> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com] On Behalf Of Doug Henwood
> Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 10:36 AM
> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Subject: Re: FW: BOYCOTT!!!
>
>
> I never quite got this kind of boycott. Is there a good oil company?
>
> Doug
>
I think boycotts can work - the project I am working on right now involves environmentally sensitive uses of natural resources in the Russian Federation. Our interview data show that boycott capaigns in Western Europe forced western companies to introduce sustainable forestry in the NW regions of the Federation.
As far as gas companies are concerned - it depends. It is different if they get involved in politics as opposed to just pumping gas. ExxonMobil was targeted for their politics, not for pumping gas, as far as I can tell.
The goodenss of gas companies involves a host of broader issues. For example, comparing to what? Gasoline powered engine is good when compared to, say, harvesting fields or digging ditches using manual labor. So they may be a lots of dirt in gasoline production and distribution, but gas seem to to stay with us for a while, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.
A separate issue is government policies aiming at forcing people to drive cars and killing rail-based transit. But that is the problem of the US government - which is unabashedly owned and operated by gasoline producing and consuming industries - not of gasoline fuel itself. Europeans were able to develop a good balance between rail-based public transit system and internal combustion based transportation.
Wojtek