Let me explain to you what's happening: Oil production is in the midst of an absolute frenzy right now. Fracking goes on apace, despite the poisoning of drinking water and the creation of man-made earthquakes, some quite destructive, worldwide. Hired goons and militarized police are willing to use violence and in some cases what amounts to lethal force to destroy demonstrations against the wrecking of our environment. Oil rich state legislatures vote in laws that classify environmental activists and divestment fans as "terrorists". Hundreds of millions are pumped into climate denial propaganda. Scientists are intimidated, silenced, moved aside. Wars rage in Iraq and Syria, largely over the construction of two proposed pipelines to deliver oil to Europe and over who will control them. Canada's tar sands sell for less than the cost of extraction. Whole countries are swamped with crude oil leaks in Africa in the mad rush to get it out of the ground. Shall I tell you what is the origin of this frenzy, this madness?
The oil barons have known since the 80's (and concealed it) about the effects of fossil fuels on global warming. They have known since 1993 about peak oil and what it meant. Yes, they are rich as Croessus, but those riches are invested in oil and gas, in the mining rights and the equipment, and are not in any sense liquid. Solar and wind, electric vehicles and environmental awareness are coming on like a juggernaut, and the oil Barons are terrified--TERRIFIED--of their assets being stranded, of the oil being left an asset with effectively no worth, something no one wants to buy no matter how much you paid for it. It's like trying to flip a house, only to have the housing market plummet and here you sit with your prize, something no one wants even at half what you invested.
The captains of the world have spent their whole lives being right, being madly wealthy, being privileged, being special. Now they're like the investors of the past, having sunk billions in buggy whips and hoop skirts, and soon to be a joke of history.
They know what is coming. They know that if we are to survive, that the oil and coal, the shale and gas, must stay in the ground. But not THEIR oil and coal. Theirs they must get to market, as fast as possible. No matter what it destroys, who it kills, what the cost. They are amoral children, so convinced of their nobility that they can't allow a future without them running it. They have to be stopped before they destroy the world, even they know this, but the reckoning can't be allowed to apply to them, not to them personally. If they can just get out from under this, just liquidate their assets and get them to market fast, perhaps they'll be able to retain their pampered positions. Perhaps their buddies in the banks will still write them sweetheart loans and cut them backroom deals.
Want to stop them? It's very simple. Stop using their oil.
And, yes, I mean you personally. Dump the car and start using transit, like you've been talking about. Bite the damn bullet and buy the Tesla or Bolt, put in the freaking solar panels, change the bulbs to LED's. You know what has to be done, do it.
Drop your carbon footprint, and you drop demand. Drop demand and you drop price. Drop the price and you strand the assets of the companies in the ground where we need to keep them. Drop the price and the investors and the banksters will turn away to more fertile ground, and some of those grounds will be solar and wind and new technologies of which we've only begun to speculate.
There are two roads ahead for us all. In one, we live in a green world of plenty, with healthy people, green forests, clean seas, clear air, and a future. In the other, we have a blasted landscape and your children will spend their lives either as serfs or cannonfodder. The barons have made the decision which is acceptable to them. One only has to look at the Trump cabinet choices to see that clearly laid out.
You--YOU--must make clear the choice you intend. You know what has to happen. I've done my bit. It's your turn.
M
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