Take Back Our Democracy, a Davis-based activist group speaking up for people’s rights over corporate interests, will observe Earth Day at the Varsity Theatre. There will be a special showing of “Greedy Lying Bastards” at 11 a.m., Saturday, April 27, with admission at $7 across the board. Following the film, we will meet at Mishka’s Café for those who would like to discuss the ideas of the film and, possibly, take action.

“GLB” is a documentary of the role of oil tycoons in casting doubt on the substantial scientific data on global warming. Such doubts are obviously self serving; they are protecting their profits.

The oil industry is following the prototype of the tobacco companies. Tobacco’s consistent denial of medical/epidemiologic evidence, misleading advertising (aka “free speech”) and gagging of opposing ads from public health contributed to and continues to contribute to millions of preventable deaths and disabilities every year worldwide.

The reviews of “GLB” are that its point of view is unmistakable, but that’s clear just from the title. Importantly, however, there are no comments of factual inaccuracies.

This film comes at a critical time as the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline through the United States is being debated and as California is about to embark on violently extracting large stores of natural gas throughout the state. These two massive projects will make fossil fuels abundant and, depending on price manipulation, possibly cheap. They also will decrease the incentive to grow renewable energy.

They will accelerate global warming by releasing huge amounts of carbon dioxide and methane. Carbon dioxide is the end result of burning fossil fuels. The largest sources of methane are natural gas and petroleum industries. Carbon dioxide and especially methane are greenhouse gases that trap solar heat and thus decrease or prevent its reflection back into space. These are inherent chemical/physical properties that cannot be argued away.

So on this Earth Day, please join us in recognizing the lies that greedy oil tycoons propagate and the consequences of their lies. We cannot continue to run this country for the benefit of corporations.

Mary M. Zhu
Davis

Comments

comments