Gem of the day

Shell continues to pull out all the stops, in the process unintentionally delivering us gem after gem. Today's comes to us courtesy of gem finder extraordinaire Joe Romm. He shows us a 'push poll' which hit him not once, but twice while on the Scientific American website.

Let's start with the question itself. It seems clear--we're using a lot of fossil fuels and probably will continue to, so what should we do about it? But inherent in this question is a key message Big Oil has been pushing for awhile. Think of it as 'the anti-Greenpeace' (if their objective is to normalise renewables): it's a message which intends to solidify in our heads the idea that it's impossible to shift away from fossil fuels over the next critical decades. The second part of the question is also crucial: 'managing CO2 emissions'. This implies incremental innovation--that rather than eliminate emissions through clean energy sources, our best bet is to reduce them one step at a time.

Finally, the answer options are hideously disingenuous. Note that the option of a shift to renewable technologies that are available now--solar, wind, geothermal, etc.--is not even included. Instead, the closest option we have is 'continuing to research and develop technologies'. I wouldn't place a penny on that option, considering R&D spending has essentially remained flat for the world's major energy companies over the past two decades, despite record profits.

So here's to you, Shell: you're a greenwash machine.