Coal, oil and gas are tremendous resources: solar energy absorbed by plants and super-concentrated over millions of years. TheyB次元官网网址檙e potent fuels and provide ingredients for valuable products. But the oil boom, spurred by improved drilling technology, came at the wrong time. Profits were (and still are) the priority B次元官网网址� rather than finding the best, most efficient uses for finite resources.
The oil industry fulfilled many of its promises and became the main driver of western economies. It increased mobility and led to job and profit growth in vehicle manufacturing, oil and gas, tourism and fast food, among others. Petroleum-derived plastics made life more convenient.
The industry boom and the car culture it fuelled had negative consequences, though B次元官网网址� including injuries and death, rapid resource exploitation, pollution and climate change. Plastics are choking oceans and land.
Are these unintended consequences? When did people learn burning large quantities of fossil fuels might be doing more harm than good? Evidence suggests scientists, governments and industry knew all along there would be a steep price to pay for our excesses.
In the late 1800s, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius warned that burning fossil fuels and increasing carbon dioxide emissions would initiate feedback loops and increase water vapour in the atmosphere, causing global temperatures to rise. Scientific evidence for human-caused global warming has since increased to the point of certainty, but while few would dispute that burning coal, oil and gas causes pollution and public health problems, many still believe the role of fossil fuels in climate change is contentious.
ThereB次元官网网址檚 a reason for that, according to volumes of research by journalists, investigators and academics B次元官网网址� including a new peer-reviewed study B次元官网网址� some of industryB次元官网网址檚 largest players have long been deceiving the public about climate science.
The new study, by HarvardB次元官网网址檚 Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes and published in Environmental Research Letters, analyzes 40 years of research and communications by Exxon Mobil. B次元官网网址淥ur findings are clear: Exxon Mobil misled the public about the state of climate science and its implications,B次元官网网址� Oreskes and Supran write in a New York Times opinion article. B次元官网网址淎vailable documents show a systematic, quantifiable discrepancy between what Exxon MobilB次元官网网址檚 scientists and executives discussed about climate change in private and in academic circles, and what it presented to the general public.B次元官网网址�
Taking up ExxonB次元官网网址檚 challenge to B次元官网网址淩ead all of these documents and make up your own mind,B次元官网网址� the researchers examined the companyB次元官网网址檚 scientific research, internal memos and paid public-facing B次元官网网址渁dvertorials.B次元官网网址� They concluded that, although the company knew of and communicated internally about its productB次元官网网址檚 climate impacts and the danger of it becoming a B次元官网网址渟tranded asset,B次元官网网址� it told the public a different story.
Exxon placed paid opinion articles in the New York Times between 1989 and 2004, at a cost of $31,000 US each. Contrary to the companyB次元官网网址檚 own research and internal communications B次元官网网址� as well as overwhelming scientific evidence from around the world B次元官网网址� the articles argued, among other things, that, B次元官网网址淭he science of climate change is too uncertain to mandate a plan of action that could plunge economies into turmoil.B次元官网网址�
Oreskes and Supran also note Exxon is being sued by current and former employees and investigated by the New York and Massachusetts attorneys general and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Much relates to whether the company B次元官网网址渕isled consumers, shareholders or the public about the environmental or business risks of climate change, or about the risk that oil and gas reserves might become stranded assets that wonB次元官网网址檛 be developed, affecting shareholder value.B次元官网网址�
Given climate changeB次元官网网址檚 serious implications, the fact that fossil fuel companies, aided by compromised governments and shady B次元官网网址渢hink tanksB次元官网网址� and media outlets, would put fossil fuel profits ahead of human health and survival is an intergenerational crime against humanity.
We should commend Oreskes and others for their tireless efforts to bring this truth to light.
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington. David SuzukiB次元官网网址檚 latest book is Just Cool It!: The Climate Crisis and What We Can Do (Greystone Books), co-written with Ian Hanington.
