Member-only story
Old people destroying the habitability of the planet on their way out
Really old people, especially old men, seem really intent on burning fossil fuels to enhance their fortunes and maintain their prestigious positions. They don’t care that they are creating deadly heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, floods, famines and worse. They’ll be dead soon enough anyway.
Here’s a small sampling.
Politicians: Donald Trump (76). Joe Biden (79). Chuck Schumer (71). Nancy Pelosi (82). Mitch McConnell (80). Jim Inhofe (87). Chuck Grassley (88). Dianne Feinstein (88).
Fossil Fuel Tycoons: The Koch brothers. Charles Koch (86). (NOTE: David Koch died at 79 in 2019 and is probably on his way to turning into oil himself.) W. Herbert Hunt (93). George Kaiser (79). Philip Anschutz (82). Harold Hamm (76).
These people vary in their politics but in actual behavior they either facilitate or speed up fossil fuel use and make lame excuses to themselves for their unconscionable behavior. But, the truth is, they are interchangeable pods. As long as climate abuse is rewarded, there will be people ready to do these evil deeds. So, yes, these individuals ARE responsible for their actions — but simply replacing them with similar people won’t do much good.
