Wheels World

I recently wrote a letter which I will send to ExxonMobil soon. Don’t like the first couple of sentences – really weak beginning, so I think it needs some more editing. It was orginally all friendly and wordy, then I made it terse and and somewhat agressive. This is the current compromise. I do of course realise that it will go straight to the circular file, or maybe their propaganda department to help them market themselves better.

If you haven’t seen them, the videos mentioned in the first point of the letter are worth a look (see the endnotes). They are produced by a right-wing “think tank” called the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). ExxonMobil say they are proud sponsors of CEI. And why shouldn’t they be? CEI fights for the cause of ‘freedom’, whatever that means. It’s a good thing appearantly. Keep those videos in mind next if you buy Exxon/Mobil/Esso – you’re supporting crud like that.

A workmate (KB) suggested that if I’m really serious about changing their behaviour I should do lots of research on why ExxonMobil sucks, and give it to to commercial TV. Imagine how excited Naomi Robson would get if she could say words like “astroturfing”. And everybody hates an oil company, so it will probably run, unless the TV station has some other reason to keep Big Oil onside. I’m toying with the idea in the medium/long term, but I’m probably not going to invest the time for this over the next few weeks.

On a related note, there is an article in the current issue of Newsweek that I’ll have to read. I glanced at it and it seems to say that “Peak Oil” isn’t going to be an issue, but that Oil companies are struggling at the moment, despite high oil prices, partly because finding new oil isn’t as cheap as it used to be. That seems to be a contradiction to me. But I haven’t read it properly yet.

The other article that caught my attention was one about BP, and some of their recent mishaps in the US. Some are saying that they were a result of recent cost-cutting, and were quite avoidable. Investigations are under way. Here in Perth, it is my understanding that all of our petrol comes from only two sources. BP Kwinana, and Mobil Singapore. So I hope BP aren’t going to prove themselves as irresponsible as ExxonMobil are.