oil companies

In this episode, Ralph and Luc delve into what the oil companies knew about CO2’s impact on the climate, and how they lied to you to sustain their fossilized business model – even if it risks drilling us into oblivion… This argument will soon be heard in court as part of a series of lawsuits against Big Oil.

We start by looking into the history of scholarship on this issue, dating back to the 19th Century.
We highlight the record of what the oil companies such as Exxon and the American Petroleum Institute were saying behind closed doors – and contrast this with their contemporaneous public statements.

Sources:
• If you would like to read California's lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and the American Petroleum Institute for deceiving the public for decades, you can access it here:
https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FINAL-9-15-COMPLAINT.pdf

• We quote from the 2010 book Merchants of Doubt; How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.

• We also sample a couple clips from the 2014 documentary derived from it, also titled Merchants Of Doubt, directed by Robert Kenner and co-written by Kim Roberts.

• We cite reporting from this 2017 article from the Center for Public Integrity: “The United States of Petroleum” by Jie Jenny Zou, accessible at

https://apps.publicintegrity.org/united-states-of-petroleum/

• You can read Edward Teller’s “Energy Patterns of the Future” 1959 Presentation at the Energy and Man conference organised by the American Petroleum Institute in full here:
https://www.planetaryhealthforbusypeople.com/whats-now-and-whats-new/edward-teller

• We sample a couple clips from the 1981 British TV documentary by Thames Television called “Warming Warning”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMjnvfkeJJ0&list=PL7WD0g9dS3jlkXemuiPdoj4RF416JTpn6&index=3

• We read from Exxon's 1982 internal primer on the CO2 "Greenhouse Effect", which was made accessible thanks to reporting by Inside Climate News in 2015, and is accessible here:
https://insideclimatenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/1982-Exxon-Primer-on-CO2-Greenhouse-Effect.pdf

• We also read from the oil companies' advertorials, as highlighted in a 2017 research article: "Assessing ExxonMoblil’s climate change communications (1977-2014)" by Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran:

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa815f

• We refer to elements from the 2021 book The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet by Michael E Mann.

• We also cite the 2023 Science article "Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections" by Geoffrey Supran, Stefan Rahmstorf, and Naomi Oreskes:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063

• We excerpted a clip from Naomi Klein's June 2023 appearance on the podcast "The Audit", hosted by Dave Anthony and Josh Olson on David Sirota's Lever Network, which you can listen to in full here:

https://www.levernews.com/the-audit-the-climate-change-misinformation-machine

(This episode is also available as a video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/muNF_1mC3FI )

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently sent a letter to Chevron denying the company's request to exclude a request from a shareholder for a vote from other shareholders which asked the company to study the risks of giving up the production of fossil fuels. 

Green activists routinely try to cajole oil companies into trying to guess the effects of fossil fuel usage on the weather decades into the future. But one shareholder, the financial advisor David Bahnsen is asking the more relevant question. What would happen to our investment value if Chevron got out of the oil business? 

It’s high time that people who are actually investing their own money get into the game which up until now has been dominated by activists. Exxon also will have a similar proposal on the ballot. It’s their chance to speak up and defend what they do every day: power the world. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently sent a letter to Chevron denying the company's request to exclude a request from a shareholder for a vote from other shareholders which asked the company to study the risks of giving up the production of fossil fuels. 

Green activists routinely try to cajole oil companies into trying to guess the effects of fossil fuel usage on the weather decades into the future. But one shareholder, the financial advisor David Bahnsen is asking the more relevant question. What would happen to our investment value if Chevron got out of the oil business? 

It’s high time that people who are actually investing their own money get into the game which up until now has been dominated by activists. Exxon also will have a similar proposal on the ballot. It’s their chance to speak up and defend what they do every day: power the world. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the latest episode of the Digital Supply Chain podcast! In this episode, I chat with Ami Daniel, the CEO and co-founder of Windward, a maritime data and analytics company.

Ami and I discuss the power of data and how it can be used to improve supply chain visibility and efficiency in the shipping industry. We talk about Windward's innovative platform, which leverages AI and machine learning to provide real-time insights and predictive analytics for vessels and cargo, as well as the challenges and opportunities of working with stakeholders in the complex maritime ecosystem.

We also delve into the macroeconomic and regulatory factors affecting the shipping industry, the importance of focus and quality in data collection, and how Windward's customers, including freight forwarders, oil companies, and even the US government, use their data to gain insights and make strategic decisions.

