Episode Details

This episode of the Gravity Well Podcast delves into the critical issues of greenwashing and red washing, exploring their implications and the broader context of environmental and social responsibility. The discussion features insights from Bill Carroll, a sociology professor at the University of Victoria, and JP Sapinski, an environmental studies professor at the University of Moncton. They highlight the deceptive practices of corporations in misrepresenting their environmental efforts and the need for genuine solutions to climate change. The conversation also touches on the importance of decarbonizing, democratizing, and decolonizing our approach to energy production and land stewardship. The podcast emphasizes the urgency of addressing these issues through thoughtful policy changes, community engagement, and a shift towards sustainable practices.

Welcome to Bill and JP

Jenny:

Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast. Here we break down heavy ideas into small buckets that you can handle. Our mission is simple. Help us work through your dilemmas in conversation and process. Together, we and our communities will face our dilemmas and make the world a better place for all beings. In the spirit of truth, I acknowledge I’m a settler on Stolen Blackfoot Treaty seven and Metis districts five and six territories. I take reconciliation by seeking the wisdom of elders and individuals who aim to restore water, air, land, life, or community, a healthy living relationship with the earth and each other is our guide. Welcome. This morning I have Bill and J. P. with me. We are broadcasting from coast to coast in Canada today, which I think is just amazing. Bill is in Victoria, is that right? Bill?

Bill:

Yes.

Jenny:

And J. P., you’re in Moncton. Is it New Brunswick? Oh my goodness. I meant to double-check that this morning. Perfect. Okay. Thank you so much for being here and I’ll let you introduce yourselves, but I’m just going to frame up the conversation a little for folks. Today we’re talking about greenwashing and a little redwashing if we can. The issue that we’ve seen, we’re going to walk through what it is, the work these two have done and are doing in this space. And then a little on what it means and how we can work together to make people aware of this issue and how we can benefit from acting on this issue. Bill, would you mind introducing yourself first, please?

Bill:

Sure, yes. I teach Sociology at the University of Victoria. I live on the land of the coastal Salish people, and I’ve been involved recently in a fairly large-scale project called the Corporate Mapping Project. We’ll probably be talking a bit about that because it was very much about not just greenwashing, but the whole power of the fossil fuel industry and its allies, particularly in the Canadian context. But certainly greenwashing is an important element in that whole kind of structure of power and the way that it operates.

Jenny:

Excellent. Yeah, if we have time, let’s expand a little bit more on that bill. But yes, I put in the chat just for everybody’s sake, the peer-reviewed study that was done on greenwashing. That’s for anybody. This is part of Bill’s work I know contributed to this. J. P., you can speak to that as well if you have. Okay. Please introduce yourself, too.

J. P. :

Well, I’m speaking from Moncton, the traditional land of the MikMak people, the unceded territory where the University of Moncton is located. I teach here environmental studies and I do research on issues of transition, decarbonization, energy transition, just transition in the perspective of phasing out fossil fuels as fast as possible and also shedding critical light on the different transition projects that are proposed, whether we put electric cars everywhere with nuclear reactors to power them, whether that’s, well draw the criticisms that we c