Wildfires and climate lies

It’s a record we never wanted to break. Raging wildfires have now burned over 10 million hectares of land this year, almost equal to the size of Newfoundland. It’s the most land burned in Canada’s history, ever. [1]

The truth is, a handful of fossil fuel CEOs are holding us back from the fairer, climate-safe future we deserve. They’re literally fanning the flames by relentlessly extracting oil and gas for profit, whilst lobbying against the climate solutions we desperately need. [2,3]

Pathways Alliance — representing six companies responsible for over 95% of tar sands production in Canada — is the misinformation machine leading this lobbying effort. Their propaganda machine has been in overdrive recently, spending over half a million dollars on Facebook ads alone, to distract the public from their role in driving the climate crisis. [4,5]

The more oil and gas companies get away with spreading their lies to the public, the harder it is to hold them accountable for destroying our planet and communities for profit. That’s why, as more people witness the devastating impacts of climate change firsthand, we’re planning to launch an ad campaign to expose Pathways Alliance’s climate lies, and ensure the public knows who’s really to blame for all of this — Big Oil.

Going head-to-head with Pathways’ Alliance PR machine won’t come cheap. We’ve costed it out, and to challenge their lies on social media, news websites, and billboards and bus shelters we’ll need to raise $14,813 by next week. Will you chip in to help us fight back against Pathways Alliance’s propaganda?

Here’s more details about our plan:

• If we raise $3127, we’ll flood social media with ads all over the country, naming Pathways Alliance and the top six oil companies it represents as the villains fuelling climate chaos.

• If we raise $6159, we could place those ads on national news websites like CBC News and The Globe and Mail — right next to headlines about the devastation wildfires are causing communities.

• And, if we raise $14,813, we could research exactly where Pathways Alliance ads are located and get our own counter-ads on the exact same streets, bus shelters, and billboards.

Recently, we asked the Leadnow community if we should launch a campaign to expose the oil and gas industry for their culpability in the climate crisis. 95% said yes — breaking Big Oil’s grip on our politics is a priority for almost all of us. Now, we need your help to make this campaign a reality.

To protect their bottom line, Big Oil companies know they need to hide their role in causing the climate crisis. Yet research has shown that the rise in extreme wildfires in North America is directly linked to the emissions of oil and gas companies. [6] Once the public starts cluing in, it’ll be harder for them to push the status quo — and easier for us to fight for effective climate solutions.

While we may lack the vast resources of Pathways Alliance, there are thousands and thousands of us, reading this email right now. Together, we can expose their greenwashing and reveal the truth about their climate lies. Will you chip in $5, $10, or $20 to help make it happen?

https://act.leadnow.ca/Pathways-Alliance-wildfires

With determination,

Rivka and Maggie, on behalf of Leadnow

Sources:

[1] https://globalnews.ca/news/9824581/canada-wildfires-10-million-hectares-burned

[2] https://environmentaldefence.ca/climate-villains

[3] https://thenarwhal.ca/suncor-carbon-capture-storage-strategy

[4] https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/07/20/analysis/advertising-blitz-big-oil

[5] https://ricochet.media/en/3918/the-disinformation-of-fossil-fuel-advertising-in-canada

[6] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/wildfires-climate-change-carbon-88-1.6852178