The climate mortgage

In his brilliant book, Fire Weather: On the Front Lines of a Burning World, John Vaillant provides a concise account of the campaign by fossil fuel corporations to deny, delay, and downplay the impacts of climate destabilization. The bottom line:

Despite decades of repeated, informed warnings, large, for-profit companies, together with their host (and sometimes captive) governments, have persisted in promoting and financing fossil fuels while downplaying the consequences. In so doing, the energy business, in conjunction with elected officials and the wealthiest 10 percent of the population, has mortgaged the atmosphere, Now the ‘bank’ – our climate – is collecting on those overdue, overleveraged loans.

Read more about the book here. Better yet, read the book.