Oil’s Deep State was written by Kevin Taft and published by James Lorimer & Company Ltd.

If you’re like me, you might look at this book and wonder how dry and boring it might be. This book is a wonderful surprise in that regard; once I started I could not put it down. This story contains so much information and is rounded out in such a way that you will soon find something that will pique your interest and take you down the rabbit hole.

Why did the price of gas just jump so much? Why have our elected officials been breaking their promises as soon as getting elected? Why does the media seem to cover only half the story? What’s this between Alberta and BC?

The answers to these questions are all interconnected and and can be found in Oil’s Deep State by author Kevin Taft, former MLA in the province of Alberta. The author starts by approaching this as a question about climate change, as the first climate warnings came from the oil industry’s own scientists and they made a short lived attempt to make the public aware of the dangers they believed came from their own industry’s emissions. At some point, they changed their mind about informing the public and thus started the huge oil lobbying industry that captures so many of our institutions today. The author fleshes this out perfectly using facts and history as his guide.

In his book, Kevin Taft gives the shortest and clearest version of the science behind global warming that I have read and I expect it would appeal to others like me for which understanding science can be a burden.

This book names names. There is an impressive list of 532 footnotes/references so everything can be fact checked.

Taft covers the history of the oil industry in the United States and Canada and it’s relationship with governments. You’ll learn about the valiant effort of Alberta’s Premier Lougheed to keep the autonomy of his government and avoid capture by the oil lobby… and the disaster than came about after he was gone. The author chronicles, clearly, how the revolving door between oil and government positions , at all levels, has and continues to put our democracy at risk. When oil executives can write our environmental laws and set our safety and emissions standards, our democracy is not just standing at the edge of the grave, it has at least one foot in it.

How to transfer millions of dollars from our pockets to theirs is yet another angle, but I will leave Kevin Taft to show you that story.

Knowledge is power. We must understand how things really are in order to properly shape how we will go forward in making a world where all can be healthy and prosper equally in a clean and thriving world. We must elect politicians who know about this and are prepared to act on our behalf rather than only hear the silver tongues of the already wealthy.

Oil’s Deep State is a must read for everyone, but especially those who are active in our communities trying to advance an agenda that sees democracy as the way forward to a sustainable future for all. We must save it.

Kudos and great respect to author Kevin Taft for taking on this daunting project and to the publisher “James Lorimer & company Ltd” for the courage to take it on.

If local bookstores are sold out, try the publisher’s website. It’s that important!