written at a juice bar in Montmarte

Today, we went to the Grand Palais for Solutions COP21, an exhibition of “climate solutions” developed by companies, NGOs, artists, and researchers.  While the event advertises itself as an “opportunity to experience the post-carbon society of the future,” critics have dismissed the event as nothing more than corporate greenwashing.  On Friday, activists gathered in front of the palace, where inside businesses were pushing for corporate and privatized responses to the climate crisis.  Participants protested the “false solutions” proposed by big businesses, and denounced strategies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), carbon markets, fracking, natural gas, biofuels, and GMOs.  The protest resulted in arrests and the temporary closure of the event.

In the wake of this publicity, we wanted to check it out.  Sure enough, the palace had opened its doors to some of the world’s largest polluters.  Among others, we noticed expo booths for Coca Cola, Nestle, and Nissan. While we could recognize the event as greenwashing, we didn’t write it off completely. With the political and economic power that corporations have today, they will inevitably have to be part of the solution. We should be pushing for businesses to do better, but not necessarily exclude them from the process of moving to a carbon-free future.

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While taking in the sites of Paris over the last ten days, we’ve noticed a number of climate-related advertisements plastered around the city. Artists have installed over 600 fake ads in public spaces to expose corporations for their contributions to climate change and greenwashing efforts. Here are just a few examples of what’s being called the “brandalism campaign”:

“Brandalism” photos taken from: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/11/brandalism-fake-ads-paris/