If you're interested in the future of the shipping industry and how technology can transform it, you won't want to miss this episode!

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous supporters:

• Lorcan Sheehan
• Krishna Kumar
• Olivier Brusle
• Alicia Farag
• Joël VANDI
• Luis Olavarria
• Alvaro Aguilar

And remember you too can Support the Podcast - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Digital Supply Chain episodes like this one.

Podcast Sponsorship Opportunities:
If you/your organisation is interested in sponsoring this podcast - I have several options available. Let's talk!

Finally
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to just send me a direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover it.

Thanks for listening.

“THE GREAT ESCAPE: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America” tells the story of one of the largest human trafficking schemes in modern American history and how the traffickers were finally held to account. Saket Soni was the co-founder of The New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice in the post-Katrina years. Today he’s the founder and director of Resilience Force, a project that comes directly out of his experience working with the men in this book. The U.S. is experiencing a labor shortage, and climate catastrophe will increase the need for disaster recovery workers. How can we build the resilient workforce we need, with the rights and equity workers deserve? Join Laura and Saket for this urgent conversation on the future of labor.

“The workers in this book, though I didn't know it at the time, were the first of a growing workforce that I call the resilience workforce. Workers who rebuild after hurricanes, floods, fires, and other disasters. As climate change has proceeded . . . this workforce has grown and it's still largely immigrant, largely undocumented and very vulnerable.”

"What we are really trying to do at Resilience Force is build this million-strong, massive, skilled workforce. We need to rebuild American cities, but also build a new social fabric in America."

Guest:

Saket Soni: Author, THE GREAT ESCAPE: A True Story of Forced Labor and Immigrant Dreams in America; Founder & Director, Resilience Force

The Show is listener and viewer supported.  That's thanks to you!  Please donate and become a member.

Full conversation & show notes are available at Patreon.com/theLFShow

The Laura Flanders Show Crew:  Laura Flanders, Sabrina Artel, David Neuman, Nat Needham, Rory O'Conner, Janet Hernandez, Sarah Miller and Jeannie Hopper

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ACCESSIBILITY - The broadcast edition of this episode is available with closed captioned by clicking here for our YouTube Channel

Today, your host Ryan Pallotta is joined by the author of the Rosen Report and industry expert Eric Rosen.

Ryan and Eric kick things off by talking about Wall Street legend Carl Icahn, with Eric recounting a memorable dinner he shared with the man Gordon Gecko was—in part—based upon.  

Eric gives his thoughts on an expected interest rate hike of 25 basis points and the squeeze consumers are starting to feel with auto and credit card delinquencies on the rise and credit card and mortgage balances at an all-time high.  

He then talks about a greater than zero chance of the US government being temporarily unable to pay its debt and the knock-on implications of that. 

Lastly, Eric shares why he thinks EV goals are unrealistic and why the government should be enticing big oil companies with a carrot rather than beating them with a stick.

In March, 2020, inspired by a small city in California, Honolulu sued 8 oil companies for their role in causing local climate change damages. A few months later Maui County did the same. We interview some of the key people involved to learn how it happened, why they did it, and what they expect to gain from it. Our guests are the former Mayor of Honolulu, Kirk Caldwell, Maui County Council Member Kelly Takaya King, and Alyssa Johl, Legal Director for the Center for Climate Integrity. 

Resources

• KEY UPDATE: Honolulu Scores A Win Against Big Oil In Climate Change Lawsuit and  Energy Cos. Can't Dodge Climate Claims In Hawaii State Court - are two articles, from 2/27/22 and 2/23/22, that report on a key ruling that is discussed in the episode, but hadn't yet happened.
• Center for Climate Integrity website
• Climate Liability Litigation - website and resources
• Honolulu sues petroleum companies article
• Maui county sues - article
• Maui Has Begun the Process of Managed Retreat. It Wants Big Oil to Pay the Cost of Sea Level Rise
• Federal ruling favors Maui county

I'm a big fan of Amy Westervelt's Drilled podcast. If you're not familiar, it is a Climate podcast but done like a Netflix series with each episode leading to the next one, so it tells a narrative over a number of episodes, and then it starts a new series, with a new story to tell. Really compelling!

Imagine my excitement when I heard that Amy is starting a new podcast called Damages following the increasing number of climate cases that are popping up, and telling their stories - Law and Order meets Climate!

I had to know more, so I invited Amy to come on the podcast.

We had a fascinating conversation covering the Drilled and Damages podcasts, the recent uptick in the number of climate cases being taken, and some of the more interesting cases Amy has come across.

