ExxonMobil, corporate owner of those exit-friendly gas-n-go's, has long denied a direct connection between global climate change and the emission of carbon dioxide, the most threatening gas released with the burning of fossil fuel. In May 2000, the corporation made a point of declaring the issue of fossil fuel pollution a non-priority, insisting, "Science is not now able to confirm that fossil fuel use has led to any significant global warming."

Last week, a new US-commissioned report revealed evidence of the direct correlation between the recent changes in global temperature and the worldwide release of CO2. Even the Bush administration, which had long dismissed the threat of global warming and rejected the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, acknowledged that warming is a significant threat. The Bushies, however, are hardly racing to find answers.

Links between the ExxonMobil's support of the White House and the Bush administration's long-time denial of global warming have been discouraging to environmentalists. "ExxonMobil has its finger prints all over the Bush administration," say representatives of the national Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). Reports of brain-storming between the oil company and the administration have revealed suggestions only of short-term solutions: a focus on reorganizing and redistributing the burning of fossil fuels over the next several years, instead of a search for alternatives. ExxonMobil has, in fact, donated significant sums of money for environmental preservation and has apparently employed teams of scientists to research global warming. Environmentalists, however, are suspicious of ExxonMobil's intentions.

Last Thursday, June 6, the Rhode Island Public Interest Research Group (RIPIRG) rallied in front of the ExxonMobil station at 201 Smith St. to protest the corporation's stance in the debate on global warming. Brennon Staley of RIPERG spoke about the questionable nature of the ExxonMobil's scientific research into the effects of fossil fuel. He condemned the corporation's endorsement of a group of scientists, whom he referred to as "climate skeptics." These scientists deny any connection between fossil fuel and the rise in global temperature.

Activists attacked ExxonMobil's opposition to the Kyoto Global Warming Protocol, a treaty that calls for an international alliance against sources of global warming. PIRG fliers accused ExxonMobil of "sabotag[ing] domestic and international action to stop global warming, from the funding of junk science to underhanded lobbying of the Bush Administration. ExxonMobil has done more than any other corporation to undermine the only international treaty aimed to stop global warming."

With the less than encouraging outlook, Staley and other activists plan to increase public awareness of global warming and related issues through protests, demonstrations, letter writing, and boycotts.

Issue Date: June 7 - 13, 2002