ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson says fears about climate change, drilling, and energy dependence are overblown.
Overblown? Are you serious?
In a speech Wednesday, Tillerson acknowledged that burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet, but said society will be able to adapt.
Yes, we will be able to adapt. However, many people’s version of adapting is on the other end of the spectrum from Tillerson’s idea of adapting. Tillerson, in a break with predecessor Lee Raymond, has acknowledged that global temperatures are rising. “Clearly there is going to be an impact,” he said Wednesday. “We have spent our entire existence adapting. We’ll adapt,” he said. “It’s an engineering problem and there will be an engineering solution.”
And I just wonder what his idea is… keep drilling, keep using fossil fuels, keep adding to the global climate changes. We’ll make better air conditioners… move cities back from the shores as the oceans rise.
Steve Coll, author of the recent book “Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power,” said he was surprised Exxon would already be talking about ways society could adapt to climate change when there is still time to try to avoid its worst effects. Also, he said, research suggests that adapting to climate change could be far more expensive than reducing emissions now. “Moving entire cities would be very expensive,” he said.
Tillerson also expressed frustration at the level of public concern over new drilling techniques that tap natural gas and oil in shale formations under several states. He said environmental advocacy groups that “manufacture fear” have alarmed a public that doesn’t understand drilling practices — or math, science or engineering in general. He blamed “lazy” journalists for producing stories that scare the public but don’t investigate the claims of advocacy groups.
He continued on about how drilling will always involve risks of spills, to those living nearby, etc. The industry’s biggest challenge, he said, is “taking an illiterate public and try to help them understand why we can manage these risks.”
Well, Mr. Tillerson, I am quite offended by you. I am a member of Mensa Society and have a Masters Degree from Purdue University in Earth Sciences. So, with my illiterate mind that you think I must have, I will state that our addiction to fossils fuels is killing our environment which will eventually kill us. The risks we see published by the media are, in general, factual. Some are exaggerated, some to conjure fear, some are not truthful enough, but overall, our what we read and hear in the media about climate change occurring is, for the most part, truthful.
Therefore, the best way to “adapt” is to rid our dependence of oil and fossil fuels. We have a powerful sun which will provide more than enough solar energy for the world. We have areas around the world which have constant winds throughout the year. We have geo-thermal active areas which will provide the power and energy from the earth itself! The magnitude of energy below our crust is mind-boggling for most – and must be for Tillerson, too. We have the technology to tap into all these sources – and do so economically. If we can put man on the moon; fly an aircraft into space to return and land then fly again; everyone is connected worldwide via the internet; anyone can carry a phone in their pocket, just to name a few; we have the ability in technology and engineering to create renewable energy which is affordable! Sadly, we also have too many people with power and money who will lose trillions if the world starts converting to renewable energy in a more timely manner, therefore they are the ones who are in control of our ecological form of adaption.
Tillerson, please… stop insulting my intelligence as well as millions of others. Your ignorance is frightening considering you are CEO of Exxon.
References:
MSNBC: Exxon’s CEO: Climate, energy fears overblown
MSNBC: ExxonMobil CEO assailed for claims on climate change
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