Ribbon-Cutting the Sea Wall
The cartoon mocks corporate climate adaptation theater: the same fossil fuel company contributing to rising seas rebrands itself as the heroic protector against the damage, turning accountability into a photo-op.
A bright, celebratory ribbon-cutting at a waterfront promenade: oil company executives in crisp hard hats and eco-green ceremonial sashes smile for cameras as oversized scissors slice a ribbon stretched across a towering new sea wall labeled 'Community Protection Project.' The crowd applauds, but the composition reveals the joke immediately: just behind the wall, visible above it, an offshore drilling rig and refinery stacks with company logos loom on the horizon, actively pumping and smoking. Small details sharpen the hypocrisy—a flooded street map on the podium, a banner reading 'Building Resilience Together,' and a few residents ankle-deep in water off to the side while PR photographers crop the background.
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