The Fossil Fuel Industry has known about man-made emissions and climate change since the late 1970s. Exxon Mobil, for example, has involved itself in a highly controversial campaign, coined #ExxonKnew, because the company found evidence of anthropogenic climate change but hid it from the public eye. Even worse, many pursued efforts of deception by largely contributing to the widespread doubts of climate change. These corporations have known about global warming caused by the unsustainable extraction of their products— oil, coal, and natural gas— but have done worse than nothing.
One of the worst effects of the Fossil Fuel Industry's corruption is lobbying that occurs in politics/ government affairs. Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence the actions, decisions, or policies of officials or legislators, and in this context monetarily. Companies such as Shell and Chevron spend up to $53,000,000 annually on climate lobbying. The consequences of this are obvious. Many modern day politicians are in essence paid to disregard climate change as a "Chinese hoax" or simply not allow legislation to pass. This money in politics halts any actual actual large scale action to be done. Policies that are tied to the Paris Agreement are not supported because of such companies, and as a result legislation and change is obstructed.
As far as solutions go, economic incentives seem to be the only means to resolve underlying greed and corruption. For example, the 1990 Clean Air Act prompted pollution trading. This meant that companies with higher levels of emissions than were allowed could purchace "passes" from companies that released emissions lower than the cap. This not only balanced the pollution levels but also incentivized companies to lower emissions by being energy efficient so they could save the costs of the "passes." Similarly, a recent trend of Carbon pricing has entered the economic realm. If people are simply going to care about economic gains and profits over the environment, then the only way to combat it is through economic means itself.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/climate/exxon-global-warming-science-study.html
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/holding-major-fossil-fuel-companies-accountable
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/03/25/oil-and-gas-giants-spend-millions-lobbying-to-block-climate-change-policies-infographic/#42384b087c4f
Questions:
What are solutions to lobbying and money in politics?
What are some modern day examples of environmental policy that should get passed?
How should we hold these oil companies accountable?
19 comments:
Solutions to lobbying and money in politics is people actually going out and voting for politicians that have proven that they will not be affected by negative lobbyist. They cannot be corrupt and focus on money instead of actual issues that change how people live. Policies that are tied to the Paris Agreement that are not currently being supported should be focused on to push positive environmental policy that will help citizens of all nations. We need to hold energy companies such as Shell and Chevron accountable by passing laws and regulations that will not allow them to harshly harm the environment that we all have to live in.
Climate change is undoubtedly fueled by large corporations and corrupt politicians more than anything else. The power these large corporations have over the laws made in this country has finally caught up with us. It is essential for climate change to become more openly talked about ahead of big elections, and for politicians to come out with comprehensive plans to incentivize these companies to operate in safer ways. At the end of the day, the only way climate change can be effectively prevented is by the government taking bold action. However, this action can only be taken if lobbying is stopped.
Lobbying in part comes from weakened congressional offices and capitols. If our governing bodies become well equipped with proper politicians and staff, then there could be less influence on policies and more chance to help Earth. It’s been like this for ages, and it has not stopped. Climate change has been heightening, and it is essential that we help reduce this. This can be done partly by defeating these corporations and reducing their influence. We should not let this continue by not giving the opportunity for these companies to expand, and maybe we can reverse what is happening to Earth.
We can prevent lobbying by voting for politicians that are clearly against lobbying or will not be affected by lobbying. Some small things we can do is stop donating to lobbyist causes and stop fundraising for lobbyists. This article showed that lobbying clearly has a negative effect on our climate and the earth, so it is an important issue that must be stopped. Greed from corporations causes a majority of our climate issues, and it is sickening to hear about.
This sort of issue is seen in all different types of fields. For example, the phenomenon of sports gambling is getting bigger and bigger largely in part due to the leagues themselves. Owners like Jerry Jones have been big advocates for legal sports gambling everywhere for years, and got a huge win when the state of New Jersey legalized sports betting. Much like the big oil companies, the owners were pushing for legislation that would prove financially beneficial to their industry.
some solutions of lobbying and money in politics such as preventing lobbying for voting for politicians which is obviously will not be affected by lobbying.Some modern day examples of environmental policy that should get passed are the clean air act which has already been passed but other causes should stop these issues that are brought by us and we should stop this by putting more restrictions on these causes.we should put these oil companies accountable by making them pay for these causes because as said in the passage that it cost a lot to just put into these efforts.
