(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Exxon Knew - Exxon Didn't Care [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-08-04 If you’ve spend any time on Twitter following tweets about the climate crisis, you have seen it - the hashtag #ExxonKnew. It could reasonably be reformulated to #TheyAllKnew or #YourGovernmentKnew or #ShellKnew or #BPKnew… because they all did. The lot of them. Believe it or not. That’s right. Exxon - and the entire fossil fuel industry as it existed then – knew, in NINETEEN FIFTY-NINE – that we were headed for a climate disaster. In 1959 at a conference called the “Energy and Man Symposium” Edward Teller – not the magician, the fellow who helped invent the hydrogen bomb – said Whenever you burn conventional fuel you create carbon dioxide. … Its presence in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect. He warned that if “Man” in the phrase “Energy and Man” continued to burn fossil fuels, sea levels would rise, until all of the coastal cities on Earth would be inundated. That’s right. That was in nineteen fifty-nine. Imagine them. Mostly white, mostly men, in their proper 1950s suits, wearing snap-brim fedoras and overcoats, some sporting those classic Clark Kent black-framed specs that everyone wore back then. No internet. No cell phones. Only 4 years into the Vietnam War. Ten years away from the Apollo 11 moon landing. Years until the Beatles, the Stones, Ravi Shankar, the Summer of Love, the Jackson Five’s first hit (“I Want You Back,” which hit in 1969). And yet, THEY KNEW. Back then, all those tumultuous, eventful decades ago. They had the science. The world was energized by science then, and by solving scientific problems - like, as above, the moon landing. Six years after that 1959 symposium, in 1965, the American Petroleum Institute (API) held their annual conference in Laramie, Wyoming. Intrepid researcher Benjamin Franta, a Ph.D. Candidate in History at Stanford University, dug through the university archives and discovered a reference to a report commissioned by President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ!!! It was that long ago!) titled Restoring the Quality of Our Environment. Frank Ikard, the API’s then-president, told the conferees that the substance of the report was as follows: …there is still time to save the world’s peoples from the catastrophic consequences of pollution, but time is running out. One of the most important predictions of the report is that carbon dioxide is being added to the earth’s atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas at such a rate that by the year 2000 the heat balance will be so modified as possibly to cause marked changes in climate. Ikard went on to say that: A nonpolluting means of powering automobiles, buses, and trucks is likely to become a national necessity I’d like to say that it’s impossible to understand why the fossil fuel industry did not begin – in the 1960s – to begin work on non-polluting sources of energy. But of course, we all know that the “profits over people” mindset obtained in the 1960s just as it does today. The idea that industry leaders didn’t hop on board the R&D necessary to create – and then PROFIT MASSIVELY – from a nonpolluting method of powering cars and buses and trucks is a little surprising, until one factors in the unfortunate human tendency to follow the easiest path to the quickest, cheapest gain. But that’s not the whole story. Greed and sloth were not the entire motivation. In fact, what actually happened was even worse than just following the dollars and ignoring the need to do some hard work to develop alternative fuel sources. It seems that a conscious decision was made to double down on fossil fuels, hide scientific studies, muddy the informational waters, and steer the world to the brink of climate disaster. By the end of the 1970s, the API had formed a secret group called the CO2 and Climate Task Force, including representatives from many of the major extraction companies, to monitor climate change and discuss strategy. In 1980, a scientist made a report to the task force. He predicted that climate change would be barely noticeable by 2005, but “globally catastrophic” by the 2060s. That same year, the API called on governments to TRIPLE coal production worldwide. They did not disappoint. Coal was dug. Coal was burned. Just ask outgoing Senate “Democrat” Joe “Coal Rollin” Manchin. Coal production has eased off in recent years, in some countries. Since 2000 in the United States, Germany, the UK and Japan, coal production has fallen. In India and China, alas coal production continues to rise. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/coal-production-by-country Coal aside, it is the unfortunate truth that emissions of all greenhouse gasses continue to rise, despite the inroads we have made in reducing coal production. And now, in 2024, with the heat rising and the climate change induced catastrophes rising, the people of Earth are still unable to collectively summon the effort to force the fossil fuel industry and their compliant, puppet governments to do what needs to be done to forestall global catastrophe. You have probably heard about COP, as in COP23, COP26, etc. COP stands for "Conference of the Parties" and is an annual United Nations meeting that focuses on climate change. Put more fully, The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) meetings, or Conference of the Parties, are yearly gatherings of governments that assess progress in addressing climate change. The goal of these meetings is to review progress towards the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's (UNFCCC) overall goal of limiting climate change. These meetings are heavily staffed, well-attended, and attract a goodly amount of press coverage. Dignitaries and scientists flock to each convocation, traveling thousands of miles in CO2-belching jumbo (and private) jets in order to gather and get something done. We’re expecting COP29 this coming November. In December of last year, Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s Environment Editor, summed up COP28 as follows: Failure of Cop28 on fossil fuel phase-out is ‘devastating’, say scientists. Climate experts say lack of unambiguous statement is ‘tragedy for the planet and our future’ The failure of Cop28 to call for a phase-out