Fossil Fuel FUD Is Targeting Your Children
Why it matters: This book targets children with a narrative that could influence future public perception of fossil fuels and the energy industry.
- Baseload Capital, a Swedish geothermal energy investor, is behind a children's book, "Our Hidden Powers: The Big Switch," which features a sympathetic fossil fuel character named Fossi.
- Kristina Hagström Ilievska, Baseload Capital's chief marketing officer and the book's author, states her intention was to explain the energy transition to her son, not defend the status quo, but critics note she doesn't disclose Baseload Capital's partial ownership by Chevron and Baker Hughes.
- DeSmog criticizes the book as a strategic move by oil and gas companies to maintain social acceptance among younger generations, comparing it to past tobacco industry tactics like "Joe Camel."
- Lindsey Gulden, a former climate scientist at ExxonMobil, finds the book's portrayal of fossil fuels as a sympathetic "new kid" deserving of understanding "almost laughable," highlighting the industry's decades-long lobbying against renewable energy and environmental regulations.
A new children's book, "Our Hidden Powers: The Big Switch," by Baseload Capital's CMO Kristina Hagström Ilievska, aims to reframe fossil fuels as a helpful, misunderstood hero in the energy transition, drawing criticism for downplaying the industry's historical opposition to clean energy and its ties to oil giants like Chevron. While Ilievska claims the book is about moving forward, critics like DeSmog and former ExxonMobil scientist Lindsey Gulden argue it's a tactic to win over younger generations and sanitize the fossil fuel industry's image.
