Enemy of the Planet, Paul Krugman, New York Times 4/17/2006

[Coastie for Truth]

Lee Raymond, the former chief executive of Exxon Mobil, was paid $686 million over 13 years. But that's not a reason to single him out for special excoriation. Executive compensation is out of control in corporate America as a whole, and unlike other grossly overpaid business leaders, Mr. Raymond can at least claim to have made money for his stockholders.

There's a better reason to excoriate Mr. Raymond: for the sake of his company's bottom line, and perhaps his own personal enrichment, he turned Exxon Mobil into an enemy of the planet.

To understand why Exxon Mobil is a worse environmental villain than other big oil companies, you need to know a bit about how the science and politics of climate change have shifted over the years. Global warming emerged as a major public issue in the late 1980's. But at first there was considerable scientific uncertainty.

Over time, the accumulation of evidence removed much of that uncertainty. Climate experts still aren't sure how much hotter the world will get, and how fast. But there's now an overwhelming scientific consensus that the world is getting warmer, and that human activity is the cause. In 2004, an article in the journal Science that surveyed 928 papers on climate change published in peer-reviewed scientific journals found that "none of the papers disagreed with the consensus position."

To dismiss this consensus, you have to believe in a vast conspiracy to misinform the public that somehow embraces thousands of scientists around the world. That sort of thing is the stuff of bad novels. Sure enough, the novelist Michael Crichton, whose past work includes warnings about the imminent Japanese takeover of the world economy and murderous talking apes inhabiting the lost city of Zinj, has become perhaps the most prominent global-warming skeptic. (Mr. Crichton was invited to the White House to brief President Bush.)

<<<SNIP>>>

How did ExxonMobil respond under Mr. Raymond? Krugman answers--

Initially -- many companies from the oil industry, the auto industry and other sectors were members of a group called the Global Climate Coalition, whose de facto purpose was to oppose curbs on greenhouse gases.

As the scientific evidence became clearer, many members — including oil companies like BP and Shell — left the organization and conceded the need to do something about global warming.

Exxon, headed by Mr. Raymond, chose a different course of action: it decided to fight the science.

A leaked memo from a 1998 meeting at the American Petroleum Institute, in which Exxon participated describes a strategy of providing "logistical and moral support" to climate change dissenters, "thereby raising questions about and undercutting the 'prevailing scientific wisdom.' "

Exxon Mobil supported all manner of "junk science"

According to Krugman, Exxon supported the real-world equivalents of the Academy of Tobacco Studies in the movie "Thank You for Smoking," whose purpose is to fail to find evidence of harmful effects.

Junk science works for its sponsors, partly because it gets picked up by right-wing pundits and blogs.

But the fact is that whatever small chance there was of action to limit global warming became even smaller because Exxon Mobil chose to protect its profits by trashing good science. And that, not the paycheck, is the real scandal of Mr. Raymond's reign as Exxon Mobil's chief executive.

[seemslikeadream]

1. ENEMY OF THE EARTH

[Bhaisahab]

5. great cartoon

hey SLAD, i haven't seen you for quite a while here. returning from a sabbatical? i still think your username is the best in DU!

[seemslikeadream]

6. hi paagal kutta

Thanks for noticing!

True I have been dealing with some personal stuff, taking up a lot of time. Good to talk with you.

Jah Bless
Tu paagal kutta hai
pm me sometime!





Guardians of The Breath

They were guardians of the breath
Trusted with those precious chances
Keeping gaia from the fear of death
Balances must be defended

To take only what they must
(borrowed from the future)
Live in lovers of a global home
(our children will remember)

Guardians slept while comfort came
The vapours poison, the acid rain fell
The spirit cut from earthly bounds
The creature stirred the pain

How much abuse can she take
(awake from your dreamtime)
The lines are drawn our justice awaits
(will the guardians surrender)

The forest bare, a desert born
The life pushed out
They sold her cheaply
All for a shilling for next weeks treat
A marvel that had taken ten thousand years

To take only what they must
(borrowed from the future)
Live in lovers of a global home
(our children will remember)

They are guardians of the breath
Trusted with those precious chances
They are guardians of the breath
Balances must be defended

[phantom power]

2. Yep....

Companies like Exxon fostered confusion and denial through the last couple decades where we could have avoided the disaster that we're now committed to.

Here's the world we're committed to living in, even if we magically halted our CO2 emissions tomorrow:

Death, famine, drought: cost of 3C global rise in temperature
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,,1754436,00.html

Back in reality, CO2 emissions continue to grow every year. So the above article is not a worst-case scenario, it's an unobtainable best-case scenario.

[Lisa]

3. I laugh myself sick whenever I hear about the "big cabal of scientists"

Any accusation that researchers are raking in tons of money on global warming is hilarious ... I know a lot of these people, and they are certainly not rolling in cash. They'd make much higher salaries in the private sector, than they do teaching environmental science. Grants are spent on equipment and lab assistants, not hot tubs and Ferraris -- and even then, they often end up chipping in their own money (as I did when I had to go up to the NWT to do my graduate research). I just finished sending a care package of groceries up to a guy who is finishing his PhD research up north ... he literally can't afford to feed himself properly.

One of my profs used to work for an oil company (they bankroll some paleogeography research, but only enough to find out where the Carboniferous swamps were, so they can look for petroleum!). He commented that it's really evident who has the money -- now that he's an academic, he has to spend a lot of time trying to find research money or facilities, and his financial accountability is way tighter than in the private sector.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Link to blog with whole article

http://edstrong.blog-city.com/paul_krugman_exxon_mobil_enemy_of_the_planet.htm

[Hand]

7. Link to full article at topplebush.com...

Enemy of the planet