EcoAlert - Justice & Accountability
Community Training - Phase Two Roll Out
We erased the division between our team politically by adhering to a standard for proof, taking into account all of the facts.
It is a fact the health of individuals suffer from the impact of petroleum poisoning.
It is a fact the oil industry spends enormous resources evading accountability.
It is a fact they lie routinely, causing further damage to people and property in the wake of a spill or other event.
It is a fact that the oil industry's practice of self-insuring leaves them monumentally under insured for the real potential damage they can cause.
Ask yourself why so few people focus on the issue of accountability by the oil industry.
These are enough reasons to stop them from causing further harm and for holding them accountable for the full impact of the damage down to this date.
We are now in process for a crowdfunder. If over the years we have found an organization which did not routinely steal our work and use it for their own short-term funding we would been happy to have someone get the credit but we cannot continue to do this without any support.
Our crowdfunder will introduce you to us. Brace yourself. We include folks from every point on the ideological spectrum joined by our uniting concern for the health and well being of people and for the Earth.
Technological Power Into Our Communities
A Personal MISSION
The Tools You Need to Fight Pollution Where You Are
With EcoAlert
The pollution problems we, as a people, face today are mostly the fault of Big Oil. Big Oil callously lets people die from exposures and they destroy our land, air and water. But they could not have done this without the unfair influence which they exercise over government and the short term strategies followed by the environmental movement itself.
The environment movement, as a whole, lacks in-depth experience and a complete understanding of the oil industries strategies and method. Because of these facts they continually try to use government agencies as an essential part of the solution and so fail. Our organization, EcoAlert, has filled these gaps with over 25 years of hard fought industry experience.
Our solution is to provide the needed tools directly to people at the community level and to use our skills to educate and train concerned citizens to respond to inevitable spills and incidents.
Over the last twenty years, we have provided original work and information to multiple organizations only to have it used to raise short-term fears and funding without fundamental change. We aim to tip the scales for environmental justice. which puts control directly into the hands of people in our communities. We have, therefore, decided to carry out the plan below ourselves, with your help.
Our plan INVOLVES these steps:
1.
Understand the TACTICS OF THE Oil Industry - A successful strategy must take into account the culture of the offending industry and understanding of their operational rules. Our Director for Research, Dave Lincoln is one of the few qualified members of that tightly-knit industry to have walked away, ignoring the benefits and profits which keep most under control even after they retire.
Understand the TACTICS OF THE Oil Industry - A successful strategy must take into account the culture of the offending industry and understanding of their operational rules. Our Director for Research, Dave Lincoln is one of the few qualified members of that tightly-knit industry to have walked away, ignoring the benefits and profits which keep most under control even after they retire. Lincoln was recruited by the Oil Industry when he was 14 and used as their spokesman during the first Santa Barbara Spill in 1969. Trusting these adults, he then went on to a career in the industry which took him around the world as a Petroleum Geologist for MANY OF the major oil companies. His background provides him with the kind of insights DAMAGING to an oil company facing litigation. David also understands the flawed assumptions and strategies which drive the oil industry.
That strategy is predicated on the assumption that technologies, not yet invented, will come into existence to solve the problems being created by the industry’s practices before these become impossible to correct. This is very much like driving off a cliff cheerfully betting a rescue will be possible before you hit the rocks at the bottom of the chasm.
2. The internal culture of the oil industry insulates its members from the consequences of their collective actions. That internal culture took on the characteristics of situational psychopathy by the 1970s. They were used to acting outside of the confines of responsible business practices. They knew there was no alternative then in existence to petroleum, and therefore believed ordinary people were obligated to remain silent and accept the damage without complaint.
When the industry was confronted with the beginnings of protest in the 1970s they responded by creating a scapegoat which immunized them from liability for the health impact and damage to people and property. They fueled the issue of climate change denial to divert attention from the health and climate impacts from their operations.
Proving that damage has been done to people and property from hydrocarbon exposures would have been far more difficult to evade, taking into account the advance of medical technologies and increased communication around the globe.
The resulting attitudes can be demonstrated with the bumper sticker they began using during that time. Although it sounds satisfying to those in the oil industry perceiving themselves underappreciated and under attack, it actually reflects their resentment of the growing demand for responsible behavior for their industry.