of fossil fuels is “devastating” and “dangerous” given the urgent need for action to tackle the climate crisis, scientists have said. One called it a “tragedy for the planet and our future” while another said it was the “dream outcome” for the fossil fuel industry. The UN climate summit ended on Wednesday with a compromise deal that called for a “transition away” from fossil fuels. The stronger term “phase-out” had been backed by 130 of the 198 countries negotiating in Dubai but was blocked by petrostates including Saudi Arabia. The deal was hailed as historic as it was the first citing of fossil fuels, the root cause of the climate crisis, in 30 years of climate negotiations. But scientists said the agreement contained many loopholes and did not match the severity of the climate emergency. And so here we are in 2024 awaiting COP29 to be held this time in Baku. It is once again breathlessly anticipated that nothing much will happen – SIXTY-FIVE years after Edward Teller warned of global catastrophe – and 50-odd years after the American Petroleum Institute decided to set up a secret task force to monitor the progress of the planetary disaster that their feckless behavior was creating. Does it occur to anyone else that there must be consequences for this? What’s coming next for our climate (and our lives within it) is likely to be literally unimaginable. That is – we can try to get our heads around it now, but we are not able fully to predict the horror of what is barreling toward humanity if we do not act NOW, in this exact moment, to halt emissions. Given what we are facing, there is blood on the hands of every oil company executive, and many of the government leaders who went along with the dictates of the fossil fuel industry writ large. Job One for Humanity has a list of “the 7 most dangerous things most people do not understand about climate change and the global warming emergency” and it’s a really terrifying read. In brief, not enough has been done, estimates of timelines and damage and consequences have been hopelessly underestimated/underpublicized, and we are nearly out of time to do anything that can prevent the deaths of millions upon millions of human beings. The litany of floods, fires, devastating heat, perturbations to aviation, blows to agricultural productivity, and the like, is stunning. Globally, migrants are on the move, trying to flee local conditions that spell catastrophe. Seas are rising. Ice is shrinking. Species are being wiped out. And with that devastation as a backdrop: according to best estimates, we are perilously close to our last and final window of opportunity to do anything at all to stave off at least some of the coming horrors. I know that global warming activists (or, if you prefer, and as I have been called, “climate change cultists”) have been saying “close to the last chance” for a very long time. Of course, what we mean by “last chance” has changed over the years. What “last chance” meant 40 years ago (a sensible, gradual transition away from fossil fuels) is not what it means today. Today, the “last chance” means to slash emissions by A LOT, in a VERY short period of time. Search the internet and you will see many estimates of what we need to do. Here is just one: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released its annual Emissions Gap Report, which finds that predicted 2030 emissions must be reduced by at least 28-42% compared to current policy scenarios, to reach the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to 2°C and 1.5°C, respectively. And, of course, we’re not even close to slashing emissions enough to make a difference. I am a lifelong Democrat. Yes - I’m one of the more rabidly progressive variety, but I am still a Democrat, one of the rational, thoughtful, considered folks who believe in government and think it can be a force for good in people’s lives. Democrats mostly color within the lines, advocating for sensible, incremental change that occurs within the system. We are civilized and law-abiding above all else. We appreciate the Inflation Reduction Act. We trust the incoming (Democratic, please!) administration will prioritize wind and solar and EVs. But sometimes, isn’t there a need for MORE? Isn’t there a need to flood the streets and strike and boycott and get up in the actual physical faces of the rich and powerful and scream at the top of our lungs and NOT RELENT until something changes? We seem to be sleepwalking our way to oblivion. Only about a third of Democrats prioritize the climate crisis, and in this time of extreme political polarization and imminent peril to our actual democracy, perhaps that isn’t terribly surprising. The problem is that if we manage to elect Kamala Harris in November, there is such an incredibly short window of time to mobilize forces on the ground to start pushing for radical action on the climate. We will need to raise awareness - raise money - make a PR splash - organize actions - and make our case loudly and boldly, with no holds barred. We will need to formulate and propose an action plan for more than a Green New Deal. We will need to articulate the raison d’etre for an actual climate revolution that fundamentally alters the way we use energy and run our society. We will need to make personal and societal sacrifices. We will need to hold politicians’ feet to the fire. We will need to form new coalitions and direct the energy from some fights to a concentration on climate - at least in the short term. We will need to focus like a laser on the quickest ways to slash emissions, which will include rationing of all aspects of personal transportation, like gas, personal automobiles, and flying, And we need to do this FAST. We need to coalesce and organize before Kamala Harris is elected president in order to make any impact at all on COP29. Why do we need to do all of this in such a short window of time? Why does this all seem terrified and frantic? Because Exxon knew - all of them knew - back in 1959, and they did not do a GODDAMNED THING to save us. Remember: Asking did not work. Voting dd not work. Marching did not work. Emissions keep going up. Our leaders have failed us. #ClimateRevolution [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/8/4/2260640/-Exxon-Knew-Exxon-Didn-t-Care?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/