When the 'Yes Men' strike - Beware!
Yes Men pull off hoax at Go Expo Energy Conference in Calgary
Canadian Press
Published: Friday, June 15, 2007
CALGARY (CP) - A pair of anti-corporate activists may have pulled off a bizarre prank at the Go Expo Energy conference.
Footage was broadcast on a television station Thursday from an online site called theenergynews.com showing members of a group called the Yes Men posing as key players from the U.S. oil industry.
Oil and gas industry executives had paid $50 each to hear a speech from the National Petroleum Council, a group that advises the White House on oil and gas matters.
Rumour had it that a new joint energy policy from the Canadian and American governments was coming down the pike.
At first, the speech just seemed odd.
"Without oil, at least four billion people would starve," one of the speakers earnestly told the crowd. "This spiral of trouble would make the oil infrastructure utterly useless.
"And starving would become the new black."
When the speaker started to talk about vivolium - a renewable energy source nobody in the room had ever heard of - the red flags started to go up.
But once the pair lit up two torch-like candles and urged the audience to do the same in memory of a dead Exxon oil worker, attendees and organizers realized they'd been had.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/oddities/story.html?id=8b0cae97-8975-4236-ba4d-e50b30e06cd4&k=56697
After noting that current energy policies will likely lead to "huge global calamities" and disrupt oil supplies, Wolff told the audience "that in the worst case scenario, the oil industry could "keep fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of people who die into oil," said a Yes Men press release.
Yes Man Mike Bonnano, posing as an Exxon representative named Florian Osenberg, added that "With more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for Vivoleum. Fuel will continue to flow for those of us left."
The impostors led growingly suspicious attendees in lighting Vivoleum candles made, they said, from a former Exxon janitor who died from cleaning a toxic spill. When shown a mock video of the janitor professing his desire to be turned in death into candles, a conference organizer pulled Bonanno and Bichlbaum from the stage.
As security guards led Bonanno from the room, Bichlbaum told reporters that "Without oil we could no longer produce or transport food, and most of humanity would starve. That would be a tragedy, but at least all those bodies could be turned into fuel for the rest of us."
Noting that "150,000 people already die from climate-change related effects every year," he added, "That's only going to go up - maybe way, way up. Will it all go to waste? That would be cruel."
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/06/yes_men_strike_.html
http://consumerist.com/consumer/oil-&-gas/yes-men-solve-the-climate-crisis-soylent-green-269213.php
Canadian Press
Published: Friday, June 15, 2007
CALGARY (CP) - A pair of anti-corporate activists may have pulled off a bizarre prank at the Go Expo Energy conference.
Footage was broadcast on a television station Thursday from an online site called theenergynews.com showing members of a group called the Yes Men posing as key players from the U.S. oil industry.
Oil and gas industry executives had paid $50 each to hear a speech from the National Petroleum Council, a group that advises the White House on oil and gas matters.
Rumour had it that a new joint energy policy from the Canadian and American governments was coming down the pike.
At first, the speech just seemed odd.
"Without oil, at least four billion people would starve," one of the speakers earnestly told the crowd. "This spiral of trouble would make the oil infrastructure utterly useless.
"And starving would become the new black."
When the speaker started to talk about vivolium - a renewable energy source nobody in the room had ever heard of - the red flags started to go up.
But once the pair lit up two torch-like candles and urged the audience to do the same in memory of a dead Exxon oil worker, attendees and organizers realized they'd been had.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/oddities/story.html?id=8b0cae97-8975-4236-ba4d-e50b30e06cd4&k=56697
After noting that current energy policies will likely lead to "huge global calamities" and disrupt oil supplies, Wolff told the audience "that in the worst case scenario, the oil industry could "keep fuel flowing" by transforming the billions of people who die into oil," said a Yes Men press release.
Yes Man Mike Bonnano, posing as an Exxon representative named Florian Osenberg, added that "With more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for Vivoleum. Fuel will continue to flow for those of us left."
The impostors led growingly suspicious attendees in lighting Vivoleum candles made, they said, from a former Exxon janitor who died from cleaning a toxic spill. When shown a mock video of the janitor professing his desire to be turned in death into candles, a conference organizer pulled Bonanno and Bichlbaum from the stage.
As security guards led Bonanno from the room, Bichlbaum told reporters that "Without oil we could no longer produce or transport food, and most of humanity would starve. That would be a tragedy, but at least all those bodies could be turned into fuel for the rest of us."
Noting that "150,000 people already die from climate-change related effects every year," he added, "That's only going to go up - maybe way, way up. Will it all go to waste? That would be cruel."
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/06/yes_men_strike_.html
http://consumerist.com/consumer/oil-&-gas/yes-men-solve-the-climate-crisis-soylent-green-269213.php
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