A Thanksgiving and pre-Copenhagen treat – this vintage 1962 Life Magazine advert from Humble Energy – which became Exxon after its merger with Standard Oil. In those days, big oil really told it like it was [h/t Alex Evans].
By the way, if you’re somewhere between Oxford and Copenhagen and you see a footsore Indian hiker with flowing locks, be nice to him. He’s Push (full name Pushpanath Krishnamurthy), an Indian colleague who’s making a Gandhian style 370 mile trek from Oxford to the climate summit and keeping a moving (in both senses) webdiary. In a few days time, he will be overtaken by a hitchhiking polar called Nicola from our Manchester office, but I’m a bit worried she will never make it (would you give a polar bear a lift, especially when “The suit is incredibly hot and sweaty. It’s not very comfortable and a lot of the time it doesn’t smell very nice”). The tribes are gathering…….
Text Reads:
‘Each day Humble Supplies Enough Energy to Melt 7 Million Tons of Glacier!
This giant glacier has remained unmelted for centuries. Yet, the petroleum energy Humble supplies — if converted into heat — could melt it at the rate of 80 tons each second! To meet the nations growing needs for energy, Humble has applied science to nature’s resources to become America’s Leading Energy Company. Humble provides energy in many forms — to help heat our homes, power our transportation, and to furnish industry with a great variety of versatile chemicals. Stop at a Humble station for new Enco Extra gasoline, and see why the ‘Happy Motoring’ sign is the World’s First Choice!!’