50 Whisky Magazine | Issue 167

M

ore than 22 years

have passed since

John Browne, then

chief executive of

British Petroleum

(BP) and now the RH Lord Browne of

Madingley, famously acknowledged a

Ǯ†‹•…‡”‹„Ž‡Š—ƒ‹βŽ—‡…‡‘–Š‡

climate’ and the energy sector’s role in

the rise of global CO 2 concentrations,

during a speech at Stanford University.

It caused something of a stir at the time

and can be viewed as a key turning point

in relations between environmentalists,

big business and society at large. By

facing up to its own biggest problem,

BP had, in theory, made it less socially

acceptable for companies to continue

burying their heads in the sand when it

came to the issue of global warming.

Yet, two decades on, the climate crisis

is still front page news; the activists of

Extinction Rebellion are calling for ‘non-

violent, disruptive civil disobedience’

to force legislative action; and BP is

such a hot potato that the Scottish

National Portrait Gallery has ended

its association with the world-famous

National Galleries BP Portrait Award,

which has been sponsored by the oil

giant for the last 30 years and exhibited

in Edinburgh for a decade.

Stories of melting glaciers; rising sea

levels; record-breaking temperatures;

β‹”‡•”ƒ‰‹‰‹–Š‡ƒœ‘”ƒ‹ˆ‘”‡•–ǡ

Australia and the USA; priceless

‡‹…‡„—‹Ž†‹‰••—„‡”‰‡†‹βŽ‘‘†

water; and a giant ‘garbage patch’ of

’Žƒ•–‹…‹–Š‡ƒ…‹β‹…Ȃ–‘‡–‹‘„—–

ƒˆ‡™’”‡••‹‰…‘…‡”•Ȃ…‘–‹—‡

to loom large and, as a result, more

and more people are worrying about

the ecological future of our planet. In

response, politicians have disagreed

about what to do; Google has been

caught donating to organisations

that support climate-change denial;

some vocal and powerful groups have

continued to deny, mislead or seek

to discredit the evidence supporting

human-induced climate change; Trump

has cyber-bullied Greta Thunberg and

many key polluting industries have

‰‡‡”ƒŽŽ›…‘–‹—‡†–‘’”‹‘”‹–‹•‡’”‘β‹–•

over real change.

However, those companies hedging

their bets on the public succumbing

to so-called ‘green fatigue’ and

becoming apathetic or even hostile

to environmentalism may be out of

luck. The term ‘eco-anxiety’, which

is described by The American

Psychological Association (APA) as ‘a

chronic fear of environmental doom’,

has been around since at least the mid-

ʹͲͲͲ•ǡ„—–‹–™ƒ•‹–Š‡⋐ƒŽ›‡ƒ”•‘ˆ

the last decade that it really manifested

‹–Š‡‡•–‡”œ‡‹–‰‡‹•–Ȃƒ†‹–•‡‡•

to be here to stay. Late last year, Time

WORDS

CHRISTOPHER COATES

What is the Scotch whisky industry doing to

protect the planet for future generations?

Green

Whisky

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