The EcoAlert Plan
First, EcoAlert is doing a Crowdfunder to provide the PhoneApp tools which will allow anyone, anyplace in America, to see exactly what is going on with pollution and infrastructure where they work, live, and play. The app will be available for iPhones and Android.
Our App shows the user what toxic substances are potentially impacting their health, (see the statistics for diseases by gender and dates) and the location of all toxic sites, the companies responsible, and much more. This is the tool needed to make the rest of the plan work smoothly.
Second, locally, in every community across the USA, concerned people need to take into their hands the monitoring of toxic substances, the locations of pipelines, understanding and integration of weather conditions and the history of the land, air and water around them over the last 20 years, along with pollution trends in their communities. With our tools and tutorials, they can learn how to use the existing and cutting-edge technologies which we have assembled as their first line of defense.
Big Oil and other chemical companies have made war on us and our communities. We need to be READY to defend ourselves non-violently, prepared to go into court and win, and to use the exiting infrastructure intended to mediate the impact of hazards with a rapid grow-out of alternative energy solutions. Alternatives exist and the sustainable energy infrastructure is also accessible from our App. Bringing them online and maximizing their potential requires cooperation between those who have originated them and activists.
Communities also need to know how to use the monitors available and how to compile the data generated for use in courts and to be supplied to the insurance industry.
We have consolidated this data into a schematic presentation for a user-friendly app. Handling these issues will continue to be our job. We will provide training materials, teach trainers, and hold online seminars to ensure every community in America is ready to respond to natural and man-made disasters displayed by handheld devices that can add to the data on the PhoneApp.
To do this we need a rapid build-out of a core team of trained facilitators. This is now taking place.
On the Ground Training Courses
Today most people think about the aftermath of a spill, not about actions essential before a spill takes place. Cleaning up toxic waste is its own specialization. To this end, we will provide information on what oil, gas and chemical companies are doing, why what they do is usually not an adequate clean-up for neighborhoods and what to do to document this. We will show how to safely become involved in clean-up for yourselves and your communities. We explain the strategies followed by big oil, how these originated, and how to cope if a spill takes place.
But first things first. This is what is needed in place before that happens.
Bucket Brigade
A Brigade is a community group trained to collect and test the gasses from spills using a simple technology which includes a real bucket. We provide a manual on how to organize this effort within a community and all available material for carrying this out successfully. When you have the facts, the monitors and know where the pollutants went, you can’t be lied to any more about where the pollution is or how much it is that will be made by smooth-sounding diversions of oil industry public relations people.
Technologies
Testing for chemicals which may be polluting your community and knowing where these are present are the best ways to defend yourself and your family. Testing can be carried out as soon as the location of these usually-invisible pollutants from the refinery or other facility are released. An infrared imaging technology is used to see and monitor these chemical clouds and modeling is done to ascertain what areas, specifically, are being impacted. Such cameras can see what is invisible to the naked eye day or night.
EcoAlert provides the software needed to do the modeling, and shows you how to use it in real time. This shows where to position the hand-held and portable chemical monitors (Sensitive to parts per billion) with maps of potential pollution and poison impacts on the wind, water, and soil. With this app, a community can become a early warning system to inform neighbors and to let the media, politicians and others know what has actually happened and keep them updated.
The EcoAlert App can be used to coordinate this work as well as to interpret data fathered by individuals before and afterward an incident. The information generated by the app will then be available to everyone via the app tools.
To carry this out, the entire energy infrastructure in relation to the layout of the oil facility, entry of pipelines, history of the facility and critical elements, as well as the routes of exit from the facility are needed. EcoAlert puts all of this in your hand. Explosions and release of toxic gases in aged refineries ARE SHOWN from needless and extreme use of hydrofluoric acid to burn out eyes and lungs. We can show where safer alternatives and more modern methods are available. You also need to know where to run and how fast when neglect and eventual failure happens.
Medical
Medical intervention begins with a door-to-door health survey of residents. A team is assembled and trained to carry this out. We provide curriculum and support seminars. This produces a baseline of the present state of health, which may reveal the likelihood residents have already been impacted.
