Polluters should pay, not taxpayers

The headlines this summer make it easy to feel as if nothing can be done: record heat and wildfires continue, while fossil fuel companies rake in billions. But feeling powerless is exactly the trap, and this week there's new science on how to avoid it. Read on!

🧠 Good news: Watching a short "prebunking" video helps people across the political spectrum spot debilitating climate doom for what it is, and share it less.

🛢️ Not-so-good news: The same fossil fuel emissions driving this summer's heat and wildfires are making their producers richer than ever, with Oxfam projecting that six major oil companies will earn a combined $45 billion in Q2 of 2026, nearly double their Q1 earnings.

🗣️ What you can do: Use your voice: talk about the unfairness at the heart of this story, where a handful of companies earn billions while families pay through higher bills, lost work, and worse health.

When we change social norms, we activate societal tipping points. Your voice is more powerful than you think 💚

Thank you to Anne Cloud with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Voice Over for the Planet⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for narrating this edition of Talking Climate. 

Post-production and mix by John Crowley at Loudmouth Studio.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.talkingclimate.ca

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Talking Climate with Katherine Hahoe. Each episode, we explore how climate change is affecting the people, places, and things we love and what we can do to make a difference. From science to solutions and stories that inspire, you're in the right place for real talk about real change. This week we're talking about resisting climate doom, big oil's $45 billion quarter, and how you can make polluters pay. Let's dive in. Good news. If you're familiar with this newsletter, you know I often explain how doomerism is not an effective strategy to catalyze action. Why not? Because although negative news may get more clicks, the social science is clear. Focusing exclusively on negative news makes people think there's nothing we can do. They check out or even give up. This is why I always sandwich the not-so-good news between the good news and what you can do. But a new study shows there is more we can do. Researchers showed people a short pre-bunking video before they scrolled through negative climate headlines. Those who watched it became better at spotting climate doom, news that either implies or outright claims there's nothing we can do about climate change, and were more likely to flag it, dislike it, and share it less. They also found that when people saw doom-filled headlines as manipulative, they were less likely to engage in pro-climate action. In other words, fear without a sense of agency can backfire. The takeaway is encouraging. People can learn to recognize messages that falsely suggest nothing can be done without becoming more skeptical of accurate climate news, which is honestly quite bad enough, at a moment when hopelessness can spread as quickly as misinformation. This new study offers a powerful way to keep people informed, engaged, and ready to act. So while these impacts keep accelerating, affecting our health and our livelihoods, and causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage every year, what are those companies doing? Burning more fossil fuels, of course, and making an absolute ton of money doing so. A new study last week from Oxfam projects that BP, Chevron, Any, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Total Energies will earn a combined $44 billion in the second quarter of 2026, nearly twice the previous quarter, and they aren't ramping back either. They collectively plan to increase production by 14% by 2030. There is a staggeringly obvious solution to this massive inequity, where the richest companies make more money while the communities least responsible bear the brunt of the impacts. Apart from the most obvious, of course, transitioning away from fossil fuels entirely. Why not tax these record profits and use the money to help communities prepare for extreme heat and recover from climate disasters and transition to clean energy so they don't need to use fossil fuels? It is only fair and just that the companies fueling the crisis should help pay for the damage they are creating, not the families suffering its worst effects. But making polluters pay isn't easy. It will take sustained public pressure. Thankfully, the next section shows where to start. Talk about the unfairness at the heart of this story, a handful of companies earning billions while ordinary families pay for those profits through higher bills, damaged homes, lost work, and worsening health. Most people have never heard that connection made out loud, and that silence is exactly what lets it continue. You don't have to be a scientist or a policy expert to say something. You just have to be willing to say that this isn't right to your friends, your family, your elected officials, anyone who will listen. That's how private frustration becomes public pressure. As Jim's newsletter showed last week, public pressure really can make a difference. Governments have the power to shift the cost back onto polluters. As citizens, it's our responsibility to make it politically impossible for them to ignore, show them that their constituents care, not only by voting, but also by calling, writing, and emailing them. I even partnered with an artist, Lauren James, in 2024 to make free, mailable coloring book pages that offer a creative way to get kids involved. We can't do this alone, but I'm convinced we can do it together. And using our voice is an action every one of us can take.talkingclimate.ca. Until next time, keep talking climate.