[andyt]

Chiquita doesn't just produce bananas, but other produce under different brand names as well. Pineapples and avocados and Fresh Express salads, and who knows what else.

It's funny to see the right adopt this tactic, usually they get all huffy when somebody calls for a boycott.

This sort of thing shows why we need to push that pipeline to either the west or east coast to be less dependent on the US. China doesn't care about that shit.

[DrCaleb]

raydan raydan:

I guess that's Andyt's point, PA9. Why are we up in arms now, because they snub our oil, but their "continued human rights abuses and the financial tiddlywinks" didn't seem to bother us?

I've always avoided Chiquita fresh and canned fruit, and salad ingredients. And brands owned by the United Fruit company, such as Dole and sugar companies. Just like I avoid sweatshop labour produced goods.

That they are being hyprocritical about the source of fuel for their bannanna boats just amuses me. They are the reason the term 'Bannana Republic' is so well known.

[andyt]

Dole is owned by United Fruit too?

I doubt you can buy bananas that aren't sweatshop produced, at least not in a mainstream store. Same with a lot of other produce we use.

[eureka]

Are the bananas all that affect the Canadian consumer. Wheer was the indignation about the others.

From last year. There may be more or less since then.

Walgreens, Levi Strauss, Timberland, The Gap, and FedEx are either considering or implementing a boycott

[andyt]

If this keeps up we're going to either go naked or actually make our own stuff.

[DrCaleb]

andyt andyt:

Dole is owned by United Fruit too?

I doubt you can buy bananas that aren't sweatshop produced, at least not in a mainstream store. Same with a lot of other produce we use.

Sorry, no. I was going to go into a tirade about how I shop competetors to United Fruit, like Standard Fruit/Dole. I just never finished my thought before posting.

But by 'sweatshop' there, I meant things like 'Nike' or 'Apple'.

andyt andyt:

If this keeps up we're going to either go naked or actually make our own stuff.

From whats-his-names' list there, Levis used to have a plant in Edmonton. From the early 1900s till the 1990s IIRC.

[andyt]

And we used to make GWG jeans too. Same with so much else. I think most of the stuff we consume now is made in poor working conditions - pretty hard to be a truly ethical consumer.

It is funny tho the outrage directed at Chiquita only now that it hits us in the pocketbook.

That was something I like about the idea of peak oil - it would lead to much less globalization as it becomes prohibitive to ship stuff all over the world. Get us back to making things locally. We'd have a lower standard of living, but do we really need half the crap we buy anyway?

[DrCaleb]

andyt andyt:

It is funny tho the outrage directed at Chiquita only now that it hits us in the pocketbook.

It doesn't hit us in the pocketbook. It makes no difference at all. It's the prinicple of the thing.

Oilsands oil is mixed in with ther refined crude when it's shipped by pipe to refineries in the US. Any company that claims to be boycotting that oil must therefore not use US oil based products which are 20% oilsands oil. Which might be true. Chiquita may fill up their ships in Panama, or someplace using Venezuelan or Mexican refined oil. Either way, it mades not one bit of difference to the bottom line of Albertans or Canadians. They either continue to buy US oil, or they never did.

It the fact that 'The Octopus' would single us out in order to try to portray itself as a moral company that irks people. While using second and third world dictator oil, that is.

[andyt]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

It the fact that 'The Octopus' would single us out in order to try to portray itself as a moral company that irks people. While using second and third world dictator oil, that is.

I don't believe that for a minute. If it really couldn't harm us nobody would give a shit. I mean if hypocrisy is what got people to boycott products - again, they wouldn't buy very much stuff. Greenwashing is all over the place, and that's only one example of hypocrisy.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

eureka eureka:

Are the bananas all that affect the Canadian consumer. Wheer was the indignation about the others.

From last year. There may be more or less since then.

Walgreens, Levi Strauss, Timberland, The Gap, and FedEx are either considering or implementing a boycott

If you had been here, you'd have seen it. Just because it's not being rehashed doesn't mean it was never discussed.

[DrCaleb]

andyt andyt:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

It the fact that 'The Octopus' would single us out in order to try to portray itself as a moral company that irks people. While using second and third world dictator oil, that is.

I don't believe that for a minute. If it really couldn't harm us nobody would give a shit. I mean if hypocrisy is what got people to boycott products - again, they wouldn't buy very much stuff. Greenwashing is all over the place, and that's only one example of hypocrisy.

Believe it. That's pretty much the water cooler talk for the last couple days, here at the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources.

We can put up with Greenwashing, to a point. But I would like to see regional sales figures for companies that have decided to boycott Oilsands oil. I'll bet they take a financial hit in Alberta. I'm sure of it, because I recall three of the companies in whats-his-names' list retracting their stand.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2010/08/30 ... sands.html

[Gunnair]

andyt andyt:

This sort of thing shows why we need to push that pipeline to either the west or east coast to be less dependent on the US. China doesn't care about that shit.

Fuck that. Putting a pipeline to Kitimat is about the dumbest of the dumb.

[andyt]

We're arguing different points. Mine is that there is a touch of hypocrisy in the Chiquita boycott as well. As you say, the effect of them boycotting our oil will be small, the effect of a few Albertans Canadians boycotting Chiquita even smaller. Maybe counterbalanced by a few greens now actually buying Chiquita.

[BartSimpson]

Looks like Chiquita bananas are no longer on my shopping list, either.

I'll be reposting this on Free Republic because the right-wing fanatics over there will go all-out on this.

[peck420]

Gunnair Gunnair:

Fuck that. Putting a pipeline to Kitimat is about the dumbest of the dumb.

You enjoy being a US bitch?

We need port access.

If not Kitimat, where?