I’ve said before that the unremitting negativity of the environmental movement toward corporations bugs me. I’m fully aware of the evils committed by corporations, but the tactic seems to be to find those that are talking about green issues and accuse them of hypocrisy, thus creating a massive disincentive. The lesson for corporations is: keep quiet.

But don’t we want them talking about green issues?

Help Grist raise $25,000 by September 30 to further advance our climate reporting

The example I always use is Ford — Bill Ford is, by all accounts, a committed environmentalist and has been pushing against the massive inertia of the Ford bureaucracy to do some good things (yes, yes, with limited success). But because the Ford fleet overall still has poor fuel efficiency, Bill ends up getting compared to Dick Cheney. Could anything be more insulting? The lesson for Bill — or rather, for the Ford board of directors — is: lower our profile on environmental issues. Don’t draw the attention of the greens.

Yeah, so, that bugs me. And yet for some reason, this bugs me too. I guess the lesson is that everything bugs me and I should relax. Perhaps drink more.

Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.

To support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Here's How

Oh, wait! Here’s something that doesn’t bug me: ExxposeExxon, the new coalition trying to put together a boycott of Exxon. (Okay, the spelling bugs me, but … baby steps.)

The problem with Exxon, you see, is not that they’re saying one thing and doing another. It’s that they’re doing malignant things. Evil, not hypocrisy, is Public Enemy No. 1.