Year 3, Month 6, Day 12: New! Improved! To Serve You Better!

Shocked. Shocked, I tell you. Neela Banerjee (yay, Indians!) in the LA Times:

WASHINGTON — Some major U.S. corporations that support climate science in their public relations materials actively work to derail regulations and laws addressing global warming through lobbying, campaign donations and support of various advocacy groups, according to a new report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental and scientific integrity group.

The multinational oil giant, ConocoPhillips, for instance, said on its website in 2011 that it “recognizes” that human activity is leading to climate change, the view supported by the overwhelming majority of scientific research. Yet in 2009, ConocoPhillips argued against the Environmental Protection Agency’s determination that heat-trapping greenhouse gases were pollutants endangering public welfare.

The report, “A Climate of Corporate Control,” notes that General Electric has backed six environmental and non-partisan research groups that accept the scientific consensus on climate change, including the Brookings Institution and the Nature Conservancy. At the same time, it has funded four organizations that reject or question the consensus, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation. Moreover, it was a member of several organizations that have doggedly fought greater environmental regulation, including the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.

I think I found a new analogical structure here. Hurray. Sent June 2:

So the public statements of multinational corporations are often contradicted by their private actions? Color me unsurprised. It’s cheaper to make advertisements featuring trees, blue skies and happy people than it is to pursue environmentally sensible policies that might incrementally impact profit margins.

This is a private-enterprise version of the crassly theatrical politics which substituted a “Mission Accomplished” banner for a sensible foreign policy and a New Orleans photo-op for a functional FEMA. It is no coincidence that the same individuals move easily back and forth from the corporate boardrooms to cabinet offices. Just as inbreeding brings the potential for horrifying genetic catastrophes, this incestuous interpenetration of the public and private sectors has spawned its own grotesque mutations of responsible capitalism and responsive government.

And this is a tragedy, for responsible capitalism and responsive government are essential if our civilization is to properly address the burgeoning climate crisis.

Warren Senders