“Adapting” to the Climate Crisis Will Be “Easy” According to ExxonMobil and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, admitted recently that global warming is not a hoax, but that we needn't worry: "We have spent our entire existence adapting, OK?

August 13, 2012 | Source: Common Dreams | by Brian Moench

For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Politics and Democracy page and our Environment and Climate Resource Center page.

Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, admitted recently that global warming is not a hoax, but that we needn’t worry: “We have spent our entire existence adapting, OK? So we will adapt to this. Changes to weather patterns that move crop production areas around – we’ll adapt to that. It’s an engineering problem, and it has engineering solutions.”  Tillerson’s buddies at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce added, “Populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological and technological adaptations.”

Worldwide, a billion people are already dangerously malnourished, with the climate crisis playing a major role.  But apparently those facing starvation should stop whining and look forward to “adapting” by “engineering” their bodies to not need food.

And here’s how that “adaptation” thing is going in America. The average July temperature in the US this summer was 5.5 degrees hotter than in 1896.  Record-breaking heat and drought are torching two thirds of the country. Natural disasters have been declared in 32 states, the most in our history. Much of the Midwest grain crop has “physiologically adapted” to this new climate, by dying. You and I will soon “financially adapt” by paying a lot more for food.

The wells supplying water to some MidWestern families are “adapting” by drying up.  Mississippi River flow is at a 40 year low allowing, among other things, salt water from the Gulf of Mexico to creep north, threatening larger community water supplies.