date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 18:25:22 +0100 from: The StopEsso Campaign subject: StopEsso Campaign Update - October 2002 to: update@stopesso.com STOPESSO CAMPAIGN UPDATE OCTOBER 2002 ********************************************* We're sending you this update because you ticked the box on our web site.To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to stopesso-unsubscribe@lists.flirble.org We promise not to pass your email address on to anyone else. ********************************************* WHAT'S IN THIS UPDATE? THE BOYCOTT IS WORKING: POLL ESSO LOSES MARKET SHARE EXXONMOBIL'S NEW COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMME JOHANNESBURG - OIL, US AND OPECS CANADA AND RUSSIA WILL RATIFY KYOTO WHITE HOUSE GETS REPORT TO DROP CLIMATE SUMMER PROTESTS STUDENTS TAKE ACTION WITH PEOPLE & PLANET FRIENDS OF THE EARTH DEMONISE ESSO POLLING SHOWS THAT THE CAMPAIGN IS WORKING In the last year, more than 1 million people - about a quarter of Esso's UK customers - are now refusing to buy petrol from Esso. This was revealed in polling by MORI for Greenpeace. Read the full story at http://www.stopesso.com/campaign/00000066.php ESSO LOSES MARKET SHARE Esso has now been taken over by BP as the largest UK petrol retailer. Stations are closing down everywhere. Please let us know if your local station has closed by emailing info@stopesso.com with the address and name of the station. EXXONMOBIL'S NEW COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMME Exxon has launched a new ad campaign in the US, including a website touting fuel cells that rely on petrol, and continued seismic exploration for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. It avoids any mention of the real solutions to global warming, despite the agreement of the international community that corporations must take action to address the problem. It also totally ignores the real energy challenge of the 21st Century - the transition to renewable energy. Greenpeace in the US challenged Exxon on the site. http://www.stopexxonmobil.org/static/2002_sept18.html TAKE ACTION! The new website, understanding-energy.com would be more aptly named "misunderstanding energy.com" because of its exclusion of the major new energy technology: renewable energy. Tell 'em what you think at http://www.understanding-energy.com/contactus.html. Let us know if you get any interesting replies. JOHANNESBURG - OIL, US AND OPECS The Earth Summit in Johannesburg failed spectacularly to address the key issues of global warming and renewable energy. In the lead-up to the summit, Friends of the Earth published a letter sent to Bush by Exxon-funded "front groups", congratulating him for staying away from Jo'burg and urging his negotiators to keep climate "off the table and out of the spotlight". The groups included the Competitive Enterprise Institute, heavily involved in setting up the Global Climate Coalition. The CEI once said that "Smoking tobacco is a civic duty" and that global warming is a "theory not a fact." It got $280,000 from ExxonMobil last year. from ExxonMobil last year. Yet Esso UK's Gordon Sawyer calls such groups "respectable". http://www.stopesso.com/press/00000034.php Read more about the CEI at http://www.prwatch.org/improp/cei.html CANADA AND RUSSIA WILL RATIFY KYOTO One of the few good things to come out of the Summit was that both Russia and Canada announced they would ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Once they have done this, the treaty will finally come into force, more than ten years after the Climate Convention was signed, and five years after the Kyoto negotiations themselves. This leaves only the USA and Australia out in the cold. WHITE HOUSE GETS REPORT TO DROP CLIMATE SECTION "There's a complete paranoia about anything on climate, and everything has to be reviewed widely," a US Environmental Protection Agency official told the New York Times. Why? For the first time in six years, the EPA's annual report on air pollution trends has no section on global warming. http://www.stopesso.com/coverage/00000040.php SUMMER PROTESTS Hats off to all of you around the UK who've been out protesting at Esso stations over the summer. On 1 September a crew of more than 40 people picketed 12 stations across Essex. Earlier in the summer, a team in Southampton noticed a new station being built, and they leafletted motorists on the opening day. In August, people targetted four stations in Herefordshire, and there were other protests in Aylesbury and Bridgwater. The Waveny Fair thought Esso sucked. Also requiring mention are the Somerset lot, who've been active all summer. Keep it up! Greenpeace's festival work has gone down very well, with all sorts of stars wearing our Esso Sucks T-shirts on stage, including Lamb and Idlewild. STUDENTS TAKE ACTION WITH PEOPLE & PLANET If you're just starting university or already a student, look out for People Planet at Freshers Fair stalls all around the country as the new term kicks off. Sign up to take action at your university. People & Planet is part of the StopEsso coalition and is a national student network campaigning to end world poverty, defend human rights and protect the environment. If you are a student and want to get involved in campaigning at your university contact lucy@peopleandplanet.org. FRIENDS OF THE EARTH DEMONISE ESSO THIS HALLOWEEN Friends of the Earth local groups are taking to the streets on 2 November. They'll be demonising Esso with Halloween protests in high streets and Esso forecourts around the UK. The protests will mark the close of the next round of international climate talks in New Delhi, and will doubtless witness more blocking action by Esso and the Bush administration. Details of your nearest FOE group can be found at http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/local_groups_and_campaigns/ CAR STICKERS Thanks to all of you who are helping us distribute car stickers. Thousands of I DON'T BUY ESSO stickers are in the back of cars across the UK as a result, helping us get the message to other drivers. Order your free car sticker by emailing info@stopesso.com or writing to FREEPOST LON 18448 London N1 2BR. T-SHIRTS You've also been ordering T-shirts so fast that we've run out. More in next week so those of you waiting for orders should get them soon. http://www.stopesso.com/tshirt.php. Every t-shirt you buy supports the campaign, both financially and visibly. TELL YOUR FRIENDS Don't forget to tell your friends about stopesso.com. Get them to go to http://www.stopesso.com and sign up. Forward this update to them all. LINK TO US Got a website? Click here for groovy banners and ways to link to us http://www.stopesso.com/linktous.php ********************************************* We're sending you this update because you ticked the box on our web site.To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to stopesso-unsubscribe@lists.flirble.org We promise not to pass your email address on to anyone else. *********************************************