4 ms·

Something I’m very curious about... Given* that our actions are causing climate change, what is the logic of oil companies continuing to do damage? 1. execs t

by etxm 7y ago

Something I’m very curious about... Given* that our actions are causing climate change, what is the logic of oil companies continuing to do damage? 1. execs truly dont believe their Corp’s actions impact climate 2. theyre making piles of cash, they can buy theirselves and their descendants out of future problems The first seems naive, the second seems pretty bleak. What other logic is there for this behavior? * let’s assume it is for the question above

im_down_w_otp 7y ago
3. Humans are notoriously terrible at internalizing future risk for consideration in context of the liability of their current actions. i.e. "I never thought it would happen to me."
- etxm 7y ago
  Doesn’t that acknowledge that they know it’ll happen eventually, even if it’s a few generations from now? Your username is fantastic by the way.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  This, but also: 4. Entire world is so addicted to oil that just shutting it off at this point is out of the question. We can blame oil companies and governments for not getting serious about transitioning away from oil, and yes, plenty of this is about money, but the reason such ridiculous amounts of money are involved is precisely because interruptions in supply are an existential threat to every country on the planet.
javagram 7y ago
Natural gas is currently replacing Coal, which is a far worse energy source both from a greenhouse gas perspective and from a health perspective (coal plant exhaust is radioactive, toxic, and is estimated to kill millions) So oil execs could perfectly well be complete believers in science and global warming and still think they are doing a good thing. It’s probably because they want to make money though and companies will do anything to make $$ as long as it’s legal enough.

4 ms·

Something I’m very curious about... Given* that our actions are causing climate change, what is the logic of oil companies continuing to do damage? 1. execs t

by etxm 7y ago

im_down_w_otp 7y ago
3. Humans are notoriously terrible at internalizing future risk for consideration in context of the liability of their current actions. i.e. "I never thought it would happen to me."
- etxm 7y ago
  Doesn’t that acknowledge that they know it’ll happen eventually, even if it’s a few generations from now? Your username is fantastic by the way.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  This, but also: 4. Entire world is so addicted to oil that just shutting it off at this point is out of the question. We can blame oil companies and governments for not getting serious about transitioning away from oil, and yes, plenty of this is about money, but the reason such ridiculous amounts of money are involved is precisely because interruptions in supply are an existential threat to every country on the planet.
javagram 7y ago
Natural gas is currently replacing Coal, which is a far worse energy source both from a greenhouse gas perspective and from a health perspective (coal plant exhaust is radioactive, toxic, and is estimated to kill millions) So oil execs could perfectly well be complete believers in science and global warming and still think they are doing a good thing. It’s probably because they want to make money though and companies will do anything to make $$ as long as it’s legal enough.