Opinion: Description of how the the oil industry and politics made climate change a political issue.

How the oil industry and growing political divides turned climate change into a partisan issue The climate policy pendulum is swinging back again with Trump in office. Money, lobbying and talking about red vs. blue states all play a role in the political and public divide. Joe Árvai The Conversation

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Working behind the scenes since the 1950s, researchers working for companies such as Exxon, Shell and Chevron had made their leaders well aware that the widespread use of their product was already causing climate change. And coinciding with the Ad Hoc Study Group’s work in the late 1970s, oil companies started making large donations to national and state-level candidates and politicians they viewed as friendly to the interests of the industry.

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