1 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: Previously undrilled. 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 2: They had such a good job that the public is 3 00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 2: more skeptical of climate change now than the oil companies. 4 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:16,280 Speaker 1: Are the world's largest oil companies are embroiled in multiple 5 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: lawsuits across the country and the globe at the moment. 6 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: While the technicalities of these suits differ, they're all mostly 7 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: about the same thing. These companies spent millions of dollars 8 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: to manufacture doubt about climate change when they knew the 9 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,839 Speaker 1: science was sound. They knew it was sound because they 10 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: funded a lot of it. They used this science to 11 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: guide business decisions for themselves, while paying pr agencies, front groups, 12 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: and scientists for hire to tell everyone else it was bunk. 13 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 3: Exomobil posted on their website, read the documents, and so 14 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:51,639 Speaker 3: we did. And they claimed that anyone who'd read these 15 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 3: documents would see that they exonerated them, but in fact 16 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 3: they didn't at all. In fact, if anything, they painted 17 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 3: a more distressing picture of how much Exon news about 18 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,560 Speaker 3: this problem scientifically, and yet how much confusion they showed 19 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 3: in public about it. 20 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 4: Mere fact that a climate modeling group was established and 21 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 4: the Tanker project was funded indicates that upper management felt 22 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 4: this was a good idea and wanted to pursue it funded. 23 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:21,759 Speaker 5: The issue was not were we going to have a problem. 24 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 5: The issue was simply, how soon and how fast and 25 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,919 Speaker 5: how bad is it going to be? Not if nobody 26 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 5: at Exon when I was there, was discussing. 27 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: These influence campaigns were wildly successful. Climate changes here and 28 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: its impacts are noticeable. It has intensified storms and wildfires 29 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 1: to the extent that once rare natural disasters are happening 30 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: every year. Those disasters are taking lives, and some of 31 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: those deaths have been directly linked to climate change. In 32 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 33 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: the IPCC, estimated that one hundred and fifty thousand people 34 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: per year were dying from climate change. That number has 35 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: only risen in the decades since. As I talk into 36 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 1: this mic, the death toll in California's latest batch of 37 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: catastrophic wildfires has reached twenty five. Entire communities have disappeared. 38 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 1: Former Exon consultant Marty Hofer says he can't help but 39 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:40,359 Speaker 1: see the oil industry's fingerprints on that. 40 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 2: Frankly, it's very depressing when I hear about the wildfires 41 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 2: in California. Now, some of those could be attributed to 42 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,239 Speaker 2: I mean the climate. There's no question that this is 43 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 2: due to climate change in the warming of the oceans. 44 00:02:56,680 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 2: Some of those could probably be attributed to x on 45 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:04,799 Speaker 2: products that became CO two and went into the atmosphere. 46 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:08,079 Speaker 2: And that's the crass. 47 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,959 Speaker 1: And since the argument is often made that it would 48 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: be economically disastrous to act on climate, it's worth noting 49 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: that the impacts of climate change have cost billions of 50 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: dollars in addition to lives lost. Scientists have calculated that 51 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: two billion out of the twelve billion dollars in losses 52 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: caused by Superstorm Sandy can be laid at the feet 53 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: of climate change, which raised sea levels and exacerbated storm surge. 54 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: In November, commercial crab fishermen along the West Coast came 55 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: together under the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations PCFFA, 56 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: the West coast largest commercial fishing association, to file suit 57 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: against thirty fossil fuel companies that they hold accountable for 58 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: losses caused by four straight years of fishery closures that 59 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: have harmed krabbers, their businesses, their families, and local communities 60 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: in California and Oregon. The key issue for crab fishermen 61 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: is that warmer waters cause more algal blooms, and those 62 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: blooms release an acid called demoic acid. Demoic acid is 63 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: a potent neurotoxin, so if it builds up in crabs, 64 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: fishermen can't fish those crabs and people can't eat them. 65 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: Here's Noah Oppenheim, pcffa's executive director explaining the suit. 66 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 6: In twenty fifteen, testing of crabs pre season showed that 67 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 6: crabs were testing at far above unsafe levels of demoic acid, 68 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 6: which is potent neurotoxin produced by an algae in the ocean. 69 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 6: It persists in warm temperatures and it shut down the 70 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 6: fishery for five months and it was devastating, resulted in 71 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 6: loss of opportunity, going to be a lot of young 72 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,679 Speaker 6: fishermen who have just bought their boats, bought their permit 73 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 6: that year or the year before, were just hung out 74 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 6: to dry, absolutely stuck, and when the fishery finally opened, 75 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 6: the damage was done. We saw tens of millions of 76 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 6: dollars in losses. We're expecting to see this as the 77 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 6: new normal. Demoic acid is going to be an issue 78 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 6: for this fishery and potentially others into the future. And 79 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 6: the connection between carbon emissions warming the oceans and the 80 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 6: moic acid in our praps is clear, direct causal connection. 