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Eroding KivalinaExxon Mobil Et Al A Case

In Global Warming

Presented by:

Lokesh Goyal 07BS2011

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Kivalina

Wulik River

Kivalina River

Chukchi Sea

Welcome toKivalinaCountry United States Area 10 sq. km.Land 4.8 sq. km.Water 5.2 sq. km.

Elevation 13 feet Population 389Density 202/sq. km.

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What is Kivalina?An Island perched on permafrost

People engaged in hunting & gathering

A 100 odd buildings with 400 people

Mostly surrounded by ice which melts

briefly in summerHunting based on phases of ice on the

sea

This village has filed a suit against 24

companies

9 oil companies 14 power companies

1 coal company

WHY?

Hard ice

Soil which is perched on ice and becomes

solid like a rock. It remains solid all time as

the temperature is always less than 0C.

This soil can support vegetation and life

Snow has melted and people aresuffering

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Kivalina Is Eroding

Wall

The land

No wall or land

Houses on the edge

The oil companies operating in the region are engaged inemission of green house gases

The temperature has gone up by 3F in last 50 yearsThe sea ice has melted and the island is submerging in seaThe permafrost is also melting which It will lead to

Breakage of oil and gas pipe lines in the area Destruction of roadsFoundations of land will shift

As the ice has melted in the region, the area is more prone tostorms and floodsMelting of permafrost releases methane which is more harmful

than CO2The changed phases of ice has also affected the hunting season as

they have got shorter and less frequentThe main defendant of the case is the oil giant Exxon Mobil

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Exxon Mobil Started in 1999 with the merger of Exxon and

Mobil Descendant of Standard Oil in New York Largest in terms of revenue - $404.5 billion

Largest terms of market capitalization - $501.17billion Involved in

Upstream exploration and development Downstream refining and marketing Chemical based making products based on oil & gas

Provider of 3% of oil and 2% of world energydaily

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Litigations Filed

The natives have filed the litigation for: Public and private nuisance erosion of the island,

damage to private property, right to live and earn,damage to natural surroundings by emission of Green

house gases Exxon had emitted 145.5 metric tons of CO2 in 2006

Civil conspiracy creating and funding theorganizations that propagated false ideas aboutglobal warming, created fake citizen groups and

scientific bodies which promoted false information Exxon was charged with funding 42 such organizations with

$16 million in 5 years

Concert of action

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Issues

Social People are forced to

migrate from their homes

Their food and earninghave been deprived off 184 communities in

Alaska are prone tocatastrophic storms and

floods as the ice hasmelted and the sea isopen water

Environmental

The sea ice is meltingdisturbing the marine life

The sun rays are notreflected back and areabsorbed by the sea causing

further warmingThe islands are disappearing

because of melting of

permafrost

Eroding island

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Issues

Economical The govt. authorities

incur huge expenditure

to protect the societiesfrom trouble The amount spend goes in

vain as the catastrophicevents make way for newinvestments destroyingthe earlier one

The wall build by theauthorities was worth$25 million

FinancialThe companies have topay a total of $400 million

to the plaintiffsExxon Mobil had earlieralso caused harm to theenvironment (Valdez oilspill 1989) but has notpaid the damages , though

it has got it reduced from$5 billion to $500 million

Spilled oil

Broken Wall

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Issues

Ethical The companies

operating in the

region had shown noethics in theiroperations as theyhave themselvesengaged into

promotion of fakeidea about globalwarming among

people

Management The management has

given no comments

on the issue The PRO had

informed that the co.is trying to reducethe emission through

improvement in theoperations but theeffort is visible on thecontrary

The Ice No Ice

A bird covered in oil due to Valdez oil spill

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Conclusion

The companies have beenfound guilty on manyfronts

This case has raised the

concern about globalwarming and its impacton human beings

The Kivalina island isonly one of the several

places that is being hit byglobal warming

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Thank you

Sources www.iht.com www.msnbc.msn.com

www.en.wikipedia.org www.rd.com www.climatelaw.org www.narfnews.blogspot.com www.minesandcommunities.org