Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Unfortunately, the fossil fuel industry has, in recent decades, not believed that or at least has refused to
say it. It has conceded to its environmentalist opponents that fossil fuels are an “addiction,” just a
tempor-
arily necessary
one.
Last year, I wrote an open letter to executives in the fossil fuel industry criticizing them for this conduct
and asking them to join me in making a moral case for their industry. I want to include a shortened version
of it in this topic, because what they say about their industry doesn't affect just them; it affects all of us.
WHAT THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY MUST DO
To leaders of the fossil fuel industry:
Here's a typical communications plan of yours to win over the public.
• “We will explain to the public that we contribute to economic growth.”
• “We will explain to the public that we create a lot of jobs.”
• “We will link our industry to our national identity.”
• “Wewillstresstothepublicthatweareaddressingourattackers' concerns—byloweringtheemis-
sions of our product.”
• “We will spend millions on a state-of-the-art media campaign.”
Why doesn't it work? Well, imagine if you saw the same plan from a tobacco company. It would tie
increased tobacco sales to economic growth, to job creation, to national identity, to reducing tar. Would
you be convinced that it would be a good thing if Americans bought way more tobacco?
Idoubtit,becausenoneofthesestrategiesdoesanythingtoaddresstheindustry'sfundamentalproblem,
the fact that use of the industry's core product, tobacco, is viewed as a self-destructive addiction. So long
as that is true, the industry will be viewed as an inherently immoral industry. And so long as
that
is true,
no matter what the industry does, its critics will always have the moral high ground.
You might say that it's offensive to compare the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry—and you'd
be right. But in the battle for hearts and minds, you are widely viewed as worse than the tobacco industry.
Your attackers have successfully portrayed your core product, fossil fuel energy, as a self-destructive
addiction that is destroying our planet, and characterized your industry as fundamentally immoral. In a
better world, the kind of world we should aspire to, they argue, the fossil fuel industry would not exist.
There is only one way to defeat the environmentalists' moral case against fossil fuels—refute its false
central idea that fossil fuels destroy the planet. If we don't refute that idea, we accept it, and if we
accept
that fossil fuels are destroying the planet,
the only logical conclusion is to cease new development and
slow down existing development as much as possible.
Unfortunately, the fossil fuel industry has not refuted the moral case against fossil fuels. In fact, the vast
majority of its communications
reinforce the moral case against fossil fuels.
