ExxonMobil in Greenpoint
Newtown Creek
Photo: GowanusLounge
Last week we posted a notice about the Go Green Greenpoint Earth Day event, which was held in McCarren Park this past Saturday. At the time we posted, we were not aware that the events sponsors included ExxonMobil (among other corporate sponsors). As it turns out, no one knew about this sponsorship - word somehow leaked out Friday evening, and in response a group of local activists staged an impromptu protest.
As reported here, there was some back and forth between organizers of the event and organizers of the protestors. From what we say, the event itself was well attended, and by all appearances a great success. And the protest was theatrical, effective and respectful of the larger event (if not the event's sponsor).
And the protests did not stop ExxonMobil from handing out glossy folders full of "fact sheets" extolling their great work in ridding Greenpoint of the largest oil spill in American history (they're a third of the way there, and its only been 30 years!). The glossy flyers even imply that the spill itself was not entirely ExxonMobil's fault (so we're lucky that they are cleaning it up at all). Its nice to see that ExxonMobil is sponsoring worthy local causes (there is a word for this: greenwash). It would be a lot nicer if they put a little more time and effort into cleaning up our environment.
