The Guardian published an interesting opinion piece yesterday about who is really responsible for climate change. According to the progressive U.K. newspaper, the average person doesn’t need to feel so guilty about ruining the world. Mostly, it’s the fault of a dozen rich, white American men. Instead of blaming ourselves, working and middle-class people need to band together and hold the supervillains accountable.
Not surprisingly, oil execs made the list. The Guardian deems Chevron CEO Mike Wirth a “notorious corporate polluter” and a greenwasher. Under CEO Darren Woods, Exxon is a climate denier and the fourth largest carbon emitter of any investor-owned company around the world. Attorney Ted Boutrous, a partner at Gibson Dunn law firm, got his villain status for defending oil companies. He insists that everybody shares equal blame for climate change and that oil companies are being unfairly singled out.
Related: 60% of Americans blame fossil fuel companies for climate change
Then there are the money people. Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, oversees a huge fossil fuel investment portfolio valued at about 87 billion dollars. Fink makes climate promises while profiting from deforestation. Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon has provided more than 317 billion in fossil fuel financing just since 2015, the year of the Paris Agreement’s adoption. Chase also dug two billion into heinous tar sand projects between 2016 and 2019, according to The Guardian.
A couple of politicians made the list. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell finally admitted humans cause climate change in 2020. But he did plenty of damage to progressive climate strategies before that and continues to do so. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin accepts more money from the fossil fuel industry than any of his fellow Democrats, and Exxon lobbyists have referred to the West Virginian as “their guy.”
Others who made the list: CEO of Koch Industries Charles Koch, an early adopter of politicizing climate change; News Corps founder Rupert Murdoch, whose news outlets keep conspiracies flowing into the brains of rightwing nut jobs; Richard Edelman of Edelman PR, which peddles climate denial; Cargill CEO David MacLennan, whose global food company profits off rainforest destruction; and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who profits from just about everything.
Via The Guardian
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