Our heart and help goes out to the Texans who had to suffer through the winter disaster. As for some of their politicians, it’s a different matter. After initially admitting that the disaster was due to poor planning and preparation, Governor Abbott and others shifted to blaming renewable energy and the Green New Deal. Renewables, however, amount to only 15% of Texas energy generation. The Wind generators failed because they had never been winterized as they are in northern states. Governor Abbott’s shifting the blame, of course, is due to Texas politics and the Texas economy being highly dependent on the fossil fuel industry.
If you watched the Super Bowl, you saw commercials by major corporations, including “Big Oil,” touting their commitment to fighting climate change. Some of those commercials indicated genuine efforts, but others were nothing more than “greenwashing,” trying to make the company look good when it actually is doing nothing or, worse, continuing to pollute.
Faced with declining demand and declining revenue, “Big Oil,” like “Big Tobacco” before them, has been suppressing climate change science, funding climate change deniers and, now, when there is immense global pressure to shift to renewables, spending much on advertising to portray themselves as part of the solution. Sami Grover, writes in Treehugger:
“[Net-Zero] pledges have proliferated in recent years, both from dyed-in-the-wool sustainability advocates like Patagonia and also fossil fuel behemoths like Shell – even as they plan on continuing oil production for decades to come. As such, climate activists are increasingly looking not at whether a company is committed to net-zero, but what that commitment actually entails. Meaning:
“How much is direct emissions reduction, versus offsets?
“If using offsets, what types of offsets – and what’s the guarantee they are actually making a difference?
“What is the timeframe to get going? While a 2039 or 2050 goal may help set the course, what is most relevant in climate terms is how much is being done right now.”
As climate essayist Mary Annaïse Heglar likes to remind people on Twitter, “Net Zero is not Zero.”
It is important for all of us committed to Creation Care not to be taken in by the “New Big Lie,” the advertising campaigns and of corporations that care more about their bottom line now than the fate of the earth in the future; and the news opinionators who spread the lie around. Be sure to check out the claims of their ads before patronizing them.
Also, Province V of the Episcopal Church publishes a monthly e-newsletter with information of Creation Care events happening online that you can subscribe to.
You can find this and all the Creation Care blogs for the church website I have written at a consolidating blog I have created: ststephenscreationcare.blogspot.com
Thanks for your interest in caring for God’s creation! Elliott