Why boycott Exxon? Note to the oil industry: we might trust you if you stopped lying!

On Sunday morning (July 10) the phone rang and someone asked me to participate in a poll. I was asked the usual demographic questions, what TV I watch (none) and what I read (just about everything). Then, I was asked whether I remembered specific advertisements (no). Finally, I was asked, for each of several oil companies, whether I thought they were doing a good job, whether I trusted them, whether they cared about the environment, etc.. What became clear to me is that I don't trust any of them on anything. The reason is that they have all signed onto what can only be described as a bald-faced lie: that the jury is out on global warming. So far as I knew, no oil company had registered its dissent from this statement. I felt sure that they are all lying, and I don't trust any of them.

Of course, there is a sense in which all science is unproven. Maybe the earth is flat, maybe the sun orbits the earth, maybe God created the world on the 23rd of October, 4004 BC, maybe I don't exist, maybe you don't exist and maybe Bill Clinton has been a faithful husband. However, by any usual and reasonable meaning of the words "shown" or "established", global warming due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases has been shown to be an established fact. So long as the oil industry continues to lie about that in a completely up front, in-your-face way, why should we believe them about anything? Why should we believe them about their activities with regard to human rights in Nigeria, Myanmar or Ecuador? Why should we believe them about oil reserves? The fact that somebody was paying for the poll I participated in, and the fact that oil companies are paying for the ads whose effectiveness was being measured, tells me that the oil industry cares about being believed. If so, I have a piece of simple advice. Stop lying.

It's been five days since I got that phone call and I finally had some time to check my facts. While the position of the industry as a whole is very clear, and very objectionable, there appear to be real differences among companies. "Even though it believes that more research is needed" (quoted from here, which is dated 1998) Shell's own web site on climate takes a very realistic tone ("We believe action is required now to lay the foundation for eventually stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere in an equitable and an economically responsible way.") and Shell presents responsible science at several places on its web sites (e.g. here). On the other hand, a search for the word "greenhouse" on the Exxon web site yields no hits at all and environmental groups have announced a boycott of Exxon/Mobil in particular (Google news), in part because of their Orwellian efforts to influence not only public opinion but also government policy (Google news). The poll made me aware of my ignorance of differences between oil companies and the boycott made aware of some of those differences. I'm glad to have had the chance to investigate, and I will be boycotting Exxon.