We’ve celebrated the 52nd anniversary of Earth Day. An unprecedent time in America when the cry of the public resulted in action on the part of government. Prior to that historic event in 1970 there were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment.- President Nixon created the EPA, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and The Endangered Species Act.
That same year in an internal Exxon memo it warns: “it is distinctly possible” that CO2 emissions from the company’s 50-year plan “will later produce effects that will be– Nasa scientist James Hansen testifies to the U.S. Senate that “the greenhouse effect has been detected and it is changing our climate now”– U.S. industry groups establish the Global Climate Coalition – a lobbying group that challenges the science on global warming.
You get the picture. And now, it is 2022 and we are living what science has predicted while the fossil fuel industry continues to refuse to transition into or invest in renewable energy. In our own state of Pennsylvania, it is almost impossible to find a lobbying firm to represent wind or solar – simply because they are all on retainers from the fossil fuel interests.