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A clip from the show “Landman” is going viral for its message to environmental activists looking to force the transition to less-reliable renewable energy.

The show, airing exclusively on Paramount+, is a dramatization of the oil boom in West Texas, and features Billy Bob Thorton as the landman of an oil company trying to take his business to the top. While the show itself is relatively new, this clip could give more people a reason to tune in.

Watch:

“Do you have any idea how much diesel they had to burn to mix that much concrete? Or make that steel and haul this s**t out here and put it together with a 450-foot crane?” Thorton’s character “Tommy,” asks.

“You wanna guess how much oil it takes to lubricate that f**king thing? Or winterize it? In its 20-year lifespan it won’t offset the carbon footprint of making it,” he continues. “And don’t get me started on solar panels and the lithium in your Tesla battery. And never mind the fact that, if the whole world decided to go electric tomorrow, we don’t have the transmission lines to get the electricity to the cities. It’d take 30 years if we started tomorrow.”

While the show may be a work of fiction, it addresses real-world concerns that many have.

“And, unfortunately, for your grandkids, we have a 120-year petroleum-based infrastructure. Our whole lives depend on it,” Thorton adds, pointing out just how many products Americans use daily that rely on petroleum products.

“And hell it’s in everything. That road we came in on. The wheels on every car ever made, including yours. It’s in tennis rackets and lipstick and refrigerators and antihistamines. Pretty much anything plastic. Your cell phone case, artificial heart valves, any kind of clothing that’s not made from animal or plant fibers, soap, f**king hand lotion. Garbage bags, fishing boats, you name it. Every f**king thing.”

Then comes the microphone drop.

“And you know what the kicker is? We’re gonna run out of it before we find its replacement.”

“It’s the thing that’s gonna kill us all, as a species” his young female companion spits.

“No, the thing that’s gonna kill us all is running out before we find an alternative,” Thorton’s character scoffs. “And believe me, if  Exxon thought them f**king things right there were the future, they’d be putting them all over the g**damn place. Getting oil out of the ground’s the most dangerous job in the world. We don’t do it because we like it, we do it because we run out of options. And you’re out here trying to find something to blame for the danger besides your boss. There ain’t nobody to blame but the demand that we keep pumping it.”

Sierra Marlee
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