The Petroleum Papers - Inside the Far-Right Conspiracy to Cover Up Climate Change
by Geoff Dembicki
I had good intentions, but as my father used to say, "The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions".
While reading this most interesting and informative book, I made many bookmarks, but, in the end, there were just too many. It's a borrowed library book and people are waiting to read it. So, in the interests of getting the book back so others can read it, I'm linking this post to a review article that appeared over a year ago.
Relying on actual industry documents, the author shows how industry scientists knew decades ago what pollution from the ol industry would do to the environment and, specifically, the global climate. Industry executives knew and they hid that knowledge from the public and mounted a campaign to sow the seeds of doubt about what was being learned about climate change. There is a very clear parallel between what the oil industry has been doing and what the tobacco industry did years ago as knowledge was developed about the links between smoking and cancer.
In 1997, one tobacco company finally admitted that smoking caused cancer. That was the beginning of the end of the lies and deception. The same thing is starting to happen with the oil and gas industry as various legal actions are being taken against the companies that promoted lies and misinformation.
Recent stories have highlighted the issue, like this one in Scientific American: Exxon Knew About Climate Change Almost 40 Years Ago.
The world is changing. While not all the news is encouraging, the trend seems clear. Canada, as the fourth largest oil and gas producer in the world, has a responsibility to address climate change. We can't hide behind the excuse that there are only 40 million of us and we're not significant. We are NOT on track to reduce our emissions as governments have promised. We can do better.
This book will help people understand why and what we are fighting.
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