Meteorologist Is Naming Heatwaves After Big Polluting Oil Companies

https://kottke.org/23/08/meteorologist-is-naming-heatwaves-after-big-polluting-oil-companies

by DemiGuru • 3 years ago

37 16 3 years ago

formless activism to give the public "information"

nocoiner2• 3 years ago

I think most people should really sit down and give some thought to why these oil companies are so big and profitable. Is it because the executives get off on extracting for the sake of extracting, damn the earth and the flora and the fauna? Maybe. (Probably not.)

It probably has something more to do with the fact that individuals like driving their cars and taking planes to vacation destinations and appreciate the utility and versatility of plastic.

I’m not trying to absolve oil companies or say that it is the individuals who are at fault, but the oil companies produce a tremendously useful product. And individual consumers buy great volumes of that product because, well, it’s tremendously useful and makes possible their western standard of living.

So forgive me for thinking that this stunt is cutesy and fundamentally unserious. The oil companies wouldn’t be nearly as big as they are if they cast majority of humanity wasn’t very, very interested in what they’re selling.

Plenty of blame to go around here.

Condition1952• 3 years ago

Countries worldwide are addicted to fossil fuels because you need to burn fuel if you want to achieve almost anything. As Jean-Marc Jancovici puts it, the oil consumption of a country is its GDP. There’s a lot of energy in an oil drop. It’s not easy to move a country without burning fossil fuels. You commute to work by car or bus? You probably burn fossil fuels. Your food is grown using tractors which plant seeds which were delivered using trucks.

You might replace those with energy but what about heavy machinery? We should just stop burning fossil fuels at all.

The solution to the climate apocalypse depends on overcoming capitalism. Give food and shelter to all the unemployed due to the GDP collapse.

We should have never reached such a level of addiction to a substance which destroys our environment. We have known it since the 19th century yet here we are, witnessing the apocalypse that the Cassandræ have forecasted.

There are more sustainable economic systems like the one in North Korea, etc. but look which economic and political systems get destroyed when the revenue rate of the Fossil fuels corporations is at stake.

We are bound for a termination shock or whatever it’s called because that’s in the interest of the big capital of the Fossil Fuels and its military branch

somedude895• 3 years ago

I care about as much as I care about stars being named after someone who paid a hundred bucks.

extraduder_ire• 3 years ago

I wonder if there's enough companies to avoid repetition and keep this fresh.

Based on the linked page, there's already letters like I and J missing.

mensetmanusman• 3 years ago

As long as they name McDonald’s for the impact of beef.

Am4TIfIsER0ppos• 3 years ago

In a sense like "thanks exxon for making my life so comfortable"?

badrabbit4• 3 years ago

The oil companies are not polluting, society that depends on them for continued existence in its current form is.

"The drug cartels ruined me" said the junkie. It's easy and lazy to blame the big and greedy suppliers but demand will always create a vaccum that must and will be filled.

Assume fossil fuels are like drugs, why was the war on drugs not only unwinnable but made things worse? If that parallel is correct, consider the ramifications of this blunder being repeated on the climate.

goku122• 3 years ago

These companies are well known for not just supplying the hydrocarbons, but also burying research that showed the impact of CO2 emissions, scuttling research into the same, funding misleading news and propaganda groups that dismiss such impacts and influencing authorities to scuttle efforts to switch to alternative power sources.

They aren't just passive players who share equal responsibility with us normies for heating up the planet. They are active players, without whose involvement, we may have taken solid actions much earlier when it really mattered. They shouldn't be compared to the illegal drug mafia. They should be compared to the big tobacco who did bad things while apparently staying within the law. Let's not understate or dilute their culpability in causing the major crisis that is plaguing the entire planet.

badrabbit4• 3 years ago

Why do they even do research into emissions? Who cares? Shouldn't an independent organization be doing the studies anyways? They take oil from the ground and sell it, whether their customers want vaseline or unleaded gas, do long as it is legally permitted and they pay all the taxes, what other obligation do they have?

...funding misleading news and propaganda groups that dismiss such impacts and influencing authorities to scuttle efforts to switch to alternative power sources.

But did they break the law? Is there corruption in the government or academia? Then start by rooting out that corruption.

You are missing the point! This is the same mistake the war on drugs made! You want to bring big oil to their knees but so what? Are you saying people will buy shitty electric cars or nuke powerplants will be built because if that?

If I was an oil and gas ceo, I would just quitely move my hq and business to friendlier countries and have non-culpable subsidiaries run US/western side of things but I am sure they have resources to eventually escape any significant damages beyond a few billion dollars.

The fact that the political system is manipulated by powerful people and compnies is rightfully a root cause here. I have yet to see anyone sue congresspeople or crusade for lobbying/academia reform. Do you seriously blame publicly traded money making machines doing all they can to make more money? They're not supposed to care about the climate, your politicians are! Your academics who are supposed to present information to policy makers are. In the end you spend all your time protesting and crusadinf against anyone but the people ultimately responsible for it who can make effective change. Oil companies work for shareholders interests, elected politicians work for you.

And keep in mind, big tobacco is alive and kicking. You can near bankrupt oil companies, they'll still be very profitable and the problem is still unsolved.

DemiGuru• 3 years ago

The process of extracting the oil from the ground as well the refining process are major contributors

badrabbit4• 3 years ago

As is the process of farming coca and marijuana plants and then harvesting and processing them. Going after supply or demand directly only made things worse there.

Meteorologist Is Naming Heatwaves After Big Polluting Oil Companies

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