Do you think one day the CEOs of Exxon will be tried in court like the CEOs of tobacco companies?

Question

James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, has called for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

http://www.anorak.co.uk/broadsheets/185167.html

Do you think Hansen's calls will one day be heeded, and the CEOs of ExxonMobile will be brought to trial for spreading misinformation which harmed everyone on earth just like tobacco company CEOs were tried for spreading misinformation that harmed cigarette smokers?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/tobacco/stories/minnesota030398.htm

Answer 1

Point of order here the CEO of Exxon is not completely knowledgeable about what is happening on this subject, as he is only an employee paid to front for the responsible person.

http://www.voxfux.com/features/rockefell...

http://reactor-core.org/none-dare.html

But what crime has Exxon committed, the engineering, funding and advertising of the Mann/Hansen/Gore global warming fraud. Mann and Hansen had the idea and Gore went to his boss David Rockefeller to put the package together. Part of the deal Gore worked out with Rockefeller was opening the Elk Hill reserve to exploitation and this is why he was given the vice president job with Clinton.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht...

David has wanted this all his life because his grandfather’s attempt at stealing this oil field is what brought about trust busting a hundred years ago. The Rockefellers now have the Navies oil and it was Al Gore that got it for him at a bargain basement price. But gore did even more and got David an Indian graveyard in Columbia as a bonus for funding and promoting the AGW scam for him.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/050500...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20000522/si...

Seems Al Gore owns more oil company stock than the Bush family and the Cheny family combined. Amazing what you can find when you dig just a little bit.

Answer 2

Global warming is a scam. the world has had volcanoes, earthquakes, ice ages, meteors, and floods for millions of years. No problem. Now some simple carbon dioxide that is essentially just plant food is going to destroy everything? LoL. This has to be one of the biggest communist hoaxes of all time.

I understand that most of the history of the world has seen warmer temperatures and that we are emerging from the mini-ice age following the Krakatoa volcanic eruption 800 years ago. I think that the earth would be warming right now if humans weren't here. I also know that there has been increased solar flare activity in recent years that may be contributing to temperature increases. The last 25 years has seen very slight temperature increases for ALL the other planets in the solar system as well.

Evaportion is good for living things because 2/3 of the earth's surface is water and what goes up must come down. I don't necessarily believe increases in CO2% will increase plant growth directly as some do because this increase is only a very minor amount and of course CO2 is not generally thought of as the limiting factor in plant growth but more often sunlight and to a less consistent degree water which as I've mentioned should increase with higher planetary temperature. Increased rainfall will balance the water factor enough to increase land mass coverage by foliage. When the volcanic dust blocked out sunlight 800 years ago oxygen levels plummeted as photosynthetic organisms collapsed.leading to a new ice age round of large animal extinctions.

Arctic and antarctic circle animal, plant and human tribe extinctions also occored. The mass migrations out of northern Asia and Scandanavia sparked huge unrest and the northern Asian population has barely begun to recover. As the world recovers from yet another ice age humans have become self aware enough to recognize the dynamic nature of the earth's climate but maybe not enough to percieve all factors.

Al Gore says the oceans will rise up to 25 feet! From just the frozen north and south poles? Are you kidding me? He can't really think think the world is dumb enough to believe that obvious lie. If the caps melt the ocean will rise very little. You see I took GEOMETRY in school. The earth is a sphere. A vast majority of the sphere is not covered by ice. Each half has to be far less than 10% ice covered even in the winter, probably less than 5% in the summer. LOL. It switches year round because of alterante seaons in the north south pole. How tall would those ice sheets need to be to raise the sea level noticably of the rest of the earth which is mostly covered in water have to be? Don't forget that ice expands to a much larger size over the same quantity of water, including the portion that is below sea level which will of course itself contract subsatantially as the arctic is all sea with little land. The answer: It would have to be miles high. It is a proven fact that 1000 years ago there were huge vineyards growning in northern Britian. It is far too cold to grow grapes there today. Guess what the sea level was then? You guessed it (whoever has at least and average IQ) the same as it is today according to coastline sediment formations.

Answer 3

If spreading lies was a crime, your *** would be on death row.

Answer 4

Sir readalot, we're all inhaling the smoke if we live in a city of any significant size.  That's part of the problem.  Pollution-free alternatives, such as the GM EV1 electric car, got pulled off the market and crushed.  They're putting a lot of effort into keeping us dependent on oil and assuring us there's no harm in it, but we've seen the harm.  Haven't you ever seen the smog over L.A. or Phoenix?  I live in the Phoenix area and we get high-pollution advisories like the one below all the time.  Do you know what the number one source of ozone pollution is?  Automobile exhaust, and it gets bad enough sometimes we have to stay indoors.  This is worse than tobacco smoke because we can't avoid it.

