Climate change denial’s new offensive
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Its no secret where this denialism comes from: The fossil fuel industry pays for it. (Of the 16 authors of the Journal article, for instance, five had had ties to Exxon.)Writers from Ross Gelbspan to Naomi Oreskes have made this case with such overwhelming power that no one even really tries denying it any more. The open question is why the industry persists in denial in the face of an endless body of fact showing climate change is the greatest danger weve ever faced.
Why doesnt it fold the way the tobacco industry eventually did? Why doesnt it invest its riches in things like solar panels and so profit handsomely from the next generation of energy? As it happens, the answer is more interesting than you might think.
Part of its simple enough: The giant energy companies are making so much money right now that they cant stop gorging themselves. ExxonMobil, year after year, pulls in more money than any company in history. Chevrons not far behind. Everyone in the business is swimming in money.
Still, they could theoretically invest all that cash in new clean technology or research and development for the same. As it happens, though, theyve got a deeper problem, one thats become clear only in the last few years. Put briefly: Their value is largely based on fossil-fuel reserves that wont be burned if we ever take global warming seriously.
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/07/climate_change_denials_new_offensive/