Post AcsdfLSUa3vsYiDOQy by DoomsdaysCW@kolektiva.social
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 (DIR) Post #AcsdfLSUa3vsYiDOQy by DoomsdaysCW@kolektiva.social
       2023-07-22T20:27:18Z
       
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       #ExxonKnew about #ClimateChange almost 40 years agoA new investigation shows the oil company understood the science before it became a public issue and spent millions to promote #misinformationBy Shannon Hall on October 26, 2015"One thing is certain: in June 1988, when #NASA scientist #JamesHansen told a congressional hearing that the planet was already warming, #Exxon remained publicly convinced that the science was still controversial. Furthermore, experts agree that Exxon became a leader in campaigns of confusion. By 1989 the company had helped create the #GlobalClimateCoalition (disbanded in 2002) to question the scientific basis for concern about climate change. It also helped to prevent the #USA from signing the international treaty on climate known as the #KyotoProtocol in 1998 to control #GreenhouseGases . Exxon’s tactic not only worked on the U.S. but also stopped other countries, such as #China and #India, from signing the treaty. At that point, 'a lot of things unraveled,' Oreskes says."But experts are still piecing together Exxon’s misconception puzzle. Last summer the Union of Concerned Scientists released a complementary investigation to the one by InsideClimate News, known as the Climate Deception Dossiers (pdf). 'We included a memo of a coalition of fossil-fuel companies where they pledge basically to launch a big communications effort to sow doubt,' says union president Kenneth Kimmel. 'There’s even a quote in it that says something like ‘Victory will be achieved when the average person is uncertain about climate science.’ So it’s pretty stark.'"Since then, Exxon has spent more than $30 million on #ThinkTanks that promote ClimateDenial, according to #Greenpeace. Although experts will never be able to quantify the damage Exxon’s misinformation has caused, 'one thing for certain is we’ve lost a lot of ground,' Kimmell says. Half of the greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere were released after 1988. 'I have to think if the fossil-fuel companies had been upfront about this and had been part of the solution instead of the problem, we would have made a lot of progress [today] instead of doubling our greenhouse gas emissions.'"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/ #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #ClimateCatastrophe #ExtremeWeather #HexonExxon #BigOil