10 Of The Most Foolish, Ridiculous Things That Big Oil Has Done (Recently)

Climate change is no joke, but the fossil fuel industry has done some pretty ridiculous things over the past few years.

1. Suggested We Move Saskatchewan to the N.W.T.

During a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson told a crowd that while he agreed that climate change was a real thing - he thought we could simply engineer solutions to the problem by doing things like relocating crop producing areas on our planet.

2. Issued a Gag Order...to a 7 Year Old

After being sickened by a gas-drilling operation adjacent to their property, a family in Pennsylvania made a $750,000 settlement with fracking company Range Resources that placed a gag order on the family, including 2 children aged 7 and 10. The two kids are now 9 and 12, and are barred from speaking about fracking. Ever.

3. Deleted 1000 Square Kilometers of Islands

Back in 2012 a new public relations push from Enbridge Pipelines was dashed upon the rocks when someone discovered that Enbridge had deleted nearly a thousand square kilometers worth of islands from their videos. Enbridge wanted to show how safe the Enbridge Northern Gateway route is. The best way to do that? Delete the dozens of islands that make the Douglas Channel one of the most dangerous waterways in the Pacific and show a nice, clear path to export tar sands crude.

4. Dealt with Fears of Exploding Fracking Wells with Free Pizza

In late February, residents of Bobtown, Pennsylvania woke up to the sound of an exploding fracking rig. Chevron's response? Free Pizza.

5. Tried to Disney-fy Fracking

In 2011 Talisman Energy released a colouring book of "Fracosaurus" Talisman Terry's Energy Adventures. The book was intended to teach kids about "a clean energy source called Natural Gas...a clean-burning fossil fuel. It is one of the cleanest, safest, and most useful of all energy sources."...of course it didn't mention climate change, the dangers of fracking (like exploding wells), or acknowledge how creepy it is for a dinosaur to be digging up the remains of his kin in order to burn them.

6. Set Up a Shadowy ATM for Climate Change Denial Groups

In late December a study of the funding behind climate denial campaigns found that Donors Trust was funnelling upwards of a billion dollars of "dark money" into spreading denial of climate change. The report found that 75 percent of the money backing climate-denial efforts is untraceable, primarily via conservative foundations and shadowy tax-exempt groups that obscure their funding sources.

7. Compared People Who Want Science Based Action On Climate Change to the Unabomber

Taking a page from Joe Oliver's book when it comes to attacking climate advocates, the Heartland Institute, (one of the world's biggest climate denial groups) launched billboards comparing climate advocates (and you know, people who believe in science) to Ted Kaczynski.

8. Undermined Canada's Environmental Regulations and Climate Ambition

This past year we found out that lobbying by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has undermined climate action in Alberta and been directly linked to the deep changes made over the past two years to Canada's environmental regulatory regime.

9. Received Millions in Free Advertising (From the Government)

In 2013 it came to light that the Government of Canada was spending $16 million dollars on pro-tar sands advertising to promote projects like the Keystone XL pipeline. This year, that jumped to $22 million, of tax-payer money, to continue pushing the expansion of dirty energy.

Kinda makes you think it would be cheaper just to invest in renewables?

10. Caused Climate Change...

In late 2013 we learned that just 90 companies are responsible for 2/3rds of historic greenhouse gas emissions to date. Un-surprisingly, many of these same companies are bankrolling climate denial, fighting against clean energy, promoting dangerous fossil fuel development, and setting us on a path to dangerous climate change.

Take Action, Send These Fossil Fools the Way of the Dodo

Want to see an end to this fossil foolishness? We do to, join us on April 1st to take action across Canada and send these fossil fools the way of the Dodo.

Find out more and take action.