Since Karl Rove's great success in selling George W. Bush to the American electorate, the Bush Administration and their friends have operated under the assumption that they can sell just about anything. And, let's be honest they've been pretty good at it.
Consider the Pentagon Pundit strategy and the selling of the Iraq war. What about the Patriot Act, the belief that the Administration doesn't condone torture, the story that no one in the White House was involved in outing a CIA agent, the myth of the "all-volunteer" army, and the illusion of supporting the troops? They were even successful ( for awhile) in convincing struggling consumers that the economy was thriving. All were masterfully (if not despicably) executed PR campaigns, especially the Pentagon's media manipulation campaign.
Now the oil industry, with close ties to the White House and a vested interest in keeping the nation at war, has developed a plan for selling Americans the idea that in order to satisfy our oil addiction they need to destroy our nation's coastlines and wildlife reserves.
The Wonk Room reports:
The American Petroleum Institute (API), the trade organization for the oil and natural gas industry, has just begun running a feel-good commercial that argues “America’s future” lies in drilling out domestic reserves of oil and natural gas off our coasts, in our western lands, and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Here’s what the ad says:
Oil and natural gas powered the past. But the future? Fact is, a growing world will require more. 45% more by 2030, along with greatly expanding alternatives. We have substantial oil and natural gas resources right here. Enough to power 60 million cars and heat 160 million households for 60 years. With advanced technology and smart policies, together we can secure America’s future. Log on to learn more. [TEXT: EnergyTomorrow.org / The People of America’s Oil and Natural Gas Industry]
The “facts” in Big Oil’s ad are based on a thirty-six page API document entitled, “The Truth About Oil and Gasoline.” This “primer” was published last week, with numerous figures and charts on oil company profits and gas prices, but nary a single mention of climate change or greenhouse gas emissions.
Here are the facts Big Oil left out:
Future With 45% More Oil And Gas Demand Involves 60% More Global Warming Emissions. The projection of “45% more by 2030″ gas and oil demand is drawn from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2007 report. The API accurately describes the increase in global oil and gas demand in the IEA’s business-as-usual scenario, although United States demand is only projected to increase by less than 5%. However, API fails to mention the business-as-usual scenario also predicts energy-related carbon emissions would “increase by almost 60%” by 2030.
Business As Usual Spells Catastrophic Future. The IEA business-as-usual scenario would put the planet on a pathway to “temperature change at equilibrium of about 4.9 to 6.1 degrees C [8.9 to 11°F] compared to pre-industrial levels.” That’s five to seven times as much warming as we’ve already experienced, and would make catastrophic global change — including mass species extinction, crop devastation, and significant sea level rise — unavoidable.
Big Oil Ignores The ‘Secure’ Scenario. The IEA’s report includes a “450 Stabilisation Case,” in which greenhouse emissions are limited such that atmospheric concentrations stabilize at 450 parts per million of CO2 equivalent — what the IPCC calculated is need to avoid catastrophic climate change. In this scenario, total global oil and gas demand only increases by 10 percent from current levels, not the 45 percent that API says the world will “require.”
The ad’s tag line, “Together, we can secure America’s future,” mimics the We Campaign climate activism spot that concludes: “Together, we can solve the climate crisis.” The path Big Oil envisions — even as warning signs increase — would instead destroy the future of America and the rest of the planet.
Related articles and posts:
Pentagon Propaganda and Media Compliance
by Catherine Morgan for Political Voices of Women
Myopic ExxonMobil is Ignoring the Planet's Future, says Rockefellers
by Andrew Clark for The Guardian UK
Who Profits from High Oil Costs and The Iraq War
So They Say That They Support the Troops
ABC left unchallenged administration's discredited claim that NSA
surveillance might have identified 9-11 terrorists
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