They knew in the 1970’s

Exxon scientists accurately forecast climate change back in the 1970s – what if we had listened to them and acted then?

Exxon scientists accurately forecast climate change back in the 1970s – what if they had been listened to and we had acted then? The Conversation article above considers important forks in the road from the past, what ifs and the alternate timeline that could have ended with a Nobel prize for Exxon’s CEO!

This is what could have been if….. humans acted rationally, responsibly with care for the planet, all life, each other and ultimately ourselves. But instead, Exxon understood the climate implications of oil 50 years ago and buried it and we are living with the consequences of that decision since and indeed it is the younger generations and all following that will pay the full price, putting corporate profits before responsible decision making,

If we had acted then on the information available at the time which was actually incredibly accurate based as it is on long known properties of chemistry and laws of physics, now there would be an abundance of clean energy, perhaps exported from hot countries, petrol only used in classic and antique cars as a hobby (sort of like the cars in Cuba today) and our climate catastrophe cliff edge comfortably averted by several decades.

We would still have other problems of course but without this enormous root cause issue and accelerator for so many other problems related to a heating world and climate system breakdown to contend with. Wishful thinking maybe, but useful thinking too to provide a picture of an alternate future where our civilisation as we know it might just survive into the next century and beyond.

What could have been and what might be, both bad and good, are key elements for the vision needed to tackle climate change as well as point to those who could have made that decision many crucial decades ago.