• (a) the fossil fuels' depletion problem as I perceived it 30 years ago,
• (b) the lack of a responsible energy policy in America, and
• (c) the plagiarism by Business Week Magazine of my energy article (written in 1979). 

NOTE: You could click in underlined words -phrases- to go directly to the page covering that topic.

• PREAMBLE:
• Since childhood I've been concerned with the fast global depletion of fossil oil reserves.
• Four years after my Engineering graduation I wrote an article on this subject. The article was submitted to several major magazines and newspapers.  It was also sent to the White House.
• At the time my findings were innovative, and contradicted the generalized idea that fossil reserves were plentiful.  It was an era when we suffered a terrible oil crisis (1978).   Jimmy Carter was President, and the "crazy" Ayatollah of Iran was looked at as the only culprit for all that pain.
• Saudi Arabians were also being portrayed as "greedy" in about every American newspaper.  The US Congress and the White House agreeing in unison with the press. 
• When I say "every  newspaper"  I am referring to the opinion expressed by -virtually- the whole media, and that includes the Business Week Magazine.

•   A couple of weeks after having received my article, Business Week Magazine published a "Special Issue On Energy" (July 30, 1979).  On it, they were expressing "novel ideas" 180 degrees apart from their previous position on the energy issue, as they had stated the previous month (June 18, 1979).   Yet, they denied having infringed my freelance copyrights.

• Not having copyrighted the article -my Lawyer advised- he would not be able to take the case in contingency. When my money run out, I had to quit the plagiarism battle.  Yet, even without a copyright, it was quite clear that I had submitted those papers, not just to Business Week Magazine but to several other major magazines and newspapers, even the White House. What a frustration!
• As my lawyer wrote to them, they had expanded their article using the interesting knowledge points that I had brought up in my inedited article.  Moreover, they did it so carelessly that they even used some of my own phrases and terms.
• Since I had sent an "unsolicited" article, the only feedback I received from several journal Editors were  "Thanks, but no thanks!" replies .  That includes the reply from the Business Week Magazine's Energy Editor, Carol E. Curtis).
• The fact that I did not have any recognition for these interesting findings had grave repercussions in my professional life.  I had a futile interview with Exxon Corporation a few weeks later in Houston.
• After that injustice, I lost a great deal of my lifelong interest in fossil-fuel studies.
• Despite that, twelve years later (on March of 1991) I wrote a short book on the subject

  •  ( "US ENERGY POLICY : S.O.S. -Scared Ostrich Syndrome"),

  which -unsuccessfully- I tried  to publish at the time. Partly, an update in energy policy (1979->1991).

  • Many pages of my book are shown at different places of this website (as I present my allegations of plagiarism by Business Week Magazine).  However, you can read ALL pages of that book at www.PetrolSOS.com (100 JPG scans). It is also available on a single PDF file for a $5 donation (please, send request to Xuna@MSN.com ).
    • This book was a manuscript draft, just to entice Publishers into contracting me to do a better written document. At the time I was working -as Engineer- for Storage Technology (STK) in Colorado, had to write at home after work. Therefore that concise manuscript was rushed.
    • Yet, the issue was very timely (oil field in Kuwait were on fire) and the plagiarism by Business Week Magazine should have been worth the Publisher's attention as to review and corroborate my allegations.  After all this was not done by a small-town paper, but by a prestigious national magazine. Unfortunately, I did not find a mentor to take that project on.
  • Copies of the manuscript were sent to 15 potential Publishers, the listing can be found here. On that same page you can read the "introductory letter" accompanying that book.

Business Week -in the 1970s (when the Internet was yet to be created)- probably thought that a small guy will never find a vast forum to vent this kind of injustice   Well, times have changed! 

That article sent to the US Congress has been presented on this website.  I also have displayed all communication we had.  That is, all correspondence between Business Week Magazine and the firm of Attorneys (CONDON and FORSYTH, Ave. of the Americas, NYC, NY) who took the case on its merits (in contingency, for a while).

I have included scans with all the evidence: (a) parallelism of knowledge points, (b) paraphrasing of some keywords, and (c) some other peculiar similarities in terminology used.  Please, ponder about the infinitesimal probability that (a), (b) and (c) were result of their "independent study and analysis" as they claimed.

• Have you heard of applying DNA techniques to sexual crimes committed in the 70s and 80s?  All over the world, the police has been able to apprehend quite a few unsuspecting predators who had thought they would never be caught.
• I just found out that some school districts are using a software package that determines if there has been plagiarism of a literary piece.  We did not have that in the 70s.
• I am hopeful that -if I get proper support to reveal this injustice- with that kind of "software sieve" used as a "lie detector" we would be able to confirm that such prestigious magazine and their pompous editors are culprits of the "lowest-of-the-low mischief in journalism": stealing an article from a freelancer, with no regard for the author's rights and no remorse whatsoever.
  • Lived with that thorn in my heart 30 years, yet I'm hopeful that justice will prevail.

Why do not forget?  Well, just think of the benefits to our "hooked on oil" society if somebody (with the academic credibility and the proper recognition as fossil-fuel's expert) had been able to bring a clear message -3 or 4 decades in advance- about a future oil scarcity, and about a potential atmospheric catastrophe. These days, when most people are starting to become convinced that this "pessimistic current of thought" is actually quite correct, ... would not you agree that misappropriating such a visionary article is not just unfair to the Writer, but also very unfair to our society? 

Has the sin -from that perspective- been big enough for you to give support to this cause, and bring the culprits to the spotlight?  If you can do something about it, please do!

We are talking here not just of an energy crisis lurking, but there is also a huge issue of a green Planet in distress, the waters of the ocean rising, and flooding of square miles of lowlands.

Soon our children will be saying goodbye to those beaches we all loved and enjoyed. Then millions of people will have to abandon cities and relocate little by little to higher ground. Both crisis are going to affect all of us to some extent, but it is going to be life-and-death reality for many sea-level countries around the globe.

Somebody with better writing skills -but less scientific brain- "impersonated" this professional, impeding Mr. Xuna from getting the recognition and -merited- credibility to which he was entitled to.

As an ostrich would do, we successfully buried our head in the sand for many decades, but this path will only make matters worse for our children.  Shame on us! Shame on you, Business Week Magazine!

Being Spanish my vernacular language, my English grammar at the time (and still today) was not Shakespearian by any stretch of the imagination.  But the book's subject matter, and the article's content was extraordinarily timely, and interesting.  What a travesty has been committed! ... and with impunity!

Sincerely,

• John ("Juan") Xuna
• Stuart, FL 34997
• (772) 324-1123  , fax: (561) 210-1370
• Xuna@MSN.com

Clarification: Was born Modesto Álvarez.  All documents from that era have my birth name.