Bill de Plasio, Mayor of New York.
Image - REUTERS
One of the largest cities in the United States, New York, is going to really start fighting to tackle climate change. How will do? Taking legal action against ExxonMobil, ConocoPhilips, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and BP, which are the most important oil companies, not only in North America, but in the world.
This has been decided by Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayor of New York and what seems to be the antithesis of Donald Trump, at least for now.
De Plasio was direct and forceful: »fossil fuel companies knew about the impact on the climate and deliberately misled the public to protect their profits. They must pay». The objective is clear: to hold the large oil companies responsible for the damage they have been causing to date and, also, to obtain financial compensation with which to be able to make »the city safer and more resistant to rising sea levels and storms tropical '.
Climate change is real. Evidence appears almost daily. Historical temperature records are broken, increasingly dangerous meteorological phenomena are formed. Taking this into account, it is important to invest in clean and renewable energy, and stop doing it on fossil fuels. However, and how could it be otherwise, the companies that are dedicated to extracting oil denied that this contributed to climate change. To be more precise, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell said "this type of litigation does not contribute to that."
And I ask myself: is it really that the oil that "inadvertently" has ended up in the sea so many times, as happened in Galicia 15 years ago, does not affect the environment? Do gasoline or diesel cars really do not alter the natural balance of the atmosphere?
I think it is time to change a lot of things. To sit down and talk about what is best for us, as humans, but also for other forms of life. Because we are not alone on this planet.
More information here.