Petrochemicals and the energy from fossil fuels did provide the needed food and energy to boost our standard of living.
HOWEVER
By the time we knew they were affecting the climate, we had the technology to move off of them and didn't because of assholes like this.
The sad part is that he may be right because the urgency to transition off fossils is lost in our desire not to be inconvenienced. Don’t mention the bribes (some call them donations) to political parties, candidates and Supreme Court judges.
They're not selling a product that's evil - they are evil.
Petrochemicals lack the agency required for moral culpability.
we're not selling a product that is evil
Oh I get it. The oil isn't inherently evil. You are, both as a CEO and as a company! I agree, in fact. If we left the oil safely in the earth, there'd be nothing evil about it.
Plastic in the oceans, Co2 and heavy metals in the air, war, and above all: Wednesday morning traffic (worst day where I am due to WFH rules still being decently widespread).
Looks like someone needs a bullet.
“We’re not selling an evil product, we’re just running a multibillion dollar cartel in an evil way. That’s totally different.”
We don't profit off of suffering, we provide it for free!
You're selling Earth blood that makes the sky melt.
That's pretty fucking evil.
Don't forget the brown people that die in the name of oil or propping up dictatorships like Saudi Arabia
Well I for one want to know how my oil got under their land. Why is no one asking these important questions?
Oil isn't evil. Oil has many uses outside of being burned for energy, and once we transition away from fossil fuels entirely there will still be a place for oil companies.
This isn't what he meant, of course, but hopefully his successor will understand that and make the pivots necessary for the company to survive.
Like plastics? I can only think of fuel and plastic uses for oil.
It's also a component in some industrial products, primarily lubricants and solvents - the latter of which was kinda funny to me because you commonly use solvents to clean off oil
Oh I guess road asphalt is a contributer too. I wonder if those uses eventually contribute to ghgs though degradation over time.
I didn't know about asphalt, so thanks for that.
Also curious about potential ghg there.
Asphalt does off-gas compounds, though not sure how many of those compounds are GHGs:
Vitamin and mineral supplements
So basically fraud in service of destroying our only planet on the way to making a gajillion dollars. Fair enough, so we extract enough of that money to reverse the catastrophic harm they have done.
I hope you’re right but I fear it may be a Humpty Dumpty situation.
Let's eat him
I bet we don't even have to baste him he's so greasy
Well yeah - it's not an evil product. As an inanimate object, it can't possess a moral quality.
Moral qualities are only rightly assigned to conscious beings - like, for example, corporate CEOs.
Gosh, these guys really are following the big tobacco playbook, huh?
"Oil isn't evil, it's just a material, it doesn't have will or consciousness."
He's right of course, the oil itself isn't forcing anyone to use it. It's the decades of collaboration between the fossil fuel lobby and the government that's entrenched our fossil fuel dependent infrastructure, along with the resolute refusal of all fossil fuels companies to turn their backs on making as much money as they possibly can right this instant (because smart long term growth is illegal, brain dead quarterly growth is now my friend) and make good on their promises to pivot their energy portfolios.
In so many words, oil isn't evil, but the people running the oil companies are.
At this point, now that their are viable alternatives (Renewables, Geothermal, Nuclear) and ways to drastically reduce their usage (War on Cars), oil should be a niche product for airplanes and construction vehicles. Large ocean cargo ships could be nuclear powered, although it would probably raise the cost of building the ships and the crew. As far as ships go, not everything needs to be shipped from the other side of the world.
By better you mean aiding in killing off most higher life forms and ocean life?
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