Exxon’s behaviors early in our country’s understanding of climate change could be described as Dismissive, giving it very little attention until after the election of George Bush Concerned, creating a very aggressive defense program and dedicating large sums of money to their own research on the topic so they could influence future legislation Inquisitive, partnering closely with the Energy Department’s carbon dioxide program to learn how to reduce their own emissions Hostile, using large sums of money to run advertisements that discredited major climate scientists, spread misinformation, and assured Americans that climate change was not an issue that needed any immediate action
Exxon’s behaviors early in our country’s understanding of climate change could be described as
Dismissive, giving it very little attention until after the election of George Bush
Concerned, creating a very aggressive defense program and dedicating large sums of money to their own research on the topic so they could influence future legislation
Inquisitive, partnering closely with the Energy Department’s carbon dioxide program to learn how to reduce their own emissions
Hostile, using large sums of money to run advertisements that discredited major climate scientists, spread misinformation, and assured Americans that climate change was not an issue that needed any immediate action
Exxon was already aware of the consequences of climate change, as early as 1977, 11 years before it became a public issue, as per a recent investigation from Inside-Climate News. But this knowledge did not prevent the company from spending decades refusing to publicly acknowledge climate change and even promoting climate misinformation. The company was aware that their products wouldn’t stay profitable once the world understood the risks, and hence, they used the same consultants to develop strategies on how to communicate with the public.
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