Bill McKibben – Exxon Knew Everything There Was to Know About Climate Change by the Mid-1980s—and Denied It

few weeks before the last great international climate conference—2009, in Copenhagen—the e-mail accounts of a few climate scientists were hacked and reviewed for incriminating evidence suggesting that global warming was a charade. Eight separate investigations later concluded that there was literally nothing to “Climategate,” save a few sentences taken completely out of context—but by that time, endless, breathless media accounts …

Chris Hedges – Death by Fracking

DENVER—The maniacal drive by the human species to extinguish itself includes a variety of lethal pursuits. One of the most efficient is fracking. One day, courtesy of corporations such as Halliburton, BP and ExxonMobil, a gallon of water will cost more than a gallon of gasoline. Fracking, which involves putting chemicals into potable water and then injecting millions of gallons …

David Griffin – Climate Denial

According to a recent report from Inside Climate News, scientists hired by Exxon had concluded in the 1970s and ’80s that continuing to burn great quantities of fossil fuels would likely produce “catastrophic events” that could endanger humanity. Therefore, said these scientists, Exxon should begin a transition away from fossil fuels to renewable resources. But in the late ’80s, the …

Larry Schwartz – 9 Industries That Are Cashing In as Our Planet Heats Up

Despite the fact that 98% of climatologists accept manmade climate change as a fact, almost a quarter of Americans [3] still believe that climate science is junk science and that global warming is a grand hoax. Major oil companies have poured a lot of money into fueling climate skepticism. But while Big Oil wants to keep the public fooled, the major …

Big Oil Knew. Big Oil Lied. And Planet Earth Got Fried. – Jon Queally

They knew. They lied. And the planet and its people are now paying the ultimate price. It’s no secret that the fossil fuel industry—the set of companies and corporate interests which profit most from the burning of coal, oil, and gas—have been the largest purveyors and funders of climate change denialism in the world. Now, a new set of documents and …

Faking It While the World Burns By Emily Schwartz Greco

Rex Tillerson, of all people, just did the climate movement a big favor. He didn’t hand the Sierra Club tens of millions of dollars to fight the coal industry like former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg. Nor did the chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil follow former hedge fund investor Tom Steyer‘s lead by giving political candidates with climate cred campaign …

Finally, Some Climate Crisis Honesty: Forget About a 2˚C Future; It Will be 4˚-6˚C Degrees, and Soon – Dave Lindorff

A tectonic shift is occurring suddenly in the debate over climate change. Only a year ago, at least in the US corporate media, there was always a rough equivalence accorded to those experts who were warning about a looming climate disaster facing mankind, and those who called the whole thing a “conspiracy” by corrupt scientists and politicians (albeit without ever …

Governments Giving Fossil Fuel Companies $10 Million a Minute: IMF – Nadia Prupis

The fossil fuel industry receives $5.3 trillion a year in government subsidies, despite its disastrous toll on the environment, human health, and other global inequality issues, a new report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published Monday has found. That means that governments worldwide are spending $10 million every minute to fund energy companies—more than the estimated public health spending …

Taxpayer Subsidies for Fossil Fuels on a Warming Planet in One Word: ‘Absurd’ – Jon Queally

A new investigation by the Guardian, highlighting the large campaign contributions given by fossil fuel corporations to lawmakers who then back public subsidies for those same companies, has led presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to describe the arrangement—especially in light of the dangers posed by runaway climate change—with one word: absurd. In their examination of three specific fossil fuel projects run by Shell, …

Exclusive: TransCanada Keystone 1 Pipeline Suffered Major Corrosion Only Two Years In Operation, 95% Worn In One Spot – Julie Dermansky

Documents obtained by DeSmogBlog [3] reveal an alarming rate of corrosion to parts of TransCanada’s Keystone 1 pipeline. A mandatory inspection test revealed a section of the pipeline’s wall had corroded 95%, leaving it paper-thin in one area (one-third the thickness of a dime) and dangerously thin in three other places, leading TransCanada to immediately shut it down. The cause of the corrosion …