Exxon - obscenely rich, morally bankrupt

17 years on from the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, Alaska is requesting a further $92 million to pay for the clean-up operation. For a company that has declared $36 BILLION in profits this week, and can happily give their retiring CEO a $400 million package, why are they quibbling over a relatively small sum of money? In 1989 the oil spill in Prince William Sound was catastrophic to the environment, so it is not surprising that there have been long term effects. Exxon know this, despite dismissing the scientific studies in preference to their own bought ones, which of course deny there are any lasting effects. They might be one of the richest and most powerful companies in the world today but morally and ethically, Exxon is bankrupt.

The more I read about Exxon, the more concerned I am about the political situation in the US. The company appears to have far too much power and influence in the White House. How much money have they spent on denying the effects of burning fossil fuels on global warming? How much time and effort have they spent on suppressing anti-emissions legislation? As www.exposeexxon.com says

“Right now [US] Congress is buzzing with talk about price gouging at the gas pump and ExxonMobil’s excessive profits and CEO pay packages. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil is stepping up its efforts to lobby for more drilling in protected places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge”

This is a company who takes the earth's natural resources and sells them to the highest bidder, but gives very little back. They deny the existence of global warming and climate change and pay vast sums of money to ensure that all scientific studies that prove the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change are discredited. They are prepared to destroy ecosystems to produce more oil and in turn increase their excessive profits. So why are we allowing companies like Exxon, Shell, BP et al to hasten the destruction of our planet? Have their CEO’s and supporters got another planet to move to when the earth collapses under the strain of coping with greenhouse gas emissions and resulting climate change? For this seems to be the only way they can survive to spend their millions.

I have so many questions about Exxon and the morality of their actions, but find it hard to believe that they are unaware of what they are doing. Maybe they just don’t care, as the power-mongers and decision-makers within the company will be dead by the time climate change really starts to bite. My hope is that Exxon executives will start to accept that their current actions will have serious repercussions on future generations’ ability to survive on earth, and that these future generations will include their own families. Do these people not realise that their own children and grandchildren will reap what they have sown?