G20 climate change ads rejected by Australian airport #onmyagenda

A billboard that was supposed to greet G20 leaders as they arrived for their next meeting in Brisbane, Australia, has been rejected by the airport authority.

The Guardian reports that the ad, featuring a farmer whose vineyard was destroyed by extreme high temperatures, was turned down because climate change was deemed "too political" for posting inside the airport.

A related article notes that the Australian government was reluctant to but climate change on the G20 meeting agenda, but reluctantly did so only after pressure from the United States and the European Union.

The rejection is a bit of a scandal, too, as it was revealed that two directors on the board of Brisbane Airport Corporation have interests in fossil fuel companies. (The BAC says they had no influence on the decision.)

Australia has been particularly hard hit by rising global temperatures, but Australian PM Tony Abbott has been accused of being a climate change skeptic. So perhaps this issue is "political" insofar as politicians are making it so.

Another billboard will be erected on the road to the G20 meeting. It features firefighter Dean McNulty against a backdrop of damage representative of the increasingly common bush fires in drought-ravaged areas of Australia.

The #onmyagenda campaign is a partnership between Oxfam, Greenpeace, 350.0rg, WWF, Earth Hour, GetUp, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition and 1 Million Women.

Obama's misplaced product placement

The Telegraph reports U.S. President Obama's (presumably unpaid) product placement for Buxton mineral water at the G20:

Buxton was treated to the world's most coveted endorsement when the US President, who was answering questions with Mr Brown at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, turned down his hosts' offer of a glass.

Displaying the cool demeanour for which he has become renowned, Mr Obama took several leisurely sips from the bottle, displaying its logo to viewers watching the event around the world.

I assume this was done because of security concerns, or else the stubborn independence Obama is known for, but it raises some questions:

1) Although a British brand, Buxton is owned by Nestlé, a Swiss company. Why this brand? Because it was locally-sourced? (He could always claim the 100-mile diet as a fallback.) And why not remove the label?

2) Bottled water? In 2009? David Suzuki will give Obama a talking to next time he's in Canada. Or was his blatant waste of petrochemical products a show of confidence in our ability to develop new recycling technology or find new reserves?

This isn't an Obama bash, BTW. I like him as much as the next leftie. Regardless, the endorsement has Nestlé positively swimming with delight, and will no doubt inspire complaints/lobbying back home from major domestic brands.

Who knows? This could be a whole new revenue stream for Americans to start paying off their massive debts. Perhaps in the future we'll see Presidents dressed head-to-toe in logos, like NASCAR drivers. That would be cool.