Think of this OpEd as climate denial meets peak concern-trolling:
"There is a real danger that the climate debate is deteriorating into a game of name-calling, with oil and gas companies all too often portrayed as opponents of climate progress." nytimes.com/2020/01/09/opi…
"There is a real danger that the climate debate is deteriorating into a game of name-calling, with oil and gas companies all too often portrayed as opponents of climate progress." nytimes.com/2020/01/09/opi…
As if oil and gas companies were just "portrayed" as blocking climate policies from being passed.
As if they weren't ACTUALLY working extremely hard and spending large sums of money to campaign against, oh I don't know, the carbon price @JayInslee attempted to pass in WA.
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As if they weren't ACTUALLY working extremely hard and spending large sums of money to campaign against, oh I don't know, the carbon price @JayInslee attempted to pass in WA.
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The man who wrote this OpEd heads the @TheCLCouncil founded by neoliberal economists, corporations, and oil and gas companies including BP, Shell, Exxon, etc.
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It is completely Orwellian to say that fossil fuel companies have ever showed "leadership" on decarbonization the global economy.
They are still exploring for new oil & gas reserves, despite the science showing that extracting these reserves will lead to heating of over 2C.
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They are still exploring for new oil & gas reserves, despite the science showing that extracting these reserves will lead to heating of over 2C.
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Yet this "Leadership Council" boasts environmental NGOs @WorldResources @nature_org and @WWF as members.
This is greenwashing. Painting soot-dark evil green.
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This is greenwashing. Painting soot-dark evil green.
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I know Serious People who claim to be allies of the climate movement--and who indeed have done some work to advance the cause of decarbonization--argue that the oil majors have a leading role to play in our energy transition.
This belief is naive enough to be disqualifying.
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This belief is naive enough to be disqualifying.
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All you need to do to understand the role of the oil majors in our *real* history, which has lead us to this precipice, is look at the work of @RBrulle @NaomiOreskes @BenFranta @GeoffreySupran @insideclimate and the journalists and academics who have built on their research.
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The fossil fuel industry lied, they did everything they could to confuse the public and block the passage of climate policy, an they are still doing it now. Today. As I type this on my phone.
As 1 billion animals have died and are still dying in Australia.
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As 1 billion animals have died and are still dying in Australia.
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I know it is not yet normal to call the oil and gas companies and their collaborators "evil."
But one day it will be.
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But one day it will be.
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The day it becomes normal to call the oil and gas companies and their greenwashing collaborators evil, on that day we will have finally discovered the "political will" that is currently lacking to dismantle and rebuild our whole world.
That day cannot come a moment to soon.
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That day cannot come a moment to soon.
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*2015
