• asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I am not at all defending anything in the article, and especially the oil industry.

    I hope some people read the article because I found it very interesting and a little challenging to my preconceived ideas. For example I read the first paragraph and my instant reaction was "straight to hell. Do no pass go. Do not collect $200) "

    that the world has “waited too long” to begin investing in a broader suite of technologies to slow planetary heating.

    But then it said some things such as their scientists had reported data predicting climate change in the 70s and 80s and in some cases had even more data than government programs. (I skimmed the article this one sourced) and how this current ceo is basically dancing thr tightrope of being an advocate for clean energy while working to the enemy and trying not to completely neuter them. and frankly, not that I believe this is the case at all but makes me laugh, a lot of what is quoted in the article sounds like an undercover plant trying to minimize harm cuz you can’t do it all at once.

    But yeah in reality fuck that. If you have the capacity to understand climate change and the gravity of the consequences, then literally nothing else should matter besides that short of ensuring your employees quality of life is good

    • kautau@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Well yeah, it’s a PR move. Especially because they did their own studies on climate change and learned they would fuck up the planet and then laughed and said “well if we don’t do it, someone else will”

      • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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        4 months ago

        Pretty much this. GM’s EV1 is a very interesting case. While it’s easy to understand why they wouldn’t want to produce it in significant numbers due to economic constraints (very high manufacturing price), their decision to recall all vehicles to destroy them was stupid beyond all reason.

        Also, according to wikipedia’s sources, ChevronTexaco, a fucking oil company, held a patent for a NiMH battery and made sure no one made any plug-in (battery only) car using it.

      • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Oh for sure. I guess I just see this CEO a little more unique than most capitalist villains. It’s almost comical to me, I feel like he is trying to convince himself he isn’t a bad guy more than anything. Like it all stems from that. But it’s not funny because there are real consequences

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      They buried the study for decades. If they actually gave a shit, oil execs could have injected billions into renewable energy R&D and made money hand over fist on selling the resulting tech, but it’s easier to burn the planet down so they didn’t. Oh, not to mention actively screwing renewable projects by buying people in congress. Fuck em all.