Among many issues that shouldn't be political and yet somehow are, being good stewards to our world is one of them. There's not too much talk on the issue of trash and recycling, though I think that it's pretty hard to make the argument we out to throw out more stuff or that litter is a good thing, but get onto climate change and watch out!

It doesn't have to be this way, but oil companies have been very effective at creating and perpetuation a "d" strategy. What is this?

1) Dial D for Doubt

Denialism ("there is no climate change") and diffusion ("climate change research isn't as accurate as scientists make out") are the chief reasons that there's even a debate on the issue. The science is pretty well backed up and oil companies even knew about the risks before scientists did. I could link to articles, but I'm going to leave it up to the reader to research lest I be accused of using sites that are somehow or the other biased.

2) Dial D for Defeatism

A newer argument that's arisen. It basically amounts to "yes, climate change is real but now it's too late to do anything". It's basically a statement acknowledging that folks warning about climate change were right all along, but now--alas!--it is too late. The world is doomed, so we might as well not even try to do anything. One might think this is a foolish thing to do since the Doubts are still in effect, but it's actually a smart move. It's not going to really affect those in Doubt, but instead dispirit those who want a better, cleaner world for their children and grandchildren by telling them their efforts are too little, too late.