Petroleum & curious decisions: Episode 2/3 (true story)

Petroleum & curious decisions: Episode 2/3 (true story)

This second episode tells the true story of the secret research done on carbon dioxide and climate by the petroleum industry (companies such as Exxon and Shell) in the 1970s-1980s. The industry did not deny that its products would cause global damage, but it kept quiet about it.

This comic was done in collaboration with Dr. Benjamin Franta, a researcher at Stanford University investigating the history of fossil fuel producers and climate science. Several of his articles were used as references for this comic series:

• The Guardian, On its 100th birthday in 1959, Edward Teller warned the oil industry about global warming, 2018
• Early oil industry knowledge of CO2 and global warming, 2018
• The Guardian, Shell and Exxon’s secret 1980s climate change warnings, 2018

Other references:

• Exxon’s Oil Industry Peers Knew About Climate Dangers in the 1970s, Too (by Neela Banerjee, InsideClimate News)
• Shell foresaw climate dangers in 1988 and understood Big Oil’s big role (by Steven Mufson and Chris Mooney, Washington Post

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