81 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 6: So when you have a direct connection like that and 82 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 6: you have a financial harm, we feel that the responsibility 83 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 6: for fameliorating that harm lives not with fishermen and society, 84 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 6: but by the company's entities that produced the problem in 85 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 6: the first place. 86 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: California is ever extending fire season saw the state burn 87 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: through its annual budget for twenty eighteen four hundred and 88 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: forty two point eight million. By September, fire agencies estimated 89 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: they needed an additional two hundred and thirty four million 90 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: to continue combating fires, and that was before yet another 91 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 1: devastating complex of fires hit in November. If you want 92 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 1: to talk to someone who knows for sure that climate 93 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: change is happening, talk to a California firefighter. Here's cal 94 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: Fire Chief Ken Pemlot on Good Morning LA earlier this year. 95 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:36,559 Speaker 7: It really is going to get worse. The last several 96 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:39,599 Speaker 7: years have just shown us every year it continues to 97 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 7: progress and things are changing. If you ask career firefighters 98 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 7: out on the fire line who've been doing this thirty 99 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 7: thirty five years. These are not the kinds of fire 100 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 7: for the conditions we were facing. You know, just a 101 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 7: few decades ago. Climate change is real. It's happening. We're 102 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 7: seeing again more intense fires. Fires are burning more rapidly. 103 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 7: They're getting larger than the one hundred thousand acre or 104 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,520 Speaker 7: more fire used to be the exception to the rule. 105 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 7: We might get that every few years. We're getting multiple 106 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 7: one hundred thousand acre fires each year. 107 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: Last year, Pimlat told me that one new thing that's 108 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,160 Speaker 1: made fire fighting harder is that it's not getting reliably 109 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: cooler and wetter at night anymore. Nighttime was historically when 110 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: firefighters would get ahead of a fire, but recent data 111 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: indicates that nights are warming faster than days. We're seeing 112 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: record breaking natural disasters all the time now, not just 113 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: once a decade, and they do seem to be breaking 114 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: through the noise a bit. It gets a lot harder 115 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: to say climate change isn't happening when people can see 116 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: for themselves that heat waves are hotter and longer, or 117 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: that storms seem bigger and more regular than in decades past. 118 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: In last year or so, climate change has regularly made 119 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: the covers of magazines and the front pages of newspapers, 120 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: as it did back in the nineties. And that's a 121 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: positive step forward because for decades the the industry successfully 122 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: blocked the first critical step toward taking action on climate acknowledgment. 123 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: According to most of the literature on human psychology, in 124 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: order to move past our general tendency to freeze when 125 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: we're facing huge and scary challenges or big losses is 126 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: to acknowledge that the problem is there and that it's 127 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: tough to deal with. Instead, the industry put the American 128 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: public on a pathway to denial. They did so knowingly 129 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:35,760 Speaker 1: and with purpose. Hoefort says that's what drove him to 130 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: break ties with the company. 131 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 2: I am not sure if I quit or was fired. 132 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 2: There was a disagreement. Let's put it this way, it 133 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,319 Speaker 2: was a disagree When I first started working with Exon, 134 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 2: I was more pretty idealistic. I thought that if Exon 135 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:55,559 Speaker 2: actually had the information on climate change and was up 136 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:58,679 Speaker 2: to speed with the researchers, and the only way that 137 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 2: that could happen would be to publish papers in the 138 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 2: peer review literature. So I kind of insisted on that 139 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 2: as a condition of my consulting, and we did publish 140 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 2: papers and they did develop a certain expertise. But my 141 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 2: thought was that based on that, since we were in 142 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 2: the research division, but this would inform the management of 143 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 2: directions that the company should go in and I thought 144 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 2: they should pursue all alternative energy, and I thought that 145 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 2: they would. That didn't happen. They actually hired It was 146 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 2: probably not the same people who hired us. Of people 147 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 2: who hired me were in the research division, I have 148 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,840 Speaker 2: a feeling the other guys were in public relations and 149 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,720 Speaker 2: they were funding the climate change deniers. First of all, 150 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:50,199 Speaker 2: I was frankly pissed that they were funding these climate 151 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 2: change deniers because I didn't think they had the credentials 152 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 2: of scientists. None of these people had published peer review 153 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 2: journal arts goes on climate science, whereas we had, so 154 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:06,880 Speaker 2: there was a symmetry here. I mean, I can understand 155 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 2: that companies want to put the nicest face on these things, 156 