Exxon’s Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuels’ Role in Global Warming Decades Ago | InsideClimate News
At a meeting in Exxon Corporation’s headquarters, a senior company scientist named James F. Black addressed an audience of powerful oilmen. Speaking without a text as he flipped through detailed slides, Black delivered a sobering message: carbon dioxide from the world’s use of fossil fuels would warm the planet and could eventually endanger humanity.
This is a as bad as the tobacco industry hiding the deadly effects of smoking. In the 80's Exxon spent millions of dollars on groundbreaking research which irrefutably showed how their products would change the climate. And then they buried it all.
In 1977, climate scientist James F. Black made this statement to Exxon execs: “In the first place, there is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels”. A year later, Black and his team of Exxon scientists came back with more specific information: They estimated that doubling atmospheric CO2 would increase global temperatures by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius (4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit).
Throughout the 1980s, Exxon funded the most comprehensive data gathering and climate modeling on the planet. Until Exxon execs realized how this information could damage their business, they started a campaign which cast doubt on their own research.
Part 3: Comes out next week.
This makes me angry and sad at the same time.
How can these people not go to jail?!
+Paul Spoerry
Not trying to validate or invalidate your post on the subject, but as for not going to jail, it's not against the law to cause climate change (or what ever the current PC rally cry is) Nor is not releasing the findings of your own research.
It may be illegal to use CFCs (which are alleged to cause planetary annihilation), but burning of fossil fuels is, at least for the present, perfectly legal.
+West Kagle I disagree. The tobacco industry was sued because of their impact on health and the cost via Medicaid, etc (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Master_Settlement_Agreement). Likewise… Exxon could be liable for the health impacts of far more people and on a much larger scale. Climate change doesn't just impact the planet but also all things living on it and causes a wide variety of negative impacts on health:
* http://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/effects/
* http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs266/en/
* http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/programs/geh/climatechange/health_impacts/index.cfm
+Paul Spoerry
I still don't see anyway you can sue the oil companies for planetary warming change climate.
Plus they would just turn around and say we (as burners of fossil fuels ourselves) are willing co-conspirators (or at least stupid accomplices).
…..then they'll just pass on the cost to the fines and lawsuits to us vie the pump.
But we couldn't be stupid accomplices because they intentionally buried the information and then when other people began studying it they waged a FUD campaign to discredit it all the while knowing the truth.
Also… I was suggesting we sue for health issues. More narrow focus plus it's less ambiguous than "climate change".
+Paul Spoerry
Sure we could. At least those of us who have been running around screaming the sky is falling about rising green house temperature polar cap change, can. They knew for decades and went right on burning dead dinosaurs (and the ones who listened to them and didn't so much as scream wolf are even more guilty). 😛
Basic criminal negligence surely?
If you knowingly do something that's dangerous. The research is simply how they know that is was.
+Thomas Wrobel +Paul Spoerry
You guys know that I'm just trollin' on ya's. You know for shites and giggles. I don't like the oil industry, but not for killing the planet. I hate them because the bastards could make a zillion dollars a year with pump prices at $0.90 per/gallon however that's not good enough. They need to jack the price up and make 100 gozillion dollars per year (all while soaking the little guy).
But still, there isn't a law against causing global warming (or what ever it is), through the burning of fossil fuels, not then, and still not even today.
……I still think they're degenerate bread boffers.