July 29th, 2009 by lindsay
Fireside tactics to stop the Tar Sands.
(Or, yo Mrs. Nixon, tell your husband to clean up his act.)
What do you do when the CEO of the lead financier of the worst environmental project on Earth won’t listen to reason?
Talk to his wife.
After a week of wheatpasting teasers throughout Toronto, at 7am yesterday, just as everyone was filtering into work, Rainforest Action Network shimmied up the flag poles in front of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and unfurled a giant banner that read, “Please help us Mrs. Nixon.com”. When the RBC employees sat down at their desk and logged on to the website they were greeted with a fireside video appeal from Mike Brune (and made by your friends at Underground*) to Mrs. Nixon, the wife of Gord Nixon, the CEO of RBC, to please encourage her husband to stop the Tar Sands.
The Tar Sands is known as the most destructive project on Earth, contaminating water, killing animals, and extracting oil that produces three times the greenhouse gas emissions that conventionally produced oil (because of the energy it takes to extract and process Tar Sands oil). As Mrs. Nixon has expressed her interest and support of the environment, and in particular water issues, it seemed especially important to let her know that her husband’s company – the RBC – is behind this nasty business. RAN knew it would be tough to hear, but someone had to break it to her – and tell her what she can do to help stop put a stop to it.
Mrs. Nixon can do a lot by having a little chat with her husband at home. You can do something too, by watching the video and sending an email to the Corporate Social Responsibility department at RBC and telling them you want them to stop funding the Tar Sands.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
