Automakers Knew About Climate Change 50 Years Ago
Energy Gang
Wood Mackenzie
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 20 November 2020
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the 1960s, scientists who worked for General Motors and Ford discovered that the exhaust from their cars was very likely changing the climate. They made presentations at conferences. They briefed senior executives. And then, they were publicly contradicted and their work was suppressed.
We’ll talk to Maxine Joselow, the journalist who reported the story for E&E News over many months. She talked with more than two dozen former GM and Ford employees, retired auto industry executives, academics, and environmentalists about what the companies knew about climate change five decades ago.
It leaves the reader wondering: what if automakers had taken the problem more seriously a half-century ago?
Then, plenty of conservative states are embracing renewables. But now 100% clean energy mandates are spreading to redder states. The latest is Arizona: a place where elected officials and a giant utility previously worked to stop the march of clean energy. We’ll look at the shift.
And last: can a Marshall Plan for fading coal communities rebuild America’s former industrial regions?
- E&E News: GM, Ford Knew About Climate Change 50 Years Ago
- Scientific American: A Woman Warned GM about Warming, But Men Didn’t Listen
- Greentech Media: Arizona Regulators Pass Rule for 100% Clean Energy by 2050
- Smart Cities Dive: Mayors Unveil $60B Plan to Support Midwest Energy Transition
- University of Pittsburgh: Marshall Plan for Middle America Roadmap
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Energy Gang is brought to you by Vertsilla Energy, leading the transition toward a 100% renewable future. |
| 0:07.0 | In 2018, Vertsilla established the path to 100 community to bring together thought leaders and industry experts with a goal. |
| 0:13.6 | Discover solutions, raise awareness, and start a dialogue on how to achieve a 100% decarbonized electric system. |
| 0:20.2 | Visit path to 100.org and become part of the discussion. |
| 0:24.0 | We're also brought to you by Honeywell, a leading supplier of IOT solutions to mission critical |
| 0:29.0 | industries around the world. Honeywell Smart Energy helps utilities transform grid operations through |
| 0:33.9 | advanced solutions and targeted services from edge to cloud. Their electricity, |
| 0:38.8 | gas, and water solutions go beyond tomorrow's horizon, putting valuable, actionable data in the hands of utilities to better |
| 0:44.8 | serve their customers. Find out more at smartenergy. honeywell.com. |
| 0:49.8 | Green Tech Media Podcasts |
| 1:00.0 | From Green Tech Media, this is the Energy Gang. |
| 1:03.0 | Weekly debates and discussions about the fast-changing world of energy. |
| 1:06.0 | I'm Stephen Lacy, I'm a contributing editor at GTM. |
| 1:09.0 | Welcome. |
| 1:10.0 | This week, in the 1960s, scientists who worked for General Motors and Ford discovered that the exhaust from their product |
| 1:16.0 | Cars was likely changing the climate. They made presentations at conferences, they briefed senior executives, and then they were publicly |
| 1:24.2 | contradicted and their work was suppressed. We're going to talk to the reporter who |
| 1:28.6 | broke that story. Next, plenty of conservative regions are embracing renewables, but now 100% clean |
| 1:34.9 | energy mandates are spreading to redder states. The latest is Arizona, a place |
| 1:39.1 | for elected officials and a giant utility previously worked to stop the march of clean energy, we're going to look at the shift |
| 1:45.6 | underway there. And last, can a Marshall plan for fading coal communities rebuild America's |
| 1:51.6 | former industrial regions. |
... |
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