The 70-Year Lie

It’s the most natural reaction in Oswego. You walk along Lake Ontario and you feel a strong connection to the world around you. The water slows life down. For a few moments, the crash of waves washes away any concerns. For instance, the concern that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists once again placed the Doomsday Clock 90 seconds to midnight. One of the reasons we are closer to doomsday than at any moment in history is global warming. Last week 500 climate “researchers met in Australia for an emergency summit for the future of the Antarctic.” They discussed a 1 in 700 billion year event. The “Antarctic sea ice is melting at an unprecedented rate.” The impossible has become a rather routine reality. November was “the second warmest month” after “the world’s warmest summer ever, in a year that is on track to be the most searing in recorded history.” It’s very easy to wave away this unprecedented global warming. Perhaps the Earth is getting closer to the sun, the moon’s getting closer to the Earth, or it’s a divine act. After the flood, the fire next time. Yet, Paul Krugman revealed in the New York Times “climatology has been one of history’s great analytical triumphs. Climate scientists correctly predicted, decades in advance, an unprecedented rise in global temperatures. They even appear to have gotten the magnitude more or less right.” The National Academy of Science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and 97% of climate scientists agree on man-made global warming. One could argue oil and gas companies are adamant there is not much to worry about. It’s all in the future. As far back as 1955, the Air Pollution Foundation “published a report containing the bombshell warning that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels could have considerable long-term consequences for ‘civilization.’” The Air Pollution Foundation told “Shell, SOCAL Gas, and Southern California Edison, as well as the companies owned or later acquired by Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and BP.” They “were all warned 70 years ago that the product they profited from could pose a threat to the stability of the Earth’s climate.” The New York Times reported ExxonMobil scientists “made remarkably accurate projections of just how much burning fossil fuels would warm the planet,” in the 1970’s. JP Morgan-Chase Bank economists said “the climate crisis will impact the world economy, human health, water stress, migration and the survival of other species on Earth.” It was well understood “human life as we know it is threatened,” and “the climate crisis threatens the survival of humanity.” JP Morgan economists, Exxon scientists, and gas companies agree with climate scientists. Except, the oil and gas companies decided to lie about it for 70 years. Their decision will deprive the children of future generations of a unique privilege. The privilege any person in Oswego has. The ability to look out at the water and smile.

Anton Porcari

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