31 May 2024
The world may finally be catching up with big oil. A poll published in the Guardian, Tuesday, May 28, indicates that 62% of likely voters in the United States think that oil and gas companies should be held legally accountable for their contributions to climate change and almost half would back an even more aggressive strategy of filing criminal charges against the companies. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/28/poll-climate-change-lawsuit-oil-industry.
It's nice to dream of holding oil and gas companies responsible, but even if you throw in the coal companies, they don’t have nearly enough money to compensate for all the damage they’ve caused. We should focus more on passing laws that prohibit their emission of greenhouse gases and amending laws which have, until now, encouraged them to lie about the damage they knew they were causing.
It isn’t that complicated. Rather than send COP 29 delegates home with vague instructions to pass laws to keep temperature rises below a certain level, we should amend the duty of corporate directors to include a duty to not cause severe harm to the environment. The same simple law everywhere. Excepting the fossil fuel companies, no one should be opposed. Next, let’s talk how.
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