To the Editor:
Of all the partners in the petroleum/government complex, the one casting the broadest oil slick is ExxonMobil. A decade after the Valdez spill from which Alaska's Eskimos and fishermen still suffer, the cleanup costs haven't been fully paid yet by this high profit giant.
Our TV screens are currently carrying a soft-spoken ad saying ExxonMobil is concerned about global warming and is investing in research on the subject. Very nice, but it mainly shows their faith in our gullibility. Exxon played a major role in persuading Bush-Cheney to reject Kyoto. Profits over principle.
Even as our gas prices go astronomic, ExxonMobil gave $8 million to 40 think tanks, conservative media outlets and purchasable academics for their projects scoffing at climate change science and discouraging better fuel economy and lower emissions in cars. Head-in-the-sand Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., got 290,000 oily dollars - no wonder he talks so much foolishness about energy.
Michael Chrichton wrote a psuedo-science novel ridiculing the concept of global warming. The far-right American Enterprise Institute sponsored an author's lecture for Chrichton, receiving $55,000 from ExxonMobil to fund that event. They have given the AEI $960,000.
Another member of the Oiligarchy, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was given $1.38 million for their efforts to persuade us there's nothing to worry about, just forget about all our extraordinary weather events. Those ExxonMobil TV spots are not to be believed, they are funding mythology, not science.
Sir David King, science adviser to Tony Blair, calls global warming "the greatest danger civilization has faced in 5,000 years." It's shocking that Bush could sabotage the G8 plan to put the brakes on greenhouse gas emissions.
Opposing any effort to reduce the risks to our planet is irresponsible, whether you are a world leader or an ordinary citizen. We should all take the research seriously. We must opt for high-mileage/low emission cars, be frugal with household energy use, and support all form of renewable power generation.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Do we want to be the string ensemble that serenades the barbecuing of planet Earth?
Richard C. Bartlett
Cotuit
