Research by Geoffrey Supran (former research fellow in the History of Science at Harvard and now at the University of Miami) and Naomi Oreskes (the Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science at Harvard and author of the 2011 bestselling book “Merchants of Doubt”) published research this month in “Science” that shows how accurate ExxonMobil’s internal research scientists were, beginning in the 1970’s, at assessing the warming effects of human-generated carbon dioxide (CO2) on the climate.  ExxonMobil’s own research has proven to be closer to the actual levels of CO2 detected in our planet’s atmosphere than much of the environmental climate scientists’ own models (using the United Nations IPCC format) predicted the levels would be.

Yet, ExxonMobil (along with other major fossil fuel producers), knowing full well what increased levels of CO2 would do to the climate for decades and even centuries to come, spent billions of dollars in a very sophisticated and multi-decade campaign to deny the very science they had already confirmed internally.  They lied to the whole world just to increase their profits. And now, we – all of us – will be paying the price for their deceit and for how they made most people disbelieve actual climate change science. This is very reminiscent of the lies big tobacco told the whole world just to keep up their profits when they stated that smoking did not cause cancer when they knew full well that it did.

Speaking of smoking: Oreskes stated in their paper in “Science” that “I think this new study is the smoking gun, the proof…..that ExxonMobil scientists knew about this problem to a shockingly fine degree as far back as the 1980s, but company spokesmen denied, challenged, and obscured this science, starting in the late 1980s/early 1990s.” Supran added that “Our analysis here I think seals the deal on that matter. We now have totally unimpeachable evidence that Exxon accurately predicted global warming years before it turned around and publicly attacked climate science and scientists.” 

If this is how our wondrous capitalistic economy works, where those with enough money can just lie and lie for their own personal gain at the expense of all life on this planet, then that type of economy, serving only the rich, is destined to collapse:  don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying our democratic capitalist economic model should be replaced with another one such as socialism, communism, totalitarianism, dictatorship, etc. (basically, any other type that exists today) that sustains business-as-usual: those types of systems, even if they tout themselves as being for the people, are not really for the people, but are rather top-down oligarchies or worse, willing to sacrifice those in their way or that could negatively affect their profit margins or bottom line, and must perish from the face the Earth because they are killing the Earth. Future economies must promote true ecological sustainability and not what the green sustainability movement currently out there promotes with their own “Bright Green Lies” (book by Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, and Max Wilbert). Future economies are bottom up locally-controlled, promote life affirming processes that are regionally resilient and sustainable, support regenerative agriculture and farming practices, and bring humans back together, reversing the divisiveness and separation the status quo has promoted and used to control business-as-usual for so many generations. The future ecological focus acknowledges that man is just a part of life (albeit one that must be a good steward or custodian) and is not meant to ignorantly destroy life and foul its own nest like we (me included) have been doing for many decades (and centuries before us). The time to pay the piper has arrived and we are failing in our God-given task to be conscientious leaders (not dominators) and guardians for all of life on this beautiful planet. Life is crying for change; let’s do what we should have been doing all along and protect our life support system, our planet, Earth. There is no planet B.

Bob Bates

Tullahoma