Thur: Oxymoronic (Sunday is right below)

Oxymoron: Rhetoric
a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect
Major corporations, distributors and companies have been preaching the news of their eco-freindly improvements . The list of companies who are supposedly "going green" is lengthy, including BP, NBC, Lamar, and even Domion Power. Is this really a commitment to reducing their negative impacts on our earth, or are these companies trying to improve customer relations by appearing environmentally positive?

BP is the perfect example. BP is an oil company that employs over 97,00 people in over 100 countries. They own interest in 17 oil refineries and turn over 284 billion dollars a year (figures from 2007). They are one of the worlds largest energy companies.

In early 2007, BP increased advertising efforts to drastically make over their image, trying to transform themselves from "the big bad oil company" into your friendly neighborhood business. BP's website, advertisements and stores are heavy with loaded and sometimes misleading words such as "energy", "impact" and "development". Their television spots suggest the new slogan as "Beyond Petroleum".

Of course, there was the 2007 unveiling of the first green gas station, the Helios House in Los Angeles. The building is powered mainly from 90 solar panels, and comes complete with a rainfall collection system to keep the nearby plants well watered (Wouldn't the rain be doing this anyway?) . The structure is built from farmed wood, and painted with "less polluting" paint. To their credit, BP acknowledges the station not as a model, but simply put, "a little better". According to their website, BP has donated over $500 million dollars to alternative fuel research, a fact which they use to deny accusations of the campaign as nothing more than a PR stunt.

It is interesting to note that the next gas station I'm photogaphin is an abandoned BP station; gas hoses lying on the trash-covered concrete are quite a contrast to the bright and sparkly image the company present on their website.

"2007 Annual Report and Accounts. ." BP p.l.c.. 25 Sep 2008 .

Douglass, Elizabeth. "BP Unveils Green Gas Station." Los Angeles Times 2/22/2007 25 Sep 2008 .