Editor:
I read the March 17 article about Suing Big Oil with great interest but totally disagree with the premise that multinational fossil fuel companies are “responsible for the most greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions”.
I agree that global warming (which could be part of the Earth’s natural cycles) may be exacerbated by GHG emissions and that the effects caused by global warming will cause damage to infrastructure everywhere.
But just who or what is responsible for global warming?
The US EPA (check their website) reports that the direct causes of GHG emissions are:
Transportation (cars, trucks, trains, ships and planes) 27 per cent
Electricity production 25 per cent
Industry 24 per cent
Commercial and Residential 13 per cent
Agriculture 11 per cent
A large percentage of this activity is powered by fossil fuels with no current practical alternatives.
So it is reasonable to conclude that Big Oil simply produces a product that most of the world wants and needs for its comfort and existence.
I would think that all of the people behind this campaign and shown in the accompanying photograph never stop to consider that it is they (and millions more like them) that are responsible for GHG emissions as they drive their cars, heat their homes, eat food transported by truck, fly off somewhere for a vacation etc. etc.
Big Oil makes a convenient target but it obscures the real culprits for global warming and that is we ourselves. Perhaps they might stop to consider the utter hypocrisy of their position.
They are free to pursue a lawsuit against Big Oil, as is their right, but it should be summarily rejected as a travesty with no case to answer.
Buzz Bennett
Gibsons
