The Petroleum Papers

Inside the Far-Right Conspiracy to Cover Up Climate Change

By: Geoff Dembicki

Narrated by: Steve Menasche

Burning fossil fuels will cause catastrophic global warming: this is what top American oil executives were told by scientists in 1959. But they ignored that warning. Instead, they developed one of the biggest, most polluting oil sources in the world—the oil sands in Alberta, Canada. As investigative journalist Geoff Dembicki reveals in this explosive book, the decades-long conspiracy to keep the oil sands flowing into the US would turn out to be one of the biggest reasons for the world's failure to stop the climate crisis.

In The Petroleum Papers, Dembicki draws from confidential oil industry documents to uncover for the first time how companies like Exxon, Koch Industries, and Shell built a global right-wing echo chamber to protect oil sands profits—a misinformation campaign that continues to this day. He also tells the high-stakes stories of people fighting back: a Seattle lawyer who brought down Big Tobacco and is now going after Big Oil, a Filipina activist whose family drowned in a climate disaster, and a former Exxon engineer pushed out for asking hard questions.

With experts now warning we have less than a decade to get global emissions under control, The Petroleum Papers provides a step-by-step account of how we got to this precipice—and the politicians and companies who deserve our blame.

©2022 Geoff Dembicki (P)2022 Kalorama

Information we all need to know - hidden for decades.

Well researched and presented. Clear and compelling. Worthwhile for everyone to read and share - please!

Good Fact Based Presentation

interesting presentation on how oil companies worked behind the scenes to stop action on climate change.

News everyone should know

Gives documented facts that should be widely disseminated by anyone concerned about climate change. This should include most everyone by now.

A book on conspiracy without conspiracy theory

Evidence is the difference between a conspiracy theory (this book is not) and a conspiracy (this book is about). - Mr. Dennis Boyle, Esq.

The book is meticulously organized and filled with details of the decade-long scheme by the oil industry and its interest groups to mislead and obscure the effort to understand, educate the public on, and take concert actions against climate change. The content is dense, and things move fast. The author tells the tale by weaving stories from various stakeholders in the Petroleum industry, the large oil companies, the political interest groups, the workers and families, the communities affected by drilling, etc.

Listening to the book feels like watching the pieces of a complex puzzle slowly fall into place, step by step. I kind of know how they would come together but I am still constantly surprised by the scope and deliberation they took to further their goals and interests. It helps me understand how a war against science was born from political divides.

I would have given the book five stars if I could relate to it or most of its characters and stories better. There are so many unfamiliar names and places without sufficient background and context to get me to care about them. Maybe someone with a deeper knowledge of the Petroleum industry or US politics would appreciate it more.

If you are interested in more investigative journalism books on current controversial issues, also check out "This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends" by Nicole Perlroth (2021) on cybersecurity.

Sucks

This book is amazing in one fashion, it takes something so incredibly intriguing and important for our lives as human beings, and makes it the most boring thing you’ve ever listened to. I don’t know if the guy reading this is drunk, or just bored, but this book and this read suck. Save your money.