Oil CEO says blaming the energy industry for the climate crisis ‘like blaming farmers for obesity’
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But I do (sort of) blame farmers (agribusiness really) for a lot of obesity. Maybe everything doesn’t need corn syrup in it?
Fossil fuels are useful as hell for chemical feedstocks and we mostly just burn them. Stop trying to prevent solutions by spuriously individualizing the causes.
Blaming farmers for obesity is like blaming oil field labourers for climate change.
Not the farmers at fault. It's the companies that have spent untold billions perfecting food items with properties that abuse and manipulate our bodies that are at fault. It's so bad that it's a whole field of study.
E.G. Potato Chips are so addictive because they give a massive burst of flavour and a hard crunch, but don't give anything to chew. So you want more and don't get full until you're overstuffed.
Exactly. The comparison isn't with farmers, its with the processed food industry that do every single thing they can to have you stuffing your face with their products.
Agreed, but to add, I think a much more honest analogy would be comparing farmers to roughnecks that work oil rigs since those people are just cogs in a much larger machine. Those steering the machines are the oil companies and agribusinesses, and when reframed, I think most people would agree oil companies bear just as much blame for global warming as agribusinesses bear for obesity.
The oil companies have known that global warming was their fault since the 1970s and have either suppressed and lied that information or paid people to ignore and obscure that information.
They suppressed ecologically viable alternatives and even overthrew democratic governments to get their way.
When attempts are made just to get them to clean up their own mess they create stacks of shell companies to move the profits around and leave the people on the ground in the local area with the mess.
They are absolutely at fault and deserve zero mercy.
Farmers aren't the ones putting corn syrup in things.
Farmers aren't putting corn syrup in things.