In the late 1910s, the inventor Thomas Midgley made a discovery that would poison humanity and its environment for decades. The addition of the compound tetraethyl lead to automobile fuel seemed innocuous enough at the time, a solution to the problem of engine knocking in vehicles. However, the decision to add leaded gas to cars would affect people for years. Lead poisoning was observed in those in contact with concentrated tetraethyl lead, causing brain damage. The government gradually started phasing out the use of this compound in 1978. Fortunately, we don’t put it in our cars anymore. This is just one example of the risks that fossil fuel corporations are willing to take at the risk of exploiting their employees and the general public. Events like this, as well as oil spills and climate change denial, show that the fossil fuel industry abuses its power on a regular basis.

On March 24th, 1989, 11 to 38 million gallons of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound in Alaska, tainting 11,000 square miles of ocean. The oil tanker Exxon Valdez had crashed into a reef, causing one of the most devastating environmental disasters in human history. Nonetheless, it would be overshadowed twenty-one years later, when BP’s oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing eleven people and leaking millions of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Countless species of marine life were affected, and continue to be affected. Dolphins are still dying and other species demonstrate strange mutations as a result of the spill, from clawless crabs to fish with breathing problems. Both disastrous events should’ve been a wake-up call to the world that oil is a dangerous substance.

Additionally, the fifteen hottest years on record have all been in the 21st century, save for 1998.. This definitely says something about the rapid acceleration of human-caused global warming, caused by the massive amounts of carbon dioxide we put in the atmosphere every day. Many believe we’ve already passed the point of no return with regards to global warming. According to the New York Times, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii made an unsettling discovery in October: atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen past 400 parts per million. This means that for every million air particles, 400 of them are carbon dioxide molecules, a concentration of 0.04%. This may not seem like a lot, but it’s a dangerous milestone: the highest concentration of carbon in the atmosphere in recorded history. Suffice it to say, we are in big trouble, and the fossil fuel industry is largely to blame. CO? makes up 81% of total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and in turn, burning fossil fuels is responsible for much of it. Electricity production, transportation, and industry make up the majority of sources for pollution. If we could gradually replace some of our coal, oil, and natural gas energy production with renewable energy like solar, wind, geothermal, and even nuclear power, we could greatly reduce our emissions. However, this will be difficult if fossil fuel companies continue their infatuation with profit from their industry. They’ll need to step aside if we wish to create a future powered by sustainable energy.

According to a paper from Environmental Research Letters, approximately 97% of the scientific community agrees that climate change is real, and is caused by humans. Those are the facts. So why is it that a number of people, from conservative powerbrokers to fossil fuel executives themselves, disagree with the consensus? The answer is simple: money. Said executives have an obvious reason to disregard the consensus, and that’s because they can make money off people’s ignorance. Less awareness about the dangers of fossil fuel equals more profit. Some conservative and libertarian politicians also disagree with the consensus, many of them just cherry-picking facts and ignoring the rest. They focus on short-term gain in other fields instead of combating climate change in the long term. If they don’t agree with how progressive climate change policies influence the free market, they will try to block legislation on the grounds that the science is wrong. For example, discussing global warming, Republican Senator Ted Cruz said, “The problem with climate change is there’s never been a day in the history of the world in which the climate is not changing.” There are a couple things wrong with his statement. First of all, the climate indeed changes on a regular basis, but Senator Cruz ignores the fact that Earth is heating up at an extraordinary rate, never before seen in human history. Satellite temperature measurements of the atmosphere show that there has indeed been an upward tick in the planet’s temperature, as well as many other empirical observations, such as the rise in sea level, rates of melting in sea ice, permafrost melting, glacial melting, and borehole analysis. If Senator Cruz can name a single, objective scientific paper that proves this rate of warming is normal, the scientific community be very interested indeed. Second of all, according to the organization OpenSecrets, Cruz has taken a total of $932,568 from the oil and gas industry in his career. The future of our planet is not a thing that should be bought and sold by corporate donors. That’s not all, though. Countless U.S. Representatives, Governors, and Senators disagree with the consensus, like former Speaker of the House John Boehner and incoming Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, both of whom have taken over $900,000 dollars from the oil and gas industry. In the United States’ Republican-controlled House and Senate, a third of congresspeople are climate change deniers, many of them influenced by corporate interests and lobbyists. That’s frightening.

In conclusion, the fossil fuel industry abuses their power too much and too often. Corporate interests from oil and gas industries influence politicians with cash, and with incidents like Deepwater Horizon and Thomas Midgley’s tetraethyl lead, it has been shown that they can put their interests before the welfare of their employees and the public at large. It’s high time that this behavior is put to a stop. What can the American people do? Well, they can start by electing progressive representatives in government to pass climate-friendly legislation and who aren’t in thrall of oil and gas companies. Consuming less fossil fuel also helps, like using renewable sources of energy instead. Regardless, fighting global warming starts from the bottom up.