BP Exec on the Climate Change Conversation

My dear friend Terry Ribb writes: I thought this person, Shannan Guinn, might be a great interview for you.  I am helping a young person with her application to the Presidential Scholarship Program.  To prepare, I looked at past scholars, and this gal’s name came up.  Because she is a graduate of this program, she might be doing some great work to educate on climate change.

Thanks for this.  I haven’t been too active on the “Corporate Sustainability Role Models” idea recently, because I don’t currently have an intern who’s interested in it.

The first thought that anyone would have, cynic or not, is that an oil company that claims to be interested in climate change mitigation is totally insincere. Now, of course, that’s not necessarily true, but if it’s not, that company would have to be aggressively destroying its own business model, and that’s a considerable stretch of the imagination, given that it would mean corporate malfeasance against its shareholders.  It’s one thing to say “Beyond Petroleum,” but it’s another thing to actually make that happen.

I’m loathe to have conversations with people in her position, because it’s really a no-win situation.  I have better manners than to directly challenge someone’s integrity to their face, and I’m not gullible enough to believe what she would tell me.

Having said all this, I have to admit that she sounds like a very interesting person. I actually might call her; I’m curious.