Our species, homosapiens, is losing the ability to survive on the planet slowly. This is according to multiple studies and extensive research. Oil companies, those fossil fuel extraction outfits, are highly responsible for this potential climate of death on the planet. The day of our end is not here but human life on earth, absent some dramatic, radical action, could be in a death spiral.
Scientists know it. Oil companies knew it.
And worst of all, the executives knew a long time ago what fossil fuel extraction was doing but kept up the big lie. Even today, the companies keep extracting and selling the destruction.
Now that we know that our climate is radically changing and that oil companies knew why it was happening but said nothing, shouldn’t these corporations (these people and their leadership) be charged with crimes against humanity? This is a fair question. I think they should be charged with crimes against humanity. How many have they killed or will kill? Isn’t this some version of genocide of the human race?
When did they know?
Oil companies have known for decades of their dirty deeds. Just as tobacco companies wanted to continue to make millions by lying about nicotine and cigarettes, so did the oil companies lie about fossil fuels. The oil companies did the same thing the tobacco giants did: they perpetuated a lie. As far back as 1911, Popular Mechanics magazine was reporting on the effect of fossil fuel burning on the atmosphere. Here is from their reporting in 1911:
“It has been found that if the air contained more carbon dioxide, which is the product of the combustion of coal or vegetable material, the temperature would be somewhat higher. Since burning coal produces carbon dioxide it may be inquired whether the enormous use of the fuel in modern times may not be an important factor in filling the atmosphere with this substance, and consequently indirectly raising the temperature of the earth.”
Energy companies knew this and continued to burn anyway. The truth was hidden from the public. In the modern age, these energy companies hired scientists to perpetuate lies. Their executives hired these liars.
It didn’t get better either; it got worse. By 1963, the oil companies were aware what they were doing. According to the Center for Climate Integrity in a 2019 report, “the oil industry had a deep understanding of the science of global warming and their product’s role in causing it more than five decades ago,” in 1963. “This knowledge extended from the effect of CO2 on the Earth’s climate and the clear link between fossil fuel combustion and increasing CO2 levels, to the “potentially catastrophic” impacts that global warming would have for “at least a substantial fraction of the earth’s population.”
That is just part of the smoking gun. They knew, intentionally ignored the problem, kept doing what caused the problem, and then hired scientists to lie and create chaos. These are crimes against humanity. Genocide.
If no solution to the problem of the overheating of the planet is achieved, the temperature on earth will rise, and people will die. Civilizations and nations will be destroyed. We know this. Scientists know this. The evidence is available. Over 97 percent of scientists studying this development believe this based on strong evidence.
So why not put these companies on trial now. Corporations are people, right? Make these “people” face the jury. If found guilty, they should be put out of business. Sell the companies, piece by piece, to pay for their destruction, and save lives.
A crime against humanity is defined as an “atrocity (such as extermination or enslavement) that is directed especially against an entire population or part of a population on specious grounds and without regard to individual guilt or responsibility even on such grounds.”
That is Merriam-Webster. This definition fits that acts of the oil companies.
Oxford Reference defines it as “murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer, unlawful deprivation of liberty, torture, rape and other serious sexual violence, collective persecution, enforced disappearances, apartheid and other similar inhumane acts causing great suffering or serious injury.”
Both of those definitions fit what the oil companies did and are doing. They knew they could destroy life on earth but did it anyway.
Courts have recognized the atrocities of what oil companies are doing in various ways. This proves courts don’t take these evil acts lightly.
Shell Oil was sued in 1996 by the family of Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa, a writer, and activist, was hanged in 1995 by the government of Nigeria for protesting in the Niger Delta on behalf of his Ogoni people of the region. Shell Oil paid the Saro-Wiwa family $15 million but denied any culpability.
This is just saying perhaps more should be done but differently and on a larger scale. Why do corporations get to continue to piss on the earth with no retribution or no costs? They have destroyed the planet methodically and without regard for human life.
I am not joking. Charge these companies and their executives with crimes against humanity. Make them make this right.
There is only one earth. We cannot order “a” new earth because the one earth we lived on was ruined by some greedy butchers. Earth has been populated by life for millions of years and then, it wasn’t. Our species has only been here for some thousands of years. We are possible because the right climate was obtained on earth. We are here because of the climate. We are going to not be here because of our arrogance and greed.
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SOURCES
Do scientists agree on climate change? – NASA Science
Yes, the vast majority of actively publishing climate scientists – 97 percent – agree that humans are causing global…
science.nasa.gov
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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