Values: Amazon v The Amazon?
This question probably sums up some of the major challenges of our times:
- Stuff v the planet
- Amazon: a prime example of corporates not paying taxes at the cost of funding public services (health, education, infrastructure)
- The Amazon: Electing leaders who seek profits over people
- Bonkers decision making
- The backlash from customers
- A new generation of leaders saying ‘enough’
- The cost of capitalism
Stuff: We ALL have a responsibility in this. We can make decisions as individuals, families, businesses, leaders and communities: we can choose glass over plastic; ethically produced versus not ethically produced; keeping our cell phones a couple of years v needing the newest and latest every year. We can choose to do business with people who make contributions to our community or make donations to charities. As individuals we have massive power to shape the values of businesses we buy from.
Amazon: The biggest company in the world Amazon earned US$11b this year and is owned by the richest man in the world. Amazon pays no taxes and Bezos has recently cut the health insurance of his lowest paid workers.
The Amazon: Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s newly elected leader believes it is his right to clear The Amazon rain forest by logging or burning so big business can take over the land for extensive farming. This risks the extinction of all manner of species; destroys the habitat of the tribes that live there and puts air quality at risk risking for the entire planet.
Bonkers decision making: (spoiled for choice here but this one literally came through via social media today and says it all):
‘‘The proposed Adani coal mine, which will be Australia's biggest, has been granted unlimited access to groundwater by the Queensland government in a move farmers fear will drain huge amounts of water from the Great Artesian Basin. According to a copy of Adani's water licence signed last Wednesday and obtained by Fairfax Media, the $16 billion Carmichael mine merely needs to monitor and report the amount of water it extracts under a permit that runs until 2077.’
Australia currently has a massive drought problem; farmers are literally walking off their land and yet the one thing they need to farm and to feed Australians – water – is being gifted to a company that mines fossil fuels. –
The backlash: Once again, no shortage of examples, but businesses with a social responsibility will state their case:
‘H&M, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, has said that it will stop purchasing leather from Brazil over concerns that the country’s cattle industry has contributed to the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. The announcement of the temporary ban is the second to hit the South American country after a spike in rainforest fires this year drew global outcry. Last week, VF Corporation, which includes international brands like Timberland and The North Face, announced a temporary suspension of purchases of Brazilian leather, until its suppliers could prove they were not connected to any environmental harm.
A new generation of leaders: A little 16 year old eco-warrior has emerged and is taking on the world. Greta Thunberg socked it to Congress this week when she said:
“No matter how political the background to this crisis may be, we must not allow this to continue to be a partisan political question. The climate and ecological crisis is beyond party politics. And our main enemy right now is not our political opponents. Our main enemy now is physics. And we can not make ‘deals’ with physics.”
The cost of capitalism: I’m fully expecting a backlash here – and that’s OK. Just a wee note on the names I’ve already been called since I wrote the book of ‘Trump’ (and yes it is on Amazon!!) followed by ‘Leaders Behaving Badly’:
I’ve been called ‘a dumb woman...naive ..a bleeding heart ... a greenie .. left wing … a socialist … a liberal … a fascist … a liberal/fascist (a contradiction in terms I think) and a Marxist! All I want is for our planet to survive so my grandchildren and their grandchildren have a world to inherit and if I upset a naysayers, I won’t lose any sleep. YES capitalism has done a massive amount to raise millions of people out of poverty, but now we are starting the feel the ‘costs’ of capitalism; signs we can’t keep ignoring. Signs such as:
Inequality, waste, starvation, anti-social behaviour, danger (health and safety as a result of corporates cutting corners for profit), an undemocratic society, pollution, war, dictatorships and propaganda.
Surely, none of us can be happy with that? We can and must do better. Every social change we make as societies needs to be reviewed occasