Letter To ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson

Dear Mr. Tillerson:

It is with interest that I read a Facebook meme in which you are quoted as saying, We have spent our entire existence adapting. We’ll adapt.” They are presented against a backdrop of what I presume is part of the current Colorado wildfire. This is attributed to a June 27, 2012 statement. Oh, I know – Facebook just screams credibility, and I’m quite aware these nine words are most probably out of context from a larger statement. Though rude it may be, these are the words on which I intend to focus, and not worry so terribly much about the larger context.   Adaptation is a marvelous thing, but adaptation can only go so far. When adaptation fails, extinction is the result.

In the face of mounting evidence for man-made contributions to global warming and the greenhouse effect, we have an example of the environment to which we will have to adapt, here in our own solar system: Venus. That’s going to take some doing. Now, of course, my example is extreme. Earth will not turn into Venus overnight. What will happen? I am afraid that those with means will retreat behind enclaves and citadels, hording remaining precious resources at the expense of those who are not so fortunate.

It need not be that way. What if ExxonMobil was to lead the charge? The need for petrochemicals will never go away – nor am I suggesting they should. What if our oil reserves could be reserved for plastics and other compounds, while being relieved of the need to provide energy? Sure, peoples’ portfolios might take a short-term hit in the by-this-quarter economy. What is to be gained? Our very future, and a future for our children, and their children. We can bequeath them vibrancy and abundance, and not a burnt, used cinder of a planet.

Sure, it’s a paradigm shift. Nanotechnology and automation suggest the shift is coming, anyway. What a public relations coup for ExxonMobil! New technology and infrastructure with the ExxonMobil brand! Solar cells, fuel cells, batteries – many possibilities…but we need to bridge the gap. We need time to get to the abundance. The next thirty to fifty years are critical. I’m just a guy, but I know the works of Buckminster Fuller, Michio Kaku, Neil deGrasse Tyson, David Attenborough, and so many more.

I am invited to this by Mr. Doug Grandt, who has history, and “chops” in your industry.  You are in receipt, I believe, of several missives from him.  I trust your staff has presented them to you.  I share his concerns on this front, and several others, which is why I chose to write.  I’m just a guy.  All’s I know is what I see when I look around. 

We were children of the “space race,” pointed to a far-flung future by Clarke, Asimov, Campbell, Bradbury, Sagan and other visionaries. Our wings were the U.S. Air Force and NASA; our champions Shepherd, Glenn, Grissom, White, Resnik, McAuliffe, and so many more who, like Prometheus, dared steal fire from the gods. I know this was primarily a military initiative at first – I learned of Sputnik before the age of six – but did not our hearts burst with justifiable pride that July night, lo! those many years ago! when Neil Armstrong declared that small step for himself, that giant leap for the rest of us?

I look around, in the early 21 century, and wonder why we remain so dependent on fossil fuels? I also remember, ironically, that the first vehicles were electrical and steam powered. Now, don’t get me wrong – the development of the internal combustion engine allowed use of petroleum-based products which give the user a lot more energy bang for the buck, short term. In the face of an expanded interstate highway system – yet another military initiative? – we Americans enjoyed a half century in which the car was king, with no worries placed on our consumptions, including the rise of plastics, styrofoams, and other petroleum-based products. We used, and disposed. I am part of that generation. (Ironically, that expanded infrastructure helped feed an unprecedented economic boom.) Yet, my mother tells me stories of living in Germany for two years in the early 1960’s. One of those stories involved the relatively small rubbish / garbage can they had, which they were allowed to fill every week. Any extra waste was charged. One learned to conserve waste and space.

My high-school research paper was on hydrogen as a fuel. Granted, this was circa 1977, so we were not as technologically advanced. Even then, though, researchers were looking into deuterium-based laser fusion, and with hydrogen fuel cells, certainly understood the end result of hydrogen oxidation - water! I wonder what a “first-man-on-the-moon” initiative toward hydrogen as fuel would produce with today’s technology?

Why? It is becoming apparent, even to people like me, that oil is more and more difficult to get from under the ground. Greater effort and technology is required to gain every barrel we consume, and our consumption, as a race is rising. An exponential rise in population suggests an exponential rise in oil consumption – especially as other areas of the world gain affluence.

Technology suggests alternatives, such as making fuels from plants or garbage. Part of the overall solution – but why not broaden the scope? The sun produces, according to Dr. Knowledge of the Boston Globe, “measuring the quantity of solar energy/second reaching every square meter of Earth and then multiplying that by the total surface area of a sphere with radius equal to the radius of Earth orbit. We get the astonishingly huge amount of 400 trillion trillion watts. To put this into a crazy context, every second the sun produces the same energy as about a trillion 1 megaton bombs! In one second, our sun produces enough energy for almost 500,000 years of the current needs of our so-called civilization. If only we could collect it all and use it!”

Imagine the potential for humanity ... a clean, bright future.

What if ExxonMobil was to lead the charge?

What a public relations coup for Exxon/Mobil! New technology and infrastructure with the Exxon/Mobil brand!  Solar cells, fuel cells, batteries, paints and window films which collect solar energy.  Many possibilities await!

Mr. Tillerson, you and ExxonMobil have a rare opportunity to change the course of history, save humanity and other species, and leave a legacy that will make your grandchildren and their grandchildren proud.

Please lead the shift. Change course. Retire the refineries.

Thank you for your time,

Brian Esposito