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 2: so you know that have the least impact on their 157 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 2: bottom line, but you know, I didn't think that was 158 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 2: a good thing for them to do. 159 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: One thing I've heard from all of the former Excellon 160 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: employees I spoke with is a sense of regret of 161 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: an opportunity lost. 162 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,079 Speaker 5: I really think we had something at Exon. Yeah, okay, 163 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 5: we're going to be an energy company and we recognize 164 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,000 Speaker 5: this problem, and so we're going to help direct the 165 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 5: company the country away from fossil fuel. And instead I 166 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 5: just said, no, we just want to make money on 167 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:09,120 Speaker 5: oil and we don't really care what happens. I mean, 168 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 5: it upsets me. That's like I say, It's just it 169 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 5: was definitely missed opportunity to lead. 170 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,640 Speaker 8: Son as a tech in this way because it cannot 171 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 8: plead ignorance. All the other companies at least complete ignorance, 172 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 8: but they cannot plead ignorance when it becomes generally scientifically accepted. 173 00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 8: And it's well known that they're spending great deal of 174 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:35,840 Speaker 8: money to misrepresent the science as being grossly uncertain. 175 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 2: There's a cost, and the basic problem is that we're 176 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 2: still treating the atmosphere as an open sewer to dub 177 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 2: co two it. 178 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: Hoefer in particular says he and some of Excellon's staff 179 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: scientists tried to warn the company decades ago, but he 180 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 1: takes no comfort in being able to say I told 181 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:53,720 Speaker 1: you so. 182 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,480 Speaker 2: If they had listened to me, they would have instituted 183 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:03,920 Speaker 2: some research in alternative energy. They're doing some of it now, 184 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 2: they're working on algae, but they could have gotten started 185 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 2: on electric batteries lessian batteries because they did the initial 186 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,560 Speaker 2: research on it. They could have been the ones to 187 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 2: build the biggest battery plant in the world like Elon 188 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 2: Musk is doing in the bottom now. Because this was 189 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,240 Speaker 2: way ahead of that. 190 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: That didn't happen, and we're behind now and the feet 191 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: in front of us is that much harder, not least 192 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: because the United States currently has a president who regularly 193 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: refers to climate change as a hoax. 194 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 9: So Bamba's talking about all of this with the global 195 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 9: warming under a lot. 196 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 2: Of it's a hoax. It's a hoax. 197 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 3: I mean, it's some money making industry. 198 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:45,560 Speaker 2: Okay, it's a hoax. 199 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: It's important to acknowledge that that's the result of an 200 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: industry backed decades long information war, particularly as Exon attempts 201 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 1: to fight various climate labe ability suits with a First 202 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: Amendment defense. The company has argued in Massachusetts, New York, 203 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: and now California that the fraud probes and liability cases 204 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: against it infringe upon its rights to free speech. That 205 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: argument hinges in large part on the notion they created 206 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: that climate change and its impacts are political ideas to 207 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: be argued about, not science to be acted upon. And 208 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: here's a promotional video from the Competitive Enterprise Institute positioning 209 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 1: the subsequent probes as infringing on free speech. 210 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 2: No American should fear being singled out and harassed by 211 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 2: a government official who takes a different point of view 212 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 2: on public policy questions. President Obama's Justice Department may be 213 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 2: going after your business if he does not like the 214 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 2: way you think about global warming. 215 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:51,160 Speaker 9: Democratic attorneys general for more than a dozen states fired 216 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,439 Speaker 9: off to penis seeking decades of records from climate change skeptics, 217 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 9: including the Competitive Enterprise Institute. 218 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,720 Speaker 7: What's happened here is on lawful and on America. 219 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: This is what happens when you can't win a debate. 220 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,679 Speaker 3: I couldn't pass it through Congress, so instead they're imposing 221 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 3: their agenda on everyone else. 222 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 2: Our first reaction was, hell, no, this thing is one 223 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 2: unconstitutional fishing expedition. 224 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 5: The real thing that they're after is to shut down 225 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:18,200 Speaker 5: the global warming debate. 226 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: The first of these suits, filed against the states of 227 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: Massachusetts and New York, is ongoing, but hasn't stopped the 228 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: fraud probes from continuing or acting. New York Attorney General 229 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: Barbara Underwood from filing suit against Exon for misleading shareholders 230 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: about its actions on climate New. 231 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 5: York's Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against Exxon Mobile. 232 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 7: Alleging that the company defrauded shareholders by downplaying the expected 233 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 7: risk of climate change. 