More on the BP boycott

As I wrote in my column yesterday, a direct boycott of BP as a resposne to the gulf oil spill is badly flawed because it ignores the larger impact that oil has on society and that the oil industry has on the environment and the economy.

My friend Rob Stolzer, who lives in Wisconsin, commented to me on my Facebook page that the boycott also would have the unintended consequence of harming small businesses, the mom-and-pop owners of the service stations that sell BP gas.

But environmental columnist Jeff McMahon offers what seem like rational and potentially effective alternatives to a direct boycott, one that attacks BP but also the other oil companies while moving us toward a new paradigm of energy use.

McMahon (who quotes my blog in his piece) provides “Five ways to boycott without helping Exxon“:

  1. “Boycott bottled water,” which is responsible for the use of about 50 million barrels of oil  a year “just manufacturing the plastic bottles for bottled water” plus an additional amout for transportation.
  2. “Avoid plastics and other petrochemical products, including chemical pesticides and fertilizers,” which are manufactured by BP and other oil companies.
  3. “Buy bulk foods and put them in reusable bags” — we could save 120 million barrels of oil worldwide annually by switching to reusable bags and loose produce, bulk items and nonprocessed foods use less oil.
  4. “Be a locavore,” which cuts down on energy used for transportation and the need for heavy fertilizer and pesticide use.
  5. “Boycott aluminum cans,” about a third of which are made by BP subsidiary Arco Aluminum.

And — this is his sixth suggestion:

Don’t buy something new just to boycott BP. Some in the green-lifestyle press have advised people to buy aluminum water bottles instead of plastic, unaware BP may have supplied the aluminum. Others urge glass food containers instead of plastic, or petroleum-free cosmetics, etc. The green-lifestyle press often falls prey to the consumerist impulse to buy, buy, buy. But unless it grew in your back yard, every new product arrives with oily footprints. If you use plastic containers now, replacing them with glass will only burn more fossil fuels.

These are sensible suggestions; follow them and stick it to BP.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Sweating the small stuff

Here is a story that demonstrates why budgets matter. Governments need money to perform basic services — like cutting the grass that grows in the median strips along highways like Route 130, or fix potholes or replace bulbs in streetlamps or any of the dozens of other minor functions we take for granted.

We forget that someone has to sweep the floors in the state’s school buildings, inspect apartment complexes, restripe roads and that the people who do these jobs deserve to get paid a living wage.

Government may not be popular, but it is necessary.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Empire v. Empire

This gets old pretty quickly. A Celtics-Lakers matchup in the finals — feels like we’ve been here before.

The teams have matched up 11 times, with the Celtics winning nine. Boston has won 17 titles, the Lakers 15 — for a total of 32 of 63 titles overall. The Celtics dominated in the ’50s and ’60s, winning 12 of their championships; the Lakers have been more dominant more recently first behind Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar and more recently behind Shaq and Kobe.

So, here we have another go.

This should be a good series. Kobe Bryant is the league’s dominant big-game player and he has an able supporting cast led by Pau Gasol in the paint. The Celtics are deep, boast one of the best young guards in the game (Rondo) and feature a trio of superstar veterans with varied talents.

I’m going to pick the Celtics because they can play suffocating defense, but this thing is going seven.

And I’m going to root for both teams to lose. As a Knicks fan, I have no other choice. If this were “Star Wars,” both of these teams would be the Evil Empire.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.