Living in the capital of the United States can really give you some interesting perspective on global warming. No, not because of the miserably humid and sticky summers (although they are terrible), but we also get front-row seats to climate policy sabotage. It turns out that recently, a top Bush administration official not only made changes to recommendations on a climate change report, but he left the White House to work for none other than ExxonMobil! How ironic…
I'm not sure if people who aren't reading the Washington Post every day know the finer points of our government's environmental policies, but wow -- the policies of this administration are pretty backwards. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who wasn't surprised at all that one of the Bush White House environmental policy toadies would wind up working for the world's largest oil company. I bet he has some useful contacts and access for them to use, to continue to manipulate hard facts and proven science in order to line the pockets of corporate fat cats and create bogus policies.
I tell everyone I know not to buy gas from ExxonMobil, since it is the most powerful oil company, and it's pretty evident that they're trying to stall progress on long-overdue reforms that treaties like the Kyoto Protocol would achieve. Granted, it would be nice if our economy were less dependent on fossil fuels, and we weren't held hostage by energy companies, and we lived in a world where renewable sources of energy were more plentiful. But, unfortunately, people like the leaders at ExxonMobil are determined to keep that dream from becoming a reality, and we have to hit them where it will hurt the hardest: at their bottom line. So, spread the word - don't buy ExxonMobil.
Steve is an account executive at a public relations firm. He is pictured with his long-time friend, Denise.
Learn more about the scandal Steve references.