234 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 1: Holding the industry accountable for manufacturing climate denil isn't about 235 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: finding a bad guy, or even strictly about just justice, 236 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:03,720 Speaker 1: although of course we love a good bad guy, and 237 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: I imagine lawyers like winning cases more than they like 238 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: losing them. It's about putting climate denial to rest once 239 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:16,640 Speaker 1: and for all, and removing key obstacles to action. The 240 00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: IPCC has warned in its latest and most alarming report 241 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: to date that we have roughly twelve years to keep 242 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: climate change in check. Authors of that report called for 243 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: urgent and unprecedented change, and to accomplish that, we need 244 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: systems in capital. As environmental sociologist Bob Brule points. 245 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 9: Out, the idea that we're all responsible for climate change 246 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:49,880 Speaker 9: because of our individual decisions is a profoundly unsociological understanding 247 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:57,520 Speaker 9: of how behavior is formed. Through cultural influences, behavioral influences, 248 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 9: and economic factors. It's blaming the victim for the real 249 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 9: decisions that are made about how do we structure our cities, 250 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 9: how do we set energy policy, how do we set 251 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 9: the cost of automobiles, and things like that. It obscures 252 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 9: the power of vested interest to be able to shape 253 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 9: our lives. 254 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: The idea that companies deserve more protection than people, that, 255 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: for example, Exxon's desire to say whatever it wants about 256 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: climate change is more important than the public's need to 257 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: understand the reality of the situation is one that's been 258 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:34,280 Speaker 1: repeated over and over again in recent decades. It's become 259 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: a cornerstone of conservatism, but it doesn't need to be. 260 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: Conservatives were once among the nation's most ardent conservationists. It 261 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: was only a few decades ago that conservatives backed policy 262 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: aimed at dealing with global warming. To the extent that 263 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:54,040 Speaker 1: denying climate change has become part of the conservative identity 264 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: that was entirely manufactured by an industry trying to protect 265 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: its earnings. It's not an mutable truth, and those unprecedented 266 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: changes the IPCC has recommended, they're not as far out 267 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: of reach as they may feel, and radically changing the 268 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 1: energy system may not be as radical as it sounds 269 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:15,440 Speaker 1: or as harmful to the American way of life as 270 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 1: the oil industry has made it out to be. The 271 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 1: technology already exists to tackle climate change. The obstacle now 272 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: is political will and catalyzing massive social change. But this 273 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:31,800 Speaker 1: country is not unfamiliar with massive social change. We've seen 274 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,399 Speaker 1: it every twenty or forty years since the founding of 275 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 1: the US, which was in itself a pretty radical act. 276 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:40,920 Speaker 1: We might take heart in the words of Walter Monk, 277 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:44,879 Speaker 1: a one hundred year old oceanographer renowned for helping to 278 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 1: invent the science of wave forecasting, which was critical to 279 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:51,280 Speaker 1: winning World War Two. He speaks often about how quickly 280 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,120 Speaker 1: things changed in order for the Allies to win that war, 281 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:56,920 Speaker 1: and draws parallels with acting on climate change. 282 00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 10: Here. 283 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: He is talking about that at Script's institution recently, and. 284 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 10: I hope we can all work effectively together to do 285 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 10: something about it. It's a job about It's difficult, or 286 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:14,160 Speaker 10: maybe more difficult than the one we faced in beginning 287 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 10: in nineteen forty one. At that time, we had no 288 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 10: idea what we were going to do, and we've changed 289 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 10: from being in a very very difficult decision to landing 290 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 10: in Normandy in three and a half years. I'm still 291 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 10: amazed how quickly things changed. 292 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 1: Things need to change that quickly again, and they can. 293 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: The world is waking up again. The fossil fuel industry 294 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: is reacting to both legal and public pressure, and politicians 295 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: are finding that running on climate action is a winning 296 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:53,959 Speaker 1: strategy as the country begins to acknowledge fully where we 297 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: are and how we got here, As people begin to 298 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,679 Speaker 1: understand that it's not our fault, but that we do 299 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:02,679 Speaker 1: hold more power to catalyze change than it may seem. 300 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: As we break through the fear and grief and paralysis, 301 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:15,360 Speaker 1: we can change the tide and win the war. Drilled 302 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 1: is produced and distributed by Critical Frequency. The series was 303 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:24,520 Speaker 1: reported by me Amy westerveldt Our producer and composer is 304 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: David Whited. Richard Wiles is our executive producer. Our story 305 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: and concept development consultant is Raka Murphy. Lucas Lisakowski designed 306 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:39,520 Speaker 1: our cover art. Katie Ross, Michael Ann Petrella and Julia 307 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 1: Ritchie provided additional editing. Drilled is supported in part by 308 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: a generous grant from the Institute for governance and sustainable development. 309 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: You can find Drilled wherever you get your podcasts. Please 310 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: remember to rate and review the podcast. It helps us 311 00:19:54,520 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 1: find listeners. Thanks for listening.