[sustran] "In my view you have no place asking a question like this since Shell "

[eric.britton]

Oops Todd. Okay, I have to wade in here.  Up until now I have handled this
in private with Todd, but since all this is now out in the open, off we go. 

 

Look Todd, you have wandered with your righteous insistence on this and a
few other like matters from the professorial, knowledgeable and useful to
the personal, doctrinaire, and - I chose my word -- paranoid. This is not,
let me say, an Adbusters of CarBuster forum: it is, may I quote from our
charter, 

 

Sustran: The Sustainable Transport Action Network for Asia & the Pacific --
an email discussion list devoted to people-centered, equitable and
sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global
South'). Sustran: a major discussion forum on urban transport in developing
countries." Discussions are well focused, expert-based and of very high
quality.

 

We have been doing this I would say rather successfully since 1999, and
while there have been a few glitches - one or two concerning you in fact -
on the whole this has been a creative and for many of us who are deeply
involved in these real world, often burning issues a useful exercise.

 

Now Todd, you are a fine man and your heart is definitely in the right
place.  Your actual knowledge of both the politics and practice of transport
and its associated sectors (environment, finance, social justice, land use,
etc.) has shown itself to be more than a little uneven on more than one
occasion (one example among many: 11 Oct. "I AM sorry, what's ICE?"), but
your enthusiasm and occasional useful heads-ups has made up for these
shortcomings of which we all are quite aware. 

 

But now you are, as far as I am concerned, stepping over the line. Not in
terms of what you chose to say - that's your business - but what you chose
to say here. This is not a place for the Lone Ranger and the One Pure Truth
Seeker.  You have no monopoly on knowledge, long term commitment or ability.
Far from it.  I would say that your technical competence in our field and
your ability to make a difference is no more than a couple of small notches
compared with the contributions and commitment of Lee (with whom I have long
reserved the right to differ, but not to instruct).

 

Let's take a few steps back on this for a bit of perceptive.

 

1.     Is the Shell Oil company, all the other fossil fuels guys, the world
automotive players, the road and bridge builders of the world, and all those
nicely dressed financial guys, lobbyists and round-heeled politicians and
suited international schmendricks and non-boat rockers on the first line of
guilt as far as the rapid decline of our planet is concerned?  Yes. No
doubt.



2.     Are you the only one in the world who recognizes that? Give me a
break. 



3.     But are the Shell Foundation, the Ford Foundation  and take your
choice for the others without value or validity in our struggle to free
ourselves of these historic, inertial and financial bonds?  Of that I am
less sure.



4.     The Shell Foundation folks, just to take that once example, have
never given our program a nickel, but they have on two occasions and on very
short notice stepped forward  and helped out with most useful last minute
support at a time of need for the Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable
Cities and later to support the World Technology Environmental Award (that
went to voracious car-lovers Hands Monderman and Jan Gehl).



5.     Are they perfect? I would tend to doubt it?   Is the group that is
trying to do something with the limited dollars that the Shell oil company
have given them a bunch of kneejerk louts - as you more than imply with your
greenwashing charges?  Let me say, not quite.

 

To conclude - and to leave myself wide open to discussion and qualification
from any of you (but not for now Todd, who has already had more than his
say) - those of us who care about the bottom line, sustainable development
and social justice, and doing something about it rather than having tantrums
in public, are working hard and doing our best. People like the Shell
Foundation crew are surely not perfect but when they get behind the EMBARQ
program and guys like Lee Schipper and his hard working - and knowledgeable
- colleagues, I am not sure that your level of discourse represents an
advance for the sustainability agenda. It may make you feel better, it may
make you feel righteous, but believe me that is now what all of this is
about. 

 

So here is what I propose, subject to the approval of my other senior
colleagues here. You will be asked not to post to this forum for the rest of
this year, but I hope that you will read and profit from our communications.
Think of this as a short sabbatical giving you time to catch up on a few
important things that you will be able to make good use of in the future. We
want your  energy and enthusiasm, and would just like to temper it with a
bit more knowledge about how this most imperfect world works.  And the
maturity which hopefully goes with it. 

 

Kind regards to all, and the discussions are, if necessary,  now open (to
all but Todd, I would say again),

 

Eric Britton

 

 

 

----

 

Lee,

 

In my view you have no place asking a question like this since Shell - one
of the main benefactors of EMBARQ - LOVES it - if semi-secretly - that
automobilisation is on the increase in China.

 

I am not trying to do make a personal attack... but please, let's be real.

 

All of this

<http://www.shell.com/home/content/china-en/society_environment/dir_socialin
vestment_1030.html>

should not be balanced against the other activities of the company nor their
competition. It is totally insignificant.

 

I could make suggestions... e.g. Shell would be okay if on a worldwide basis
they only sold energy to public transport and carshare, etc. but then of
course I would be called naive because the competition would take advantage
and so on. As I tried to say here
<http://greenideafactory.blogspot.com/2007/10/shell-nominated-for-worst-gree
nwash.html>

Shell simply does not care about sustainability in its full form.

 

And EMBARQ is a greenwashing exercise.

 

If I am kicked off the list for this comment, it is worth it. I don't enjoy
writing a letter like this. But I enjoy even less being polite and thus
silent.

 

- T

 

 

 

Lee Schipper wrote:

> I just came back from Shanghai. They are not building a BRT network. They
have 5 (soon 6) Metro lines.

> Traffic is awful...

> 

> There seems no sentiment to do anything to slow cars down, to enforce
speeding laws, to apply congestion pricing. Sure there is an increasing
supply of public transit, but it is not taking modal share from cars
apparently, rather from bikes and walkers. And the E-bikes are everywhere.

> 

> So where do we go from here, or rather, where does China go from here?
Will the Beijing Olympics or Shanghai Expo 2010 be socked in by bad traffic
and foul air?

> 

> Lee