Answer 5

no

Answer 6

No I don't, look at the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez, Exxon was was given a token fine and ordered to clean it up, what they did was clean up the spill and left the beach, birds, and animals to be cleaned up by volunteers.  

Answer 7

Mr. Hansen's credibility is down the tubes.  He's by no means one of the world's leading climate scientists, he's just in a position to push an agenda.

Answer 8

we could onl hope!

Answer 9

Why ?

Answer 10

I hope not! Only because the Tobacco companies simply doubled the price of cigarettes to pay for there infractions and there profits where never effected.

The same thing would happen with the oil companies.

You may not smoke, but I know you use fuel.

Answer 11

Misinformation - you mean like constantly getting your temperature predictions wrong?

There are legitimate holes in the theory - elements of your case that remain unproven, simply alleged.    Pointing that out is not "spreading disinformation" or "muddying the water."

Just because people disagree with you doesn't mean you have a right to "put them on trial" or that they're "committing crimes against humanity."

Answer 12

Well, this is more realistic than putting Al Gore on trial!

Yet, the same logic applies.

If, and only if, malicious and knowledgeable intent can be proven will anyone be found personally liable. As it stands, there is enough controversy and public doubt about AGW and oil's part in it for a jury to have a reasonable doubt whether the CEOs really understood the consequences of their actions.

In addition, most oil companies do actually recognise the link between burning fossil fuels and AGW; hence the big public opinion campaigns and token investments into alternatives - by doing this they have already established a defence.

Their final argument - which is the most legitimate - is that they were serving the public good; that suddenly turning off the tap would have caused economic chaos and that it was up to governments and consumers to dictate how a gradual weaning off oil should be accomplished.

Of course, all this could change, and any oil executive who goes too far in denying AGW or the consequences thereof could find themselves, at the very least, charged with fraud.

Much more likely, in my opinion, is that societies as a whole (through their governments) will be sued for contravention of international agreements and/or for causing damage to people outside their borders (a few of these lawsuits have already been launched).

Answer 13

We have all contributed to the problem in one way or the other and should all share the responsibility, but that said, if it were proved that Exxon etc were spreading false information through sub groups like Heartland and OISM and their phony petition, is a direct fraud, and probably explains Exxon's recent attempt to distance themselves from these groups and their claims.

Answer 14

No, I think Hansen and people like him will be responsible for murder, as hundreds of thousands starve from crop failure and other factors related to severe winter conditions do to the impending cooler climate that has been predicted. He is a quack and a waste of tax payer dollars and his position has no place under the guidelines of what NASA was established for.  

Answer 15

No way, Jose. Exxon isn't telling you to inhale the smoke from their oil.

Answer 16

If they lied under affirmation or oath then perjury would become quite an obvious charge to bring (although it is difficult to prove) but otherwise it'd be pretty hard to actually get them on anything.

I think we need to be careful here, the actions of the tobacco companies and fossil fuel companies do need to be dealt with but we also have to stay away from censorship.  Letting good speech defeat bad speech in the free market of ideas (which seems to be happening) might just be the best (or least worst) cause of action here.

Answer 17

No, but we may one day see them in court for price and market manipulation like the Enron CEOs.

Answer 18

Anyone who thinks like that is "Drinking Cool-Aid"  The oil companies, search for oil, drill for oil, transport the oil, refine the oil, and dispense the petroleum products that keeps the US running.  If you don't want to buy their products, Don't !!!!  The reality is that State, Local, and Federal Governments make more off a gallon of gasoline in taxes, just like they do off a carton of cigarettes than the companies that produce them. However the government did nothing to earn it.  All you have to do to make sure that you don't have enough of something is to treat shabbily the companies that produce them.  Remember, in today's global economy that oil could just as well go to China, Europe, or Japan.  

Answer 19

possibly.  but i doubt it will happen in their lifetime.

Answer 20

Leave it to leftists to try and put decent hard working people in jail while pretending they are part of some global conspiracy.  It reveals exactly who James Hansen is, a dispicable political hack, and exactly what drives global warming hysteria, a leftist wacko fear of corporations, oil, and American prosperity.  Thank you very much for helping to expose this nonsense.  

Answer 21

This is one of the few good things that oil companies have done, oil companies have scientist too, and their findings have shown that global warming does not exist... that what we are experiencing is natural climate change.....

Answer 22

No, not going to happen.  But different, less inflamatory charges could be considered.  Better have all your energy ducks in a row if we go that route.

Don't you just love all those heart-warming commercials Exxon is doing during the Olympics?  Thank God for the mute button, and we fast forward through them whenever possible.

Answer 23

Nope-- never happen.

However if Hansen keeps on making these kinds of statements "publicly" he might get his behind fired by NASA.

Edit-- as far as the EXXon Valdez is concerned read this--

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2405.h...

Exxon already paid over 1 Billion in fines-- plus the cleanup effort-- this is just a bunch of "ambulance chasing" lawyers STILL trying to get rich.