We provide expert studies on the impact of toxic substances so a statistical analysis can be done in advance.
The community should have physicians who have been trained to recognize the symptoms of hydrocarbon poisoning and be able to treat those impacted. We suggest local physicians receive the information, go through training, and be ready to serve their communities. Medical insurance and re-insurance companies can help mitigate disasters if they are made aware of how they are fiscally at risk too.
Samples from individuals obtained and documented by physicians can then be gathered, becoming part of the chain of evidence to determine the real cost of doing business. These samples must be tested by an authorized lab.
Individuals should retain control of their samples along with providing these to a central repository who keeps them only for the individual. Those impacted will have sole control to permit an attorney access to this material, as otherwise it radically reduces the control an individual has when in negotiations.
A qualified individual then needs to do a Risk Assessment showing the impact on people in the area, and reviewing the impacts and outcomes of others who experienced similar incidents.
Big Oil and its hired representatives always tell people there is no risk -- to prevent the chain of evidence from being created.
It ain’t so Joe. Read The Four Dog Defense to see how oil spokespeople carry this out, and how to be ready to respond to it. Note that this approach was adapted by the oil industry from that used by the tobacco industry.
Our job is to train you and also report to those, such as the Reinsurance Industry, on the potential hazards which will impact their calculations of risk. This industry does take direct action with regard to checks they have to pay out in a disaster, and keeping them ignorant is one of the reasons Big Oil acts covertly or tries to under-insure themselves by self-insuring themselves. Conducting business without adequate coverage for risks which the business knows exist, is irresponsible. Big Oil, by ‘self-insuring’ evades the liabilities which their irresponsible behavior creates, leaving no funds for their victims as they go bankrupt and the refinery or pipeline is sold without being encumbered by pain and suffering. This does not have to happen with the EcoAlert App on hand.
American Sacrifice Zones
These are areas in America which are already so polluted they have been viewed as sacrifice zones. These areas have concentrations of minorities and the poor. The EPA has known about these environmental justice issues for a long time, and companies are allowed a very free range in these areas to continue polluting.
“Dude You Are Screwed,” the book by Dave Lincoln, gives you the facts and what you can do to survive. Communities also need to know the history of previous attempts to obtain compensation for damages in their areas. These will be very valuable for planning the local strategy.
We have also written a survival guide for a community, “Your Personal Emergency Guide for Toxic Waste Events.”
Legal strategy
Many attorneys simply milk the situation for their own profit. We help to find attorneys who can be trusted preferably on a reward or an income-contingency basis. Identifying these has been the work of more than a decade.
Finding committed attorneys you can trust will be an EcoAlert application.
An attorney can immediately be useful if they understand the tools, such as Qualified Settlement Trusts. THESE provide funds to victims, eliminating the ‘Wait Them to Death’ strategy routinely used by Big Oil, or exempting liability for lining the pockets of politicians in advance in the name of job creation.
We have been documenting the industry, especially ExxonMobil and its CEO Rex Tillerson for a long time and have very detailed information on him and the company. Under no circumstances should people sign a non-disclosure agreement if a settlement is reached. This puts even more future victims at risk.
EcoAlert is personal. People will pay attention when you show them to your neighbor on these tools using these tools on your phone. It is the ultimate reality show. Their survival hinges on effective action, not waiting for someone else to do the job.
The PhoneApp delivers the facts. We provide training – but ultimately protecting ourselves, our families, and our community is up to each of us. This can happen because when you have the facts you also have the power to displace what does not work with what does.
In the Central Valley of California 1,000 children die every year from asthma. This is caused by the high levels of pollution. Oil pollution has raised the level of disease for all of us. We are, literally, choking on the residue of death dealt out by an industry which views us as expendable.
We are determined to put these tools into your hands. We are preparing curriculum for these trainings which can also be used for your schools -- public, private, charter, and for homeschoolers as well. If our children are not too young to be impacted they are not too young to take action. Our children will inherit this Earth whether or not we succeed. When you look at your children what future do you want for them? If you think we can wait another generation, you are wrong. Join us. Protect your community. The power can be in your own hands, as it always should have been.
Sign up for updates and times for conference calls. Contribute to our crowdfunder, soon launching. And begin organizing within your own community now.
