Energy firms have made record profits by increasing production of oil and gas, far from their promises of rolling back emissions
Leading energy companies are intent on pushing the world in the opposite direction, expanding fossil fuel production and insisting that there is no alternative. It is evidence that they are motivated not by record warming, but by record profits, experts say.
expanding fossil fuel production and insisting that there is no alternative.
No alternative? No fucking alternative? Like... We're talking about extinction level scenarios and they're like "yeah, okay, we're all going to die, but I don't think your suggested alternatives to that are viable"
Like, don't they see that their profits ultimately depend on humanity existing to consume their products? What the fuck is wrong with them? Who do they think will bail them out when the planet is too fucking hot to live on?
Companies like Exxon literally buy up green technology that could have huge, net-positive, impacts in the climate resiliency sphere/in combating climate change because they don't want the competition. The sheer audacity of this bald-faced fucking lie. What is the point of money on a dead planet, morons?
Problem is the ceos, shareholders are mostly in their 50s so they only have at most 50 years of their lives left. They donāt need to care about the future. They donāt need to care about warming , heating, burning, as they can turn on their AC and stay comfy. Also Many oil production countries are not the most morally responsible countries.
Rich don't give a rats ass about any plebs. They know humanity is doomed. They will live their "best" life possible in resorts or on yachts, etc....until end of times.
If all of the oil companies comply, all is gonna be well. If only one of them doesnt, things are gonna end up well as well. If only two dont, its probably still gonna be good. If three.....
They just all wanna be that "one company that doesnt comply", so they all dont comply.
There is a known experiment about 100 students being given a choice before a test - choose A and you gain 2 extra points. Choose B and you gain 6 extra points. However, if more than 30% of the students choose B, no one gains anything. From what i checked, in every iteration of this experiment, no one gained anything in the end. Thats just human nature.
I'd go so far as to say if the alternative is extinction, absolutely no action, no matter how drastic and no matter the collateral damage, is unjustified as long as it works.
Yeah, but I think I'd literally die if I were forced to, ugh!, walk to the nearest fast food restaurant. (That's, like, a mile!) How would I order from the drive-thru without a car, huh? Besides, I need the AC because it's so hot out.
āThey (Oil companies) have left no doubt that their pledges were deployed for cynical political purposes, only to be ditched when they no longer suited the industryās strategic position,ā
That strategic position was to avoid being governed, said Timmons Roberts, professor of environment and sociology at Brown University.
āThe climate commitments ā¦ were almost certainly made to give the impression that they donāt need to be regulated because their voluntary pledges are adequate,ā
You know, I'm kinda tired of every article about oil companies being either something straight out of police reports or just being the same "No shit, Sherlock" about them being evil, lying, manipulative and greedy assholes. I'd love to see them being fined some 50 billion dollars, but I feel they'd manage to overturn that anyway. Justice and police exist to protect property.
If they were fined for fifty billions, they'd argue until they settled for two hundred millions and it would be hailed as a leap forward for justice. :-/
The problem with fining industry is that industry isn't sentient. It's the C-levels and management types that need to be seriously punished for pursuing profits over human lives. As long as we don't do that, nothing is going to change. If you fine Shell 50 billion dollars, nothing substantial changes for the higher ups. Even if these guys would stop making money all together, it would just mean they would have to stop spending so much god damned money and just live of of the millions they've already made.
I honestly do not think that it is oil companies that should fight climate change. They should provide oil derived product as required by economy. It is OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY to act. Through individual choices, through government incentives, through carbon taxes and so on. To expect that all oil companies together will act against their profits and interests is naive.
Yes, because oil companies are totally NOT spending millions of dollars fighting every possible movement, organization or act to hold them responsible for the damage they're causing. Clearly, we just need to hold hands and everything will be solved!
Also, as an individual, you don't choose whether the electricity you get comes from a gas power plant, hydro dam, coal or something else. You don't get to choose whether the thing you're eating was transported from a diesel truck or an electric vehicle. There are many, many steps before you get a final product that needed fossil energy
Those two things are great solutions for the billionaires but absolutely suck for everyone else, no wonder you see them pushed so much.
The first is a tax which will strongly affect the poor while allowing the rich to continue as normal, the second allows the rich to control power generation and essentially continue the monopoly rather than move towards decentralised sources which can be community run.
We need to switch from a greed based system which obsesses over displays of wealth and move to a more ecologically sound way of existence, but people can't even consider taking the slightest responsibility for their lifestyle