Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Exxon: The Road Not Taken

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Exxon: The Road Not Taken

This appears to be a three part series, so far part 1 is posted here and part 2 is here. Both articles were written by Neela Banerjee, Lisa Song and David Hasemyer from InsideClimate News.

From the late 1970s to the mid-80s, Exxon scientists worked at the cutting edge of climate change research, documents examined by InsideClimate News show. This history of that research emerged from an eight-month investigation by InsideClimate News.

Exxon documents show that top corporate managers were aware of their scientists' early conclusions about carbon dioxide's impact on the climate. They reveal that scientists warned management that policy changes to address climate change might affect profitability. After a decade of frank internal discussions on global warming and conducting unbiased studies on it, Exxon changed direction in 1989 and spent more than 20 years discrediting the research its own scientists had once confirmed.

I disagree with Banerjee that it is well known about Exxon's role in discrediting the work of scientists regarding their findings that linked fossil fuel use with the growing evidence of climate destabilization. Journalists may be aware of this, but most ordinary Americans are not.
What is missing so far in this series is the reason for the about-face by Exxon top officials.

Look for part 3 next week.