Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
almost 16 million dollars to a network of 43 advocacy organizations that misrepresented peer-re-
viewed scientific findings about global warming science. Exxon raised doubts about even the most
indisputable scientific evidence, attempted to portray its opposition to action as a positive quest for
“sound science” rather than business self-interest, and used its access to the Bush administration to
block federal policies and shape government communications on global warming. All of this is well
documented.
And it worked. Over the course of the past few years one of our nation's two main political
parties has made climate change
denial
a litmus test for its candidates, which means that climate
legislation is effectively unachievable in this country for the foreseeable future. This is a big victory
for ExxonMobil. Its paltry 16-million-dollar investment will likely translate to many times that
amount in unregulated profits. But it is a disaster for democracy, for the Earth, and for your gener-
ation.
But here's the thing. Everyone knows that America and the world will have to transition off
of fossil fuels during this century anyway. Mr. Tillerson knows it as well as anyone. Some people
evidently want to delay that transition as long as possible, but it cannot be put off indefinitely. My
colleagues at Post Carbon Institute and I believe that delaying this transition is extremely dangerous
for a number of reasons. Obviously, it prolongs the environmental impacts from fossil fuel produc-
tion and combustion. But also, the process of building a renewable energy economy will take dec-
ades and require a tremendous amount of investment. If we don't start soon enough, society will get
caught in a trap of skyrocketing fuel prices and a collapsing economy, and won't be in a position
to fund needed work on alternative energy development. In my darker moments I fear that we have
already waited too long and that it is already too late. I hope I'm not right about that, and when I talk
to young people like you I tend to feel that we
can
make this great transition, and that actions that
have seemed politically impossible for the past 40 years will become inevitable as circumstances
change, and as new hearts and minds come to the table.
Even in the best case, though, the fact that we have waited so long to address our addiction
to oil will still present us with tremendous challenges. But this is not a problem for ExxonMobil,
at least not anytime soon. When the price of oil goes up, we feel the pain while Exxon reaps the
profits. Even though Exxon's actual oil production is falling due to the depletion of its oilfields, cor-
porate revenues are high: Exxon made almost eleven billion dollars in profits in just the past three
months. This translates to jobs in the oil industry. But how about the renewable energy industry,
which everyone agrees is the key to our future?
For the past 40 years, every US president without exception has said we must reduce our coun-
try's dependence on imported petroleum. Addiction to oil has become our nation's single greatest
point of geopolitical, economic, and environmental vulnerability. Yet here we are in 2011, still driv-
ing a fleet of two hundred million gasoline-guzzling cars, trucks, and SUVs. The inability of our
elected officials to tackle such an obvious problem is not simply the result of ineptitude. In addition
to funding climate denial, fossil fuel companies like Exxon have contributed to politicians' elec-
tion campaigns in order to gain perks for their industry and put off higher efficiency standards and
environmental protections. Denying looming fuel supply problems, discouraging a transition to re-
newable energy, distorting climate science—these are all understandable tactics from the standpoint
of corporate self-interest. Exxon is just doing what corporations do. But once again, it is society as
a whole that suffers, and the consequences will fall especially on your generation.
