"So long, Chester, Killgore thought."

Professor Cliff Mass, Seattle's weather expert, always seems to hit the nail on the head.

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http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2018/10/if-worry-about-climate-change-and-care.html

Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog

This blog discusses current weather, weather prediction, climate issues, and other topics

Sunday, October 14, 2018

If You Worry About Climate Change and Care About the Environment, Vote No on I-1631

If you care about the environment, if you worry about global warming, and if this summer's smoke is of concern, you should vote against Washington State Initiative 1631.


Are Oil Companies Evil?

Perhaps the biggest animating force of the I-1631 activists is their hate of "big oil", who they see as the puppetmaster of conservatives and the enemy of dealing with global warming. They claim that big oil obfuscated the threat of global warming for years, preventing action. And the funding of a big portion of the No on 1631 campaign by big oil is seen as confirmation of its evil intent. Really, the I-1631 folks see oil companies as some kind of powerful amalgam of Darth Vader, the Devil, and perhaps Donald Trump.

I suspect the truth is more nuanced. If Big Oil was covering up global warming, they did a very bad job at it. The impact of CO2 has been talked about since the 80s and the estimates of the impacts have not really changed in thirty years. Global warming gets wide attention in the media, and if anything is hyped up and exaggerated. Greenhouse warming has been no secret.

And if oil companies were trying to suppress competitors, they have been ineffective. The technologies of solar and wind energy have matured and spread widely. Energy conserving technologies like LED bulbs have exploded. Hybrid and electric car technologies have flourished. Most oil companies now publicly acknowledge the threat of anthropogenic global warming, and they did very little to block I-732--the environmental left did the heavy lifting to stop 732.

Typical Oil Company Executive?

Big oil has provided a high-quality product at a declining place (considering inflation) that is demanded by virtually everyone. Yes, even environmental activists, who often are big travelers. If their products were not demanded, they would go out of business, like others before them.

To paraphrase Shakespeare: "the problem dear environmentalist is not in the oil companies, but in ourselves for demanding their product"


excerpt ends Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog



- posted by Kerry Burgess 4:33 PM Pacific Time Spokane Valley Washington USA Sunday 14 October 2018