Better Path Coalition is working with many justice, health, and environmental organizations, including UUJusticePA, to converge on Harrisburg in June. The goal is to bring awareness to the failure of our PA legislature to address climate change. Look for information about the event. Your presence and support are greatly needed.
I highly recommend watching Frontline’s current series: The Power of Big Oil. The epic story of our failure to tackle climate change.
If you have read Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes, Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich, or They Knew by Gus Speth, you are familiar with some of the characters in the first episode. You meet some very admirable, several sad and regretful, and one or two unrepentant individuals. One familiar character is Patrick Michaels, who has no remorse about his long history of spreading disinformation. He is senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank.
Patrick Michaels is one of many climate deniers who testified in 2021 at a hearing held by Rep. Darryl Metcalfe in Harrisburg. This was one of a number of hearings held by Metcalfe—witnessed and protested by costumed and tin-foil hat-wearing members of Better Path Coalition.
The third and last episode of the Power of Big Oil features Prof. Tony Ingraffea from Cornell U. He started out in the Oil and gas Industry, was a key gamechanger in the development of fracking. “I didn’t grow up questioning fossil fuels..It was 1950s USA, eveything was automatic and wonderful.” Ingraffea was part of a team tasked to solve a problem…to unlock domestic fossil fuels.
THAT WAS THEN
In 2011, a report he coauthored about methane leakage “created a political firestorm”.
THIS IS NOW
The PA House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee has been led by climate denier Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, whose outrageous behavior has led to the absence of any beneficial climate policy.
Despite the fact that the majority of US citizens recognize the urgent need for climate legislation, we have been held hostage to those who speak on behalf of big oil, big money, and big power. As long-time climate and human rights activist Kumi Naidoo has said eloquently, “if we go down, let’s not go down without a fight.” We fight, we resist, and maybe we win.
Rachel Mark
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