One solution for lobbying and money in politics can come from the voting itself. Large corporations and politicians fuel the negative lobbying. One way to fox this is by avoiding politicians that have proven the contrary. The source of the emissions are from the oil companies. These companies can be held accountable for the amount of emissions they produce and the acceptance of offers from big businesses.
Some solutions to the lobbying issue would be spreading awareness in order to reduce the secrecy that allows companies to get away with the ordeal. Once educated people could vote or push for the government to implement regulations and laws forbidding this sort of action.
Ah, money. All physical human impetuses have an association with this very physical valued sheet of paper. Maybe if we considered money to compete against, say the saving of our planet, would humans take life over economy? That’s the simplicity of the question, and the real answer is far more simple. We don’t create these “laws” with exceptions. We can’t save our planet if we have these exceptions. If we began to target the corruption that is taking place all across the country maybe we can start to see results in these “useless” restrictions against our all important economy.
We can prevent lobbying by voting for politicians that are evidently against lobbying or will not be affected by lobbying. Oil companies should be held accountable for hiding evidence. Environmental policies should be passed to stop lobbying, but that lays in the hands of the voters.
A solution to lobbying and money in politics would be voting for candidates that don’t participate in lobbying, and don’t have hidden agendas. Some modern day examples of environmental policies that should get passed are that lobbying and economics should not be considered when deciding environmental issues. We should hold these oil companies accountable by not letting them continue, and to make them pay fines.
Solutions to lobbying is an outright ban on the practice altogether, because as much as politicians can claim to not take corporate money on the campaign run, once they take office they can take as much corporate money as they want. Banning corporate lobbyists will put an end to the process, Oil companies should also be charged with reversing climate change and also be indicted for hiding evidence that put the planet at risk.
Lobbying and corruption can be solved through educated voters. A large portion of voters simply vote for their parties instead of looking at which politicians seem to be the best suited as well as being uncorrupted. Once voters elect the right politicians, change can begin on a larger scale. The companies should be held accountable by making them pay large fines. Since they desired wealth over the Earth and the well being of all, we should take a lot of their money in fines and possibly use it for helping reduce carbon emissions and helping protect the Earth.
I didn’t know what lobbing is, however, after reading this article, it seems a negative issue to our environment. To prevent lobbying by voting for the government to put regulations against this act. Some modern examples of environmental policy are to stop fundraisers for lobbying. To hold these companies accountable, we should make sure that need to create rules, so they don’t harm the environment around us, in the world.
One major way to reduce lobbying and corruption in oil companies across the world is to have the government step in and do something about it. And this doesn’t mean just to pass a law and forget about it. They have to dig deeper into the major companies and perform regular checks to make sure emissions are down. This is very crucial because it is severely hurting the environment, and has to be stopped as soon as possible.
Some solutions are to impose more regulations and to keep a better eye out for those who do not follow those regulations or try to go against them. Some environmental policies that should get passed are that lobbying and economics should not completely shut down environmental regulations and issues. We should hold charges against the companies and increase their restrictions as compensation to the damage they would have otherwise caused if they had avoided those very restrictions.
A solution to lobbying is to inform the voters on which politician is the best suited and to be sure they agree with their beliefs. This allows companies to be accountable for the amount of pollution they cause. More restrictions should be placed for there to be a change, and it all lies in the hands of the voters.
In order to stop the effects of lobbying, we need to gather together and vote for legislation that limits the amount that lobbyists can give to political leaders. We should also pass more enviormental policies that are more strict and the limits on lobbyists would allow for more legislation to be passed. Although the livelihood of big companies can be hurt by enviormental policies, we need to pass the legislation in order to save the earth.
The solution to lobbying and money is to keep on lobbying and putting money into things that counteract the things we do not want. Some modern day policies that should be passed are policy based on reducing carbon emissions. In order to hold these oil companies accountable we could expose them.
Post a Comment