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A comment on A federal carbon tax is imminent in the USA, and Exxon is pushing it. Parent comment

Re:A federal carbon tax is imminent in the USA, and Exxon is... by RcouF1uZ4gsC on Monday August 29, 2016 @10:52AM (#12382203)
People who compare oil and tobacco ignore the benefits side. For tobacco, the positive benefits are very small. The oil industry on the other hand powers our entire modern way of life.

* Ever fly in an airplane - thank oil

* Ever ride in a car or bus - thank oil

* Live in a cold climate and heat your home in winter - thank oil

* Ever use plastics - thank oil

* Ever buy something on Amazon and had it shipped to you - thank oil

* Ever buy something manufactured in another country - thank oil

* Ever use electricity on a still night - you should probably thank natural gas or coal

* Ever mail a letter - thank oil

If tobacco and tobacco products were suddenly unavailable tomorrow morning - the world would probably be a better place

If oil and oil products were suddenly unavailable tomorrow morning - it would probably result in the collapse of civilization as we know it and millions of deaths

Let's not pretend oil and tobacco have anywhere near the same pro/con trade offs.

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Re:A federal carbon tax is imminent in the USA, and Exxon is... by chadgeidel on Monday August 29, 2016 @11:42AM (#12382630)
Oil is in everything. Transportation of course, but it's in our clothes, our houses, computers, our food (fertilizer for example), etc. It's very difficult to point to something that oil ISN'T in (here in the US). I'm sure I'll get responses which do.

NPR Planet Money recently did a series of podcasts about oil - it was pretty good. #4 was the episode where they talked a bit about what oil goes into: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/08/19/490408060/oil-4...

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Re:A federal carbon tax is imminent in the USA, and Exxon is... by acusticthoughts on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @06:48AM (#12388868)
>People who compare oil and tobacco ignore the benefits

That's wrong. This article compares the two because it seems both groups committed fraud via funding misinformation campaigns that had a goal of affecting legislation on regulation.

Extremists are the ones who cannot deal with the obvious negatives of oil along with the benefits.

[ Parent | on HN ]