America Has Been Duped on Climate Change

Robert Brulle is a professor of sociology and environmental science at Drexel University in Philadelphia.  He is co-editor of “Climate Change and Society: Sociological Perspectives.“

Future generations will look back on our tepid response to global climate disruption and wonder why we did not act sooner and more aggressively.  Climate change will adversely impact present and future generations, as well as all species on Earth.  Our moral obligation to protect life requires us to act.

Yet even after the recently completed United Nations climate conference, we are still on track for dangerous levels of climate change.  Why haven’t we acted sooner or more aggressively?  One answer can be found in the split over the veracity of climate science.
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For years, ExxonMobil had been a participant in public efforts to sow doubt about climate change. Yet at at the same time, the corporation was at the leading edge of climate science and its executives were well informed regarding the scientific consensus on climate change.  This allegedly deceitful conduct has generated public outrage and recently led New York’s attorney general to initiate an investigation into whether ExxonMobil has misled the public and investors about the risks of climate change.

While important, these legal proceedings cannot fully address the larger moral issues of corporate social and political responsibility.  Just as Congress investigated the efforts of the tobacco industry to dupe the public into believing its products were harmless, we need a full and open inquiry into the conduct of ExxonMobil and the other institutions whose misinformation campaigns about science have delayed our efforts to address climate change.

The central concern here is the moral integrity of the public sphere.  The Declaration of Independence says the legitimacy of government is based on the consent of the governed.  But when vested interests with outsize economic and cultural power distort the public debate by introducing falsehoods, the integrity of our deliberations is compromised.

Such seems the case today when we consider the fossil fuel industry’s role in distorting discourse on the urgent topic of climate change.  If vested economic interests and public relations firms can systematically alter the national debate in favor of their own interests and against those of society as a whole, then the notion of democracy and civic morality is undermined.  Congress can and should act to investigate this issue fully.  Only then can we restore trust and legitimacy to American governance and fulfill our moral duty to aggressively address climate change.

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