Greenwash-day Blues

Greenwash-day Blues (or why you shouldn’t believe Corporate PR about the environmental benefits they claim to bring).

“Beyond Petroleum” it’s called

That’s the latest moniker for BP,

I can’t understand it personally,

It just sounds like garbage to me.

 

It’s slick advertising you know

Where they’re adding a new sheen

They’re covering up the reality

And making loud claims that they’re green.

 

They spend more on their marketing

Than they do on their “green” actions

Their practices haven’t changed all that much

The difference is measured in fractions.

 

They’re spouting new words & new slogans

But to me it all sounds just like tosh

They’re not really eco-friendly

It’s just a new veneer of greenwash.

 

For the oil companies are ripping the earth

Working in every geography

This kind of coy covering up

Can only be called eco-pornography.

 

The factories poison the earth,

The airlines are polluting the sky.

It’s hard to live without oil or travel

But we’re going to have to try.

 

For the planet is coughing & choking

The natural world sits in pollution

We’ve got to find some much better ways

And look for sustainable solutions.

 

We all know that there’s a problem

And it’s bad enough being the cause

Without pretending to be helping

Whilst carrying on without any pause.

 

So let’s have some integrity and truth

In all of the verbal exchanges

Let’s not have more of this hogwash

But spend the budget on real changes.

 

And let’s stop this carbon-offset nonsense

We all know that it’s playing a game

It makes no tangible difference

And leaves the air choking just the same.

 

We can’t stop the cows & sheep farting

It’s just what they do all of the day

We need to find a better approach

We need to find an easier way. 

 

It’s no good all of us doing our bit

With re-cycling our rubbish & waste

If big companies carry on just the same

Well – it sure leaves a bad taste.

 

The governments & the countries

Need to find a way to agree

It’s down to all of the big boys

Not just little you and me.

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2021