Deb
Posted : 6/30/2007 5:52:37 AM
First of all, Sally is right. We are sooo funny, the way we think we can or should "save the planet". The planet is fine--it will kick us off when it's had enough of our shenanigans! We should think in terms of saving ourselves!
Seriously, though. This reminds me of a recent prank done by an art-activism group called the Yes Men. Let me see if I can explain it concisely:
Basically, they set up websites that look exactly like, but parody, big corporations. Then groups find the Yes Men Mock Website for, say, ExxonMobil or the WTO, and they email the Yes Men asking them to send an "ExxonMobil representative" to come speak at their conference.
So the Yes Men say Yes to this invitation. And they make these outrageous powerpoint presentations and basically tell all these people crazy things that serve to make a point about how little control we have over the actions of large corporations.
So The Yes Men gave a talk recently in Canada before a group of oilmen, claiming that ExxonMobil was concerned about the certainty of global warming and what to do about it. The problem, as they saw it, was that huge numbers of people would be dying, even as fossil fuels would become less and less appropriate to use.
In order to stay in business, ExxonMobil (according to the Yes Men) needed to develop a new product, and what better way than to use the vast number of corpses that are already resulting from drought, subsequent famine, and flooding--and that are sure to increase in number.
Their powerpoint presentation explained that these human bodies were a vast, untapped fuel resource--much like using whale oil. They called the product Vivoleum, and passed out candles made of vivoleum, that they claimed was once an ExxonMobil janitor.
There is more information about this and other pranks here:
http://theyesmen.org/agribusiness/vivoleum/event/