Big corporations stance on GW - Do this give the deniers second thoughs?

Question

When big corporations (many of them either carbon intensive or making their living from fossil fuel) agrees that AGW is real and may be a serious problem, does that for one second make the deniers think that they might be wrong?

Examples:

BP: " We participate in the policy debate in many jurisdictions arguing in favour of mandatory emission caps and policies that set a price for carbon in a way that can change behaviour and encourage innovation."

http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9015583&contentId=7029023

Volvo: "Climate change driven by human activity is perhaps the greatest challenge of the 21st century with the power to alter radically the basis for life on this planet."

http://www.environment-prize.com/index_part2.e

Siemens: "Global warming is a reality. Its negative effects on the environment are a fact. It is still within our grasp to limit the magnitude of this development"

http://w1.siemens.com/responsibility/en/perspectives/challenges/climate_protection/

Answer 1

I have to admit that I admire the cause of people like you that desire to make a difference (no matter the absurdities of the cause), but, don't you think you are contributing to the hypocricy of your cause by the use and/or abuse of modern day conveniences - such as the computer? You should be out on FOOT using natural human energy instead of carbon emitting devices such as the energy waste emitted by electronic devices. Obviously you own a computer. Do you own other energy consuming devices as well? Is your home totally green? What about your transportation means? Do you use a microwave, a cell phone, a TV? Do you actually think people are going to take you (and your kind) for real if you sit around wasting energy by staying on your computer? Or your use of all other energy consuming, waste emitting devices?

If you turn your own lifestyle back by about 100 years, maybe people will listen to you. Until then you are only blowing smoke which contributes to the very issue you are trying so hard to counter.

The biggest proponents of global warming seem to be the ones that leave the largest carbon footprints. Maybe you should address this issue. Yes, this is an issue. It is more of an issue with us "deniers" than the hype issue that is ignorantly created by the pro side camp of the supposed global warming issue.

Are you sure you are doing all you can to limit climate change in the world as well as in your own living room? Yahoo Answers is a pissey place to push your cause. Have you gone bigger? Are you adressing the big corps personally? I sure hope so, because if not, how can we take you seriously? Do you know that it is less cost effective and more energy consuming to "go green" than it is to remain the way we are?

Again, I admire your cause. But I don't think I can join in your (or your camp's) enthusiasm of global warming when you and your own kind  are contributing (in alarming numbers) to the the very claim of your own cause. Please don't take me wrong - just take me seriously. Change yourself before you try to change me, because I (we) see right through you and your type. All you want is for us to change our lifestyle so you don't have to change your fluff stuff lifestyle. When you give up all of your toys and prove the difference it has made in the climate issue, then I will give up mine.

Answer 2

It is just public relations.  They have far less to lose from making idiotic statements than fighting the Global Warming Doomsday Cultists.

Answer 3

global warming is forcing companies to spend more money on research and development - the ICE is a very highly engineered component - spending more money improving a design that is nearly perfect is not helpful to automotive companies. In the case of volvo - in the US they don't have a very fuel efficient line-up. You might expect a toyota or honda to make a statement like that - not really volvo.

Answer 4

All lame attempts at winning popular opinion. If BP really believed that they'd stop making gasoline. They are smart enough to see through the phony fog of man made "global warming" and realize that the earth is doing what the earth has done for THOUSANDS of years...cycle. They want to be first in line to make money off of the fear driven panic that purposely ignorant people are buying into. The fact that there are three major, ACTIVE volcanos under Greenland right now would have far more to do with glacier melt than man ever could. Same holds true for Antarctica, where at least one active lava geyser is currently melting the ice pack. But these facts seem to be ignored by people...like yourself...who, for some unknown reason, HAVE to blame mankind for what nature has ALWAYS done! Personally, I think it's megalomania. Some people want to believe they are important enough and powerful enough to actually change the climate! Good luck finding the DIRECT LINK to man! (hint: there isn't one!)

Robert..."Crackpot theories"??? Underground volcanoes (as reported in National geographic) melting the ice pack isn't a crackpot theory, it's a fact! F-A-C-T...and it has ZERO to do with man. By the way...do you know why Greenland is called greenland??? Because when they discovered it...it was GREEN! It has been covered and uncovered several times! This is what the earth does! WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!!! There is ZERO...got that ZERO proof that links man to GW.  Nada...zip...nil...nuttin' honey! Get over yourself, you can't change the weather...Mark Twain was right!

Hey Gengi...remember when they suddenly figured out that the "ozone hole" opened and closed on it's own...in direct corelation to solar activity? Turns out CFC;s had nothing to do with it. Maybe your TV was broken. Here's a great example of the type of hype that GW believers adhere to...you might be too young to remember but in 1970 they outlaws DDT as an insecticide. They claimed it weakened the shells of condors and other large birds. so they outlawed it worldwide and the birds survived. Millions and MILLIONS of children are dying in Africa because of malaria brought on by the loss of DDT as a mosquito agent. Then last year we find out that the scientist who did the study on the bird eggs had purposefully skewed her research and the egg problems had nothing to do with DDT. So MILLIONS of children have died because of slanted, skewed research. You know who was the loudest member of the bandwagon? DOW chemical! (The makers of DDT) they got MILLIONS from the government to develop a "safe" insecticide, which they never did as effective as DDT and they looked like a giant who cared about innocent birds. GW is a strawman argument pal. No evidence that this is anything other that the earth doing what the earth does.

Ingela...you can post all the "science" you want...there is ONE crucial thing missing from EVERY report...the MAN-LINK!! Nobody has proven in any way that we have JACK to do with this!

