 |
| credit: Adam Zygus, Buffalo News |
It is hardly be surprising that the
Union of Concerned Scientists have collected a number of internal industry documents that show the fossil fuel industry has worked to mislead the public about the reality of climate change. As early as 1981, according to a former Exxon employee, the company began factoring climate change into decisions about new fossil fuel extractions.
A full report can be view here. James Hansen, a leading NASA climate scientist, testified before Congress that science had confirmed industrial activity was causing global warming. He was publicly vilified for his testimony, and his agency restricted his role in the debate in response to the fossil fuel industry's ire. In 1995 an internal memo by a Mobil scientist warned that burning fossil fuels was causing climate change and that the relevant science "is well-established and cannot be denied". That unequivocal conclusion did not stop the industry's leading trade group, American Petroleum Institute, from
formulating a public relations campaign intended to sow doubt about the certainties of climate change in Congress and among Americans. A 1998 strategy memo said that "victory will be achieved when average citizens recognize uncertainties in climate change science", and that recognition "becomes part of conventional wisdom".
The industry also supports the infamous right-wing legislation mill known as ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) This organization has been key to influencing politicians, providing misinformation about climate change, and generating legislation to roll back alternative energy programs. Exxon-Mobil funded leading climate change denier Dr. Wei-Hock "Willie" Soon who worked at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and was involved in a research project entitled,
"Understanding Solar Variability and Climate Change: Signals from Temperature Records of the United States" Dr. Soon sought to confirm and emphasize a noted correlation between solar radiation variances and temperature change in comparison to atmospheric CO₂ levels. Because of the industries active and well-funded campaign of disinformation, similar to the one conducted by the tobacco industry to deny the connection between smoking and lung cancer, action on reducing the amount of fossil fuel burning has been seriously delayed and curtailed. There is still no comprehensive US policy to address the existential threat of climate change. This chart shows the devastating results:
