Defeating Big Oil

Post Reply New Topic

I'm going to start this thread by saying something entirely uncontroversial. The Western oil industry is evil. They control our foreign policy and they are running the environment, which will lead to food shortages and a refugee crisis.

So, how do we defeat them?

I think that switching to renewable energy would be good, but I still think that we will need to use nuclear power in some circumstances. The science behind renewable energy is not yet complete.

Relevant
VVV


We also need to bring back electric cars.

I'm in total agreement.
Unfortunately, back in the seventies and eighties, it was the left that was down on nuclear power, with movies like Silkwood, and The China Syndrome. But I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it turned out that big oil had been trying to derail nuclear power as a rival from the beginning.
As for electric cars - we could have had them from the very beginning, had we only listened to Nicholai Tesla. Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

Ah! You linked a kurzgesagt video I see, its definitely one of my favorite channels on Youtube.

Anyways, at the pain of sounding pessimistic, I can say it will be nearly impossible to defeat big oil any time soon. Oil tycoons in Saudi Arabia have almost as much as power in the U.S. government as senators. Economy and Politics have always been intertwined throughout history, so those who own economic power, also hold political power to an extent. This can be seen in the corporate lobbying so frequent in congress. The only way to start replacing oil with clean energy would be through political legislation, and, as mentioned, since Oil has so much power in our government, any law to do so would likely be rejected by congress. So, you may ask, does this mean that our political system is practically broken because it must abide by uncountable private power and can not do what it must for the greater good? I'll let you decide.

P.S.: That's an interesting thing Kraichgauer mentioned about nuclear power being an enemy to big oil. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the horror stories about nuclear energy were exaggerated and spread around the media with a little push by Oil companies. Chernobyl must have been a godsend for them.

Not only Chernobyl, but also the one literally in my back yard: Three Mile Island. Even though I was living in Indiana, PA at the time, it was still tense (to say the least)

Buy a helicopter and a minigun, fly to the big oil's secret hideout, and shoot up all the baddies in black suits.

Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Government, etc. etc. etc.

So some energy choices would be nice.
That said, as has been stated, the science behind renewable energy is not yet complete.
Electric cars? Not as good as those that run on gasoline, or else they'd sell better.
Nuclear power? I for one don't like the risk involved ... anyone here who does,
step up and volunteer to have the power plants built in your backyard.

And the kicker is, I remember back in the 70s
hearing about a guy who had allegedly invented a fuel to rival gasoline.
The new fuel was so good that he drove from New York to Florida on one tank of it.
As the story goes, it was a cheap fuel that would be easily available ...
so the oil and gas companies bought the rights to his invention,
ensuring that this wonderful new fuel would never be used for public consumption.
The Oil and Gas companies didn't want the competition.

I think if we really wanted to solve the energy crisis, we could have by now.