Dana...apparently you got "Top Contirbutor" status by spending a LOT of time here and not in the real world. Perception is Reality to today's uninformed masses pal. Whether Exxon or BP believes in GW or not is inconsequential at this point. The fact is that YOU believe in it and so do all the other GW lemmings. Let the facts be damned, you people are bound and determined to walk to work! BP knows this so they come out with "research" to make themselves look cutting edge. When you go to buy Hydrogen for your George Jetson-mobile someday are you going to use BP or Exxon??? And don't think Exxon won't be making more hydrogen for cars by then either, because they will. But you will think of BP and fill your Hindenburgmobile at BP because right now they act "green". I have said this four times now with no response from any of you...where is the link to MAN??? And on that note...how do you know this "global climate change" would even be permanant? You DON'T! We've had this befoe, many times. The earth is cyclical. You people want to make permanant changes based on CONJECTURE. What if you are wrong and you s***w it up permanantly.

Answer 5

The stance of big corporations should give deniers pause for second thoughts.  I suspect though many in dismissing the work of climate scientists with their own crackpot theories will just as easily find reasons to dismiss the stance of big corporations.  It is interesting that in the upper echelons of science, politics and business the overwhelming majority opinion is that man's activities are causing global warming.  Businesses don't grow big without being able to recognise and analyse correctly the factors which will affect their business.

Answer 6

Even the 'Man-did-it' Global Warming enthusiasts have sent a confusing message as regards their TRUE commitment to the 'cause'.  Somewhere between 10 and 15 THOUSAND of the 'Man-did-it' desciples boarded pollution-spewing jet planes, headed to resort locations in Bali to discuss how WE (not they) should be more responsible in our use of energy.  These geniuses....the experts  who claim they care so much about us.... have never heard of Video-conferencing???  I believe that they showed their TRUE colors in Bali!!

Answer 7

Big corps like to make big bucks :-) even Toyota knows it's way cheaper to pay some s*****k $200 for a used battery pack than to have mine the raw materials for a new one. :-)

Answer 8

I find this one very apt:

"Companies composed of highly skilled and trained people can't live in denial of mounting evidence gathered by hundreds of the most reputable scientists in the world"

John Browne, then CEO of BP, New York Times, 8 Dec 2002

I for one never work for subsidiaries of Exxon-Mobil (the opposite end of the spectrum, paying ex tobacco industry lobbyists to spread misinformation) when I can help it. And I am definitely not the only one in my profession with that attitude. Gotta love capitalism!

Answer 9

i can feel another conspiracy theory brewing. come on lets face it, if hundreds of studies wont convince them i don't think anything will. just as there are still people that think the link between smoking and lung cancer is over hyped and that the ozone hole was natural these people will probably believe what they want regardless of any evidence telling them otherwise. so what can a few CEO's do?

Answer 10

Ingela - No matter what you want to believe, Dr Jello is 100% correct. I can see where you might not understand how capitalism works, since you live in Sweden, which if I remember correctly is socialist. But even in socialist countries the CEOs and Presidents of big businesses practice capitalism to run their companies, since they are working with a global economy.

As such they need to follow the trends and different energy sources and technologies are the trend. Also their are people like Dr Jello and me, who believe in a clean environment, but not in Anthropogenic Global Warming.

So we need these changes, since the resources we are using aren't infinite. I have pointed out other industries based in the USA that are doing similar things, but not for the same reasons you have. I did it to prove that companies are doing things already without the government making policies to make them change.

Go ahead and believe what you want to believe, but stop trying to force people to have similar beliefs, since a lot of us see things way differently than you do.

Answer 11

If you can separate the fact that each of these corporations make millions, if not billions from sales of green technology, no this is what one would expect.  

The markets are demanding greener technology, and corporations are providing what the market demands.  This is Capitalism working.

What most have problems with is being forced to accept politicized science.  It is possible to be for a cleaner environment while not believing the dogma of AGW

[Edit] No I don't agree.  Siemens, ABB, GE all help their profits by providing their customers with motors, drives, and automation that allow the customer to produce better goods using less energy.  The competition between corporations is what develops the technology that makes this possible.  

BP is still going to distribute energy no matter what it will be in the future, and they will do this while making more profit than they do today.

Volvo needs to make greener cars or go out of business.

While I'm sure some would rather sit back and not change, this isn't how a Capitalist economy works.  With Capitalism, there is always competition to provide the customer what they want, and now they demand greener products.

I would rather see the EU concentrate on getting all member states to use lead free gas, as lead is a known toxin.  It shocked me to see that leaded gas was still being used in parts of Europe today.

Answer 12

The answer to your question is that it should, but it won't.  The very essence of denial is that nothing gives you second thoughts.

Basically people are arguing that it's good PR or that these companies are making money off of green technologies.

Sorry, but did everyone forget the record-breaking profits of ExxonMobile in recent years?  The big money right now is in oil, not alternative fuels.  BP could be focusing entirely on fossil fuels the way Exxon does and be making huge profits in the short-term, but they know global warming is a real issue, and are smartly preparing accordingly.  The same is true of the other companies mentioned by Ingela.

Despite Mikira's condescention with regards to capitalism, I think she's the one who doesn't understand it.  Companies don't make profits with good PR.  They make profits by being prepared for the future changes in their product demand.  If global warming were a big scam, these companies would all be making huge mistakes in preparing for its consequences.  If global warming were not a problem, they'd all be acting the same as ExxonMobile.