Defend’s Senior Market Campaigner, OpEd in Common Dreams

Last week the independent media outlet Common Dreams published a piece by Maya Rommwatt, our Senior Market Campaigner, highlighting the nefarious collusion between big oil and big gas. Common Dreams is a leading publication focused on social justice and inspiring critical thinking on economic, social, and civil issues.

Communities across America have been struggling to make ends meet throughout the pandemic. We’ve witnessed a historical peak in inflation and rising sticker prices of nearly all consumer goods, and especially staggering numbers at the gas pump. 

But while families are working overtime to pay rent and put food on the table, greedy corporate oil giants like ExxonMobil are making record profits and paying massive dividends to shareholders.

Rommwatt discusses the need to expose the overlooked synergy between oil, gas, and plastics industries – specifically the alarming fact that over 60% of oil demand over the next decade will be derived from plastics production. She astutely points out that: “some of the biggest oil corporations are also some of the biggest petrochemical corporations. And petrochemical production is mostly plastics.”

Oil barons would like progressive audiences to believe that recycling solves the plastics problem – but Rommwatt expertly deconstructs that myth. In fact, less than 9% of plastic is actually recycled! Defend Our Health’s independent testing revealed toxic chemicals in plastic bottles, and our reporting uncovered potentially carcinogenic chemicals in children’s toys and other everyday goods.

We encourage you to read the full article on Common Dreams to learn more! As Rommwatt says, “oil companies are trying to convince us the product they’re selling isn’t killing the planet and everything on it, despite the evidence.” Defend Our Health is here to sound the alarm and protect families and consumers from corporate profiteers who are – literally and figuratively – toxic at the core.