Trickster environmentalists posed as Unicode and WIRED magazine to launch a real greenwashing emoji by Shepard Fairey targeting LNG industry giants Royal Caribbean, Total Energies, and others

September 16 — In the early hours of an otherwise-normal-except-probably-record- breakingly-hot Tuesday morning on September 10, a message appearing to be from Unicode—the consortium that releases new emojis—announced the release of a greenwashing emoji. There it was, between a harp and a shovel: a sad flower trapped in a droplet of fossil fuel, under a gas pump spraying toxic green upon its head. A gaslighting metaphor, and a boldly politicized design with propaganda aesthetic… seemed like something Shepard Fairey had made. And, wildly ideological for an emoji. It was both!

Moments later, a newsletter seemingly sent by WIRED magazine hit thousands of inboxes with a fresh thinkpiece by the writer and digital rights activist Cory Doctorow: “The Climate Has a Posse: On the Power and Peril of the New Greenwashing Emoji.”

The article speculated about why Unicode—which is run by tech giants—had okay’d a flaming middle finger to corporate interests, and also revealed Fairey’s emoji was designed to call out the liquified natural gas (LNG) industry for heinous greenwashing. So specific! Doctorow drew links between Fairey’s infamous “André the Giant has a Posse” guerilla sticker campaign of the ‘90s and the emoji, which could be digitally pasted on greenwashing ads, declaring it a “tool to hack the digital commons.” 

Meanwhile, Fairey released a statement thanking Unicode for accepting the emoji, and doubling down on its meaning:

“This emoji represents the trickle of lies fed to the larger populace by corporate entities feeding us toxic products that are poisoning life on Earth,” it said. Other emojis cowered. 

The internet was confused! Some people were thrilled. Finally! An easy way to call out corporations who cover up their climate crimes with “green” advertising. Others were skeptical. What is this, just another toothless virtue signal? 

But then, things got weird. Cory Doctorow denied writing the WIRED article. Condé Nast, stupefied into some confusion about the basic tenets of free speech, issued a cease and desist claiming it was all fake. 

Um, WHAT! If Doctorow didn’t write it, who did?? 

But before there was time to figure that out, another twist! A major fossil fuel lobby group seemed to clap back with a pouty retort, threatening to sue Fairey and Unicode for accusing Royal Caribbean, Matson, Total Energies, and Shell of greenwashing. “SEA-LNG members have done critical work in illuminating for the public the naturalness of liquid natural gas as a marine fuel,” it said. Some journalists broke the news, and lawyers on reddit had a field day with the “greenwashed horseshit” of the press release. 

Indeed, LNG is natural, because it is methane. Fracked from pockets of earth deep underground, where it should stay. Because when methane is released into the atmosphere, it traps 80 times more heat than CO2, expediting climate collapse by orders of magnitude. So how does the shipping and cruise industry get away with calling LNG “clean?” Through greenwashing. Through well-financed messaging to convince the public that LNG is a “sustainable fuel.” Perhaps this had something to do with… everything?

It did! When the smog cleared, the stunt was revealed to be a hoax by The Yes Men in collaboration with Fairey, designed to expose a cabal of fossil fuel companies lying about the impacts of LNG. 

As the internet worked to make sense of it all, the Electronic Frontier Foundation published a legal defense correcting Condé Nast’s misunderstanding of fair use and free speech, knocking down their case pillar by pillar. 

“Wired’s heavy-handed reaction was both misguided and disappointing. Their legal claims are baseless given the satirical, noncommercial nature of the site (not to mention Doctorow’s implicit celebration of it after the fact). And frankly, a publication of Wired’s caliber should be celebrating this form of political speech, not trying to shut it down.

Hopefully Wired and CDN will recognize this is not a battle they want or need to fight. If not, EFF stands ready to defend the Yes Men and their critical work,” it said. 

To cap it all off, in a reply to anti-LNG activists, the marketing spin doctors who peddle pro-LNG propaganda for SEA-LNG pinned the whole thing as “fake news.” Ha! 

“Suing activists for misinformation while corporations systematically lie to the public about their climate impact is peak irony,” said Natalie Whiteman of The Yes Men. “They’re the ones that need to be sued!” 

 

THE CASE AGAINST METHANE

LNG is a fossil fuel that leaks methane into the atmosphere at every step of the supply chain, from extraction to combustion. Methane is a disaster from the second it leaves the ground. Fracking and emissions decrease air quality, pollute drinking water, leak carcinogens into soil, and devastate public health in communities already most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. 

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has named rapid methane emissions cuts as a top priority to limit global warming to as close to 1.5°C as possible. Fossil fuel coalition groups like SEA-LNG continue trying to sell LNG as a decarbonization solution, but there is sufficient scientific consensus that it absolutely is not. True decarbonization requires a multi-pronged approach that includes enhancing vessel efficiency, investing in zero-emission fuels and infrastructure, and regulating against methane emissions. LNG is not a solution. 

“We are glad that Shepard Fairey's powerful icon has been added to the arsenal of tools we can use to fight back against LNG lies," said Mike Bonnano of The Yes Men. “But these poor companies don’t even have science on their side, so it’s hardly a fair fight. Don’t worry—next week they’ll have Scrubby’s help.” 

This coming Friday, a slimy but lovable sponge named Scrubby will make its debut at New York Climate Week to assist corporations who are having trouble greenwashing their climate crimes. 

Those who want to take action right away can sign the Beyond Methane Pledge, and keep an eye out for Scrubby the Greenwashing Sponge at NY Climate Week.