To the editor:
Kicking off the holiday shopping season, from November 27 to December 1, there is a nation-wide call to boycott three major corporations, demonstrating the power of everyday citizens to vote with their dollars to protest the Trump regime.
These companies are Target, which caved to Trump over their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion company principles; Home Depot, which has colluded with ICE agents to allow them to arrest, detain and deport people with brown skin without due process; and Amazon, which funded Trump’s election campaign in exchange for massive corporate tax breaks.
While leaders from more than 190 nations around the world are meeting this month in Belem, Brazil for the COP 30 Climate Summit, the U.S., the largest global polluter, is conspicuously and outrageously absent. [Ed. Note: The term “global polluter” can be interpreted in many ways. While the U.S. is a significant global polluter, it is second to China in current global emissions of greenhouse gasses, the primary source of pollution the COP 30 gathering exists to regulate.]
I have been boycotting one particular company for decades and encourage others to join me. ExxonMobil has fueled our present climate crisis for decades though its disinformation campaigns.
Beginning in the 1970s, they suppressed the results of their own internal and university studies that projected an increase of CO2 greenhouse gases due to burning fossil fuels. They poured billions of dollars into institutions and influential media outlets and wrote weekly op-eds lying that the science of climate change was unsettled. And of course, they successfully lobbied Congress to prevent effective climate protection legislation which would be detrimental to their profits.
So, if you have experienced any number of climate-related catastrophes in recent years, multiple 100-year floods, devastating droughts, record-breaking heatwaves, wildfires, etc., think about how companies like ExxonMobil wasted decades in which we could’ve changed course for the health of our planet and its inhabitants.
We all need gas to drive our vehicles. It’s a small act, but when I am low on gas and have multiple stations to choose from, I always drive right by ExxonMobil. I encourage you to do the same. Together we can hold them accountable for all the damage they have done.
Fletcher Dean
E. Calais