This was an excellent episode of the podcast and I learned loads as always, and I hope you do too.

If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to leave me a voice message over on my SpeakPipe page, head on over to the Climate 21 Podcast Forum, or just send it to me as a direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn. Audio messages will get played (unless you specifically ask me not to).

And if you want to know more about any of SAP's Sustainability solutions, head on over to www.sap.com/sustainability, and if you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show. Thanks.

And remember, stay healthy, stay safe, stay sane!

Music credit - Intro and Outro music for this podcast was composed, played, and produced by my daughter Luna Juniper

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing supporters:

• Lorcan Sheehan
• Hal Good
• Jerry Sweeney
• Andreas Werner
• Devaang Bhatt
• Stephen Carroll
• Marcel Roquette
• Roger Arnold

And remember you too can Support the Podcast - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one.

Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.

Credits
Music credits - Intro by Joseph McDade, and Outro music for this podcast was composed, played, and produced by my daughter Luna Juniper

Stanford doctoral candidate Benjamin (Ben) Franta (aka @BenFranta on Twitter) has a degree in Applied Physics from Harvard, a Law degree from Stanford, and is currently working on his Ph.D. from Stanford on the history of climate science, climate denial, and the fossil fuel industry.

I came across him when I heard about his most recent paper where he and two French researchers showed how French fossil fuel company Total were aware of harmful global warming impacts since at least 1971 but instead of doing anything about it, they engaged in overt denial of climate science. This was the way fossil fuel companies decided to deal with the issue.

That this was standard practice for fossil fuel companies is something I've been aware of for some time, but I decided to invite Ben to come on the podcast to talk about not just this but also the potential legal ramifications of this behaviour.

This was a truly fascinating episode of the podcast and I learned loads as always, and I hope you do too.

If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - feel free to leave me a voice message over on my SpeakPipe page, head on over to the Climate 21 Podcast Forum, or just send it to me as a direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn. Audio messages will get played (unless you specifically ask me not to).

And if you want to know more about any of SAP's Sustainability solutions, head on over to www.sap.com/sustainability, and if you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show. Thanks.

And remember, stay healthy, stay safe, stay sane!

Music credit - Intro and Outro music for this podcast was composed, played, and produced by my daughter Luna Juniper

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing supporters:

• Lorcan Sheehan
• Hal Good
• Jerry Sweeney
• Andreas Werner
• Devaang Bhatt
• Stephen Carroll
• Marcel Roquette
• Roger Arnold

And remember you too can Support the Podcast - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one.

Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.

Credits
Music credits - Intro by Joseph McDade, and Outro music for this podcast was composed, played, and produced by my daughter Luna Juniper

Over the past year, multiple oil and gas companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in planting trees, or threatening to do so, to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. There are, however, several fundamental problems with what they are doing, or probably more accurately, pretending to do. First, most are planting trees to earn carbon offsets, as if they are at Church, confessed, received a penance – the carbon offsets – and were imparted absolution.  But even if they could be absolved by planting trees, which they can’t, surely they can’t then go and sell that absolution to consumers, which is exactly what some of them are doing. Shell for example has an entire effort trying to get petrol car drivers to pay a premium at the pump to buy carbon offsets from Shell, at a profit. Second, generating the carbon offsets from planting trees, even if this was real (it's not, in most cases) does not mean they can keep burning down the house.  They should be decreasing their emissions, not greenwashing. Finally, not much attention is being paid to what trees are being planted, how and where.  The reality is that planting trees is largely unnecessary. Far more critical is to stop global deforestation and to re-grow the global forest by preparing the ground, understanding our limitations and getting out of the way. 

We talk to satirical artist Darren Cullen about what led him away from a career in advertising and into a career producing political art. He uses the language of advertising to make work about the empty promises of consumerism and the lies of military recruiters. Join us as we discuss:

• Military recruitment advertising
• The backlash of criticising the ‘sacred’ military institution  
• Going ‘one step further’ than advertising messages
• His work at the permanent collection in the Victoria & Albert Museum 
• His ‘Action Man: Battlefield Casualties’ video series produced with Veterans for Peace, and voiced by Matt Berry
• His support for the campaign to raise the minimum age of military recruitment to 18
• The insidious power of advertising
• The British military’s sinister toy range
• Military links with the film and video game industries
• Working hard to annoy Shell and other oil companies
• Trying to stop the DSEI arms fair
• The upcoming ‘Art the Arms Fair’ art exhibition

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