It’s no secret oilsands companies intend to ramp up production despite the rapidly worsening impacts of the climate crisis, and one longtime industry executive laid out his arguments for doing just that at a federal committee Monday.
Whoof. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but damn. “Yeah, we made 9 bil in profit last year, but we’re too focused on the long term and transitioning away from energy sources that are actively reducing the habitabilty of our planet.” Do you fucking hear yourself speak? As-is, if we manage to get things under control before literally rendering huge swaths of the world unlivable within the next century, it’ll be near a goddamn miracle. I understand the need for a smooth transition and the capital to support green initiatives*, and that practically we will need at least some amount of oil for decades yet. Nothing here though gives me any confidence this is anything but a move to maximize shareholder returns.
(*as much as free-market solutions to problems related to common goods (like our goddamn climate) fundementally offend me, due to inherent inefficiency and misaligned incentives, an inefficient response is still better than waiting until we can fundementally restructure society >>)
Whoof. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but damn. “Yeah, we made 9 bil in profit last year, but we’re too focused on the long term and transitioning away from energy sources that are actively reducing the habitabilty of our planet.” Do you fucking hear yourself speak? As-is, if we manage to get things under control before literally rendering huge swaths of the world unlivable within the next century, it’ll be near a goddamn miracle. I understand the need for a smooth transition and the capital to support green initiatives*, and that practically we will need at least some amount of oil for decades yet. Nothing here though gives me any confidence this is anything but a move to maximize shareholder returns.
(*as much as free-market solutions to problems related to common goods (like our goddamn climate) fundementally offend me, due to inherent inefficiency and misaligned incentives, an inefficient response is still better than waiting until we can fundementally restructure society >>)