To the editor: This Dodgers game is brought to you by… Asbestos! Keep the flames out and the cancer in, with asbestos.
See how that sounds? It's not a big deal. But, as Sammy Roth writes about In his column on Big Oil's support for the Dodger Foundation, We don't blink when an oil company announces a product that has killed far more people than asbestos.
There are no tobacco ads at Dodger Stadium. Not that Phillip Morris wouldn't like to plaster Marlboro posters in the dugout, but they can't do that because of a 1998 civil settlement. The reason is simple: The more you see a product, the more likely you are to buy it. Advertisers pay for space in your brain, and the courts decided that addictive, poison-filled gum didn't deserve the same rights to that space as, say, chewing gum.
We need to take the same approach with Big Oil. Just as Big Tobacco spent a fortune misleading the public into thinking their product was harmless, Big Oil hid its own research and spent billions of dollars trying to convince us that global warming was a myth. These ads are just another part of their information war against the American people, and it's time for us to fight back.
Xander Bernstein, Reseda
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To the editor: For generations, baseball has been considered America's pastime. My earliest memories of my father include sitting in a box seat at Yankee Stadium watching Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Yogi Berra. They were my heroes, mostly because they were his heroes.
We have learned a lot since then. We have learned that activities as simple as driving a car contribute to the destruction of our planet.
Heroes will always be heroes and what they do and say has a tremendous effect on us. It is an important obligation. The fact that the Dodgers are so closely aligned with companies like 76 Gasoline and Arco is like a stamp of approval for their climate-destructive activities.
Ironically, the very people the team is seeking to help with its Dodger Day efforts are those who suffer the most from the byproducts of oil production. Asthma rates among those living near oil wells or refineries (mostly people of color and economically challenged) are sky-high.
Do the Dodgers really need that money? The Dodgers brand is valuable in itself. Why not think about actually doing something for the community? Leave aside these sponsors.
Tim Knipe, City Studio
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To the editor: Drill, baby, drill. We need more oil.
David Hart, Carlsbad
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To the editor: What if, instead of waiting for new technologies, green capitalists, or our conflicted political system to transition us to clean energy, we harnessed our cultural power?
The Dodgers dropping their sponsorship of Phillips 66 would be a major cultural step toward the energy transition. We are conditioned to accept the ubiquity of oil: it powers our cars, it is deeply involved in film production and the way we cook. It is present in the oceans we swim in.
But a divestment from fossil fuels by our beloved Dodgers would be a new backdrop for a new story and would make Los Angeles a cultural trendsetter in professional sports.
What would you say to our children who take to the field on Dodger Day, that our local team is part of the green revolution?
Maggie Light, Van Nuys
