HEATED - California is HEATED
California is HEATEDExciting news! Our exclusive reporting on plastic industry greenwashing is cited in the state’s historic new lawsuit against Exxon.
California filed a historic lawsuit against Exxon Mobil this week, accusing the oil giant of lying to the public for decades about the efficacy of plastic recycling. The lawsuit is the first of its kind to pursue accountability from a fossil fuel company for fueling the plastic waste crisis through greenwashing. Specifically, California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges that Exxon “falsely promoted all plastic as recyclable, when in fact the vast majority of plastic products are not.” Exxon’s marketing tricked consumers into buying more plastic than they otherwise would have if they knew it wasn’t recyclable, Bonta alleges—and the state has been forced to spend billions to clean up the mess. If California’s case is successful, experts say it could lead to a meaningful reduction in plastic greenwashing. “This is the single most consequential lawsuit filed against the plastics industry for its persistent and continued lying about plastics recycling,” Judith Enck, president of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics, told the Los Angeles Times.
Small sentence, big resultsA whopping 41 pages of Bonta’s 148-page lawsuit are dedicated to plastic industry advertisements around “advanced recycling,” a seemingly magical industrial process that the industry claims allows plastic to be “remade over and over again.”
Finding that $30 million number wasn’t easy. To do it, we had to figure out a way to access a prohibitively expensive media monitoring service normally meant for advertising professionals to track their competition. And once we did that, Arielle had to dig through nearly 20 years of available data on ACC’s marketing finances in order to confirm it was among the most expensive campaigns in the group’s history. It was a lot of work for just one sentence. But we thought the information was necessary to illustrate how far the plastic industry is willing to go to manipulate public opinion. California’s attorney general thought it was necessary, too. We’re not gonna lie: the citation makes us proud. It tells us that people in power are not only paying attention to our small team’s reporting, but using it as a tool to pursue real accountability. That’s the reason we got into journalism in the first place; to unearth information that might help citizens effectively tackle the world’s biggest problems. Another point of pride is that our journalism is entirely reader-funded, which means a small group of regular people made it happen. The more people who join that community, the more resources we have, the more reporting we can do to keep moving the needle. Further reading:
Catch of the day: Reader Amelia is celebrating her one-year anniversary of subscribing to HEATED(!) by sharing her bonded pair of brothers. Tonka (black with fluffy tail) and Sundae (the tabby), absolutely love creating mischief around her London flat. Tonka and Sundae also wish the U.K. government would incentivize landlords to invest in energy efficiency upgrades in old buildings. Better insulation would keep them warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, and could significantly decrease carbon emissions. Thank you Amelia, Tonka, and Sundae for being our readers and making our journalism possible! Want to see your furry (or non-furry!) friend in HEATED? Send a picture and some words to catchoftheday@heated.world. You're currently a free subscriber to HEATED. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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Why are Republicans so obsessed with refrigerators?
Monday, September 23, 2024
The seemingly weird plan in Project 2025 is merely a new page of a familiar fossil fuel playbook. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
MAGA's scariest environmental proposal
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
The blueprint for Trump's second term envisions deregulating ubiquitous and carcinogenic “forever” chemicals. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Everyone's heads are in the sand
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Tuesday's debate was a disappointing illustration of ignorance about the stakes and science of climate change. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
A high-stakes climate debate
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Join me for a subscribers-only live-chat starting at 8:45 pm EST. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
The MAGA plan to stop forest fires: Remove the forest
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Project 2025 plans to increase commercial logging to fight wildfires. Ecologists and fire experts say this will make fires worse. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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