Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• Pro-fossil fuel politicians winning spectacular victories over anti-fossil fuel politicians in debates.
• Energy companies having inspiring, iconic campaigns that make them as cool as iPhones.
• Workforces full of incredibly educated, motivated, articulate ambassadors.
• Associations training members in moral communication.
• News stories with quotes by morally confident, persuasive CEOs.
• Web sites having more emotional resonance than the Greenpeace or Sierra Club Web sites.
• Widespread criticism of anyone who delays a pipeline for five years, not as proenvironment but as
antiprogress.
• A new generation of intellectuals who are passionate advocates of fossil fuels.
• College campuses where students are not afraid to say, “I love fossil fuels.”
I wrote this letter as part of an effort of mine in the last several years to convince the fossil fuel industry
to make a moral case for its work. Historically, it has been a major bankroller of Green organizations. For
example, between 2007 and 2010, the natural gas industry gave $25 million to the Sierra Club.
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I've told
them, in effect, “How am I supposed to fight for the freedom to use your product if you won't?” I'm happy
it's started working, and I now spend quite a bit of my time working with companies to improve their
communications. It's in their self-interest, because they can get projects approved quickly if they actually
explain the value of what they do. For me, the prospect of getting the resources of the industry deployed to
actually make a compelling case is beyond exciting. Because I am a capitalist and charge for my services,
maybe I will get attacked now for being paid by the fossil fuel industry. But there's the prejudice again.
Why would someone assume that someone who works with fossil fuel companies is corrupt, while those
who, say, accept government grants aren't? As I advise members of the industry on what to say, I don't say
this industry is good because I work with it; I work with this industry because I think it's good.
The fossil fuel industry has a giant megaphone it can use to influence for good or bad. It's in everyone's
interest for it to use it for good.
WHAT WE ALL MUST DO
In 2007 and 2008, candidate Obama declared his intention to destroy fossil fuel energy in America and
around the world, calling for “emissions targets” that would make it illegal to use more than 20 percent of
today's levels.
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About oil, the most versatile fuel in the world, which powers 93 percent of our transporta-
tion system and, through shale-oil booms in North Dakota, Texas, and elsewhere, has been one of our few
sources of economic hope, he said:
