Last night I went to see a play at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, which, for the very few of you who might not know, is the birthplace of Mr W Shakespeare.
I was partly interested because the play was directed by a genuine proper theatre director, the only one I have ever known, a man I worked with many years ago.
He’s called Stephen Daldry and he’s had some success in his career. Big time.
I feel it’s important to say I don’t think working with me was a highlight for Stephen.
Anyway, the play is called Kyoto and it tells the story of how, against all the odds, the Kyoto Protocol was agreed and signing into international law on 11th December 1997.
It was an incredibly complex story leading to a landmark event, the Kyoto Protocol which was the start for all the COP conferences that have taken place since.
Seeing the play reminded me of something I suppose I knew about but I try to forget because it’s just too damn depressing.
just how brutal, vindictive, immoral and incredibly short sighted the fossil fuel industry was back then and still is today. I totally understand it, they make SO MUCH money every hour, the prospect of that stupendous flow of money being held back or reducing is just too painful to contemplate.
One of the key facts that’s highlighted in the play is that the fossil fuel industry, particularly in America, knew that burning increasing amounts of hydrocarbons would lead to changes in the earth’s climate. They knew this back from before even I was born! They have known for seventy years plus.
It’s insane just how much they knew, it’s insane how accurate the scientists they hired to write the report were. Their predictions have been borne out by history, we now know they were right, these scientists were brilliant, they did a really good, clear job. There is no question, they stated back then, if we release billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, it’s going to screw things up.
And what did these huge, powerful cartels do about it? Yes, of course, we all know now, they buried the reports. They kept quiet about it for generations, they did nothing except rake in trillions of dollars of profits for decades.
They funded powerful lawyers (as brilliantly depicted in the play) and lobby groups with confusing titles, they funded reactionary political parties, they funded loud extremist politicians and military juntas all around the globe.
They did everything they could to delay and delay anyone taking any action that could impinge on their massive, eye popping profits. We could have started reducing our CO2 output in the 1970’s when energy and the problems with oil supply were very much in the news, but the oil companies made sure we did nothing.
We could have developed less damaging technology in the 1980’s but any scientific or governmental moves in the direction of renewable energy were successfully stymied by the massive, incredibly well funded oil lobby.
What is so truly remarkable about the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 was that eventually almost every country signed or ratified the agreement. (I’m not going to try and explain the incredible legal complexities and get out clauses.) But, it was really pivotal, 192 nations agreed on one idea.
After hundreds of hours of argument, negotiation and compromise they agreed on this critically important sentence:
"the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate."
This was achieved despite the best efforts of some truly repugnant oil companies, politicians and lobbyists who worked around the clock year after year trying to undermine it.
“The debate around climate change isn’t settled yet” was the brilliant lie they managed to spread through the willing media for decades. In reality, there was no debate, there was just mounting evidence, year after year, more and more proof, going back thousands of years, that what was happening had, without question or ‘debate’ been caused and now exacerbated by the continued burning of trillions of tons of hydrocarbons.
I think we will slowly, and painfully, transition away from our total reliance on fossil fuel, but I’m also confident that future generations will look back on the last 50 years of human history and come to the conclusion that the fossil fuel industry, with it’s enormous wealth and political influence, was a very dark stain on humanity and they way we treated the small blue dot we all live on.
And one last thing, the play Kroto at the RSC very gripping, an incredibly complex topic is presented in a clear, engaging and entertaining way.
The pale blue dot may find we're all gone soon enough the way the world's leaders are waging war with other, and no country wanting to reduce their nuclear arsenal (or indeed increase it, looing at you China).
And take Ukraine and Gaza, when it comes to rebuilding how much concrete and fossil fuels are needed to rebuild the vast swathes lost through war?
I hope we can make progress on climate change, but every step forward seems to get stymied by successive Governments rolling back their green commitments.
I wonder if they will ever be held to account. The tobacco industry had to pay out limited compensation. Maybe oil in a few years, then the UPF food industry will find themselves with similar court battles.