Monsanto Wins Humiliating “Angry Mermaid Award” in Copenhagen

The United Nations COP15 Climate Change Conference put environmentalism on the world stage for nearly two weeks this month. World and industry leaders, environmental groups, activists and corporate lobbyists flocked to Copenhagen to make their cases for curbing climate change. The corporate lobbyists in that group spark a good deal of controversy among environmental groups, as they continually work, before and after Copenhagen, to slow progress on climate change in the name of profit and control.

The most influential lobbyists represent, as you might expect, the world’s most controversial polluters. Out of a multitude of polluters affecting every corner of the globe, eight were chosen as finalists for the Angry Mermaid award. Inspired by an iconic mermaid statue in Copenhagen, the award goes to the one multinational corporation or organization that lobbied the hardest to halt meaningful change at COP15. The public, NGO representatives and attendees of Klimaforum – a grassroots conference for environmental activists taking place alongside the official UN conference – participated in the voting.

The eight finalists were:

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE)
American Petroleum Institute (API)
European Chemical Lobby (Cefic)
International Air Transport Association (IATA)
International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)
Monsanto
Sasol
Shell

In the end, it was Monsanto that took the far-from-prestigious crown with 37 percent of the votes. Shell came in second with 19 percent.

Monsanto is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation based in Saint Louis, Missouri that has a long history of human rights and environmental abuse. The company was nominated for the Angry Mermaid award because it is lobbying for carbon credits for its genetically modified RoundupReady crops grown for agrofuel. RoundupReady soy does not need plowing because it can be sprayed heavily with herbicides, but no plowing means more carbon dioxide left in the ground, according to angrymermaid.org, and the uncontrolled spread of soy monocultures in Latin America has led to severe deforestation, displacement of people and depositing of large amounts of toxic weed killers. Monsanto sells 90 percent of the world’s genetically engineered seeds.

The eight finalists for the Angry Mermaid were chosen from hundreds submitted by activists around the world. After being whittled down to eight by Klimaforum representatives and environmental groups, experts and public alike voted for the winner. Monsanto won handily. There is little wonder why, considering Monsanto lobbied for carbon credits for a product that destroys the environment, not to mention Monsanto’s sordid history in Latin America, a region long known for human rights abuses and deforestation.

The mermaid, among other things, represents a fusion of earth and sea, of land and marine creatures. And the most visible signs of climate change and pollution are appearing in our oceans. From melting ice caps to dwindling coral reefs to plastic islands of garbage. The Angry Mermaid may have been created for the COP15 conference, but we can probably expect more awards to come as developed countries, multinational corporations and their lobbyists are far from ready to give up polluting.

Photo Credit: FreeForm101 & AFSTA

Posted on December 28th in Solar News by Dan.