The David Suzuki Foundation is taking to the airwaves to tell the public the liquified natural gas industry is bad and misleading..“Today the David Suzuki Foundation launched an advertising campaign about ‘natural’ and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to counter misleading industry claims,” the foundation announced in a press release..The July campaign is focused on British Columbia, the sixth largest fossil fuel reserve in the world, which the foundation calls “Canada’s biggest carbon bomb.” The foundation is calling on the BC government to focus on the transition to a healthy, affordable and safe renewable energy future by stopping LNG expansion in BC. The campaign is also aimed at attendees of the LNG 2023 conference in Vancouver from July 10 to 13. .“Big oil and gas companies have spent millions in Canada and billions globally lobbying politicians and flooding the public conversation with misleading advertising about fossil fuels… These efforts are rooted in the increasingly lethal pursuit of profit: the fossil fuel industry has made more than $3 billion in profit every day for the past 50 years, totalling $52 trillion and counting,” the release said..“In recent years, fossil fuel companies turned their attention to the massive LNG reserves in BC. They seek to expand fracking and LNG exports when the world’s leading climate scientists and energy market experts all say no more fossil fuel projects should be built anywhere in the world if we want a livable planet. They make no exceptions for particular technologies or geopolitical dynamics.”.Executive director Severn Cullis-Suzuki, who makes more than $200,000 annually, said corporations will spend more on ads than the foundation.. David SuzukiDavid Suzuki .“We live in an era of fossil fuel supremacy, where oil and gas companies spend millions on marketing their business and covering up the human and environmental costs,” said Cullis-Suzuki..“The claim that fracking methane gas is ‘natural’ is misleading and dangerous. The science pushes back on industry greenwashing and, in this case, ‘natural gaslighting.’”.“There is no reconciliation without truth, and the fossil fuel industry continues to peddle lies,” said Janelle Lapointe, foundation public engagement and mobilization lead, Stellat’en First Nation. .“They have traded climate denial for a glossy marketing campaign that presents fossil gas as a cleaner, sustainable alternative. In a vacuum of options, First Nations are buying into an industry that isn’t ecologically or economically viable. We must reject false climate solutions and corporate profiteering and instead ensure there are strong options for indigenous people in a rapid and just transition to a clean, renewable future where indigenous rights and title are upheld.”.“The fossil fuel industry ramped up its efforts to sell Canadians on the idea that increasing fracked gas mining and LNG exports is a climate solution. These efforts distort and misrepresent the science. And they get a lot of traction,” said Shane Gunster, associate professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication..“We need to hear more from critical voices — scientists, physicians, local communities, Indigenous nations, environmental groups — to counter these greenwashing efforts.”.Charity Intelligence Canada reports the foundation has $26.3 million in the bank and paid fundraisers $308,000 in fiscal 2021. Its total donations and special event revenue was $13.9 million that year. The organization has 68 full-time staff whose average compensation is $82,143. One of its employees makes more than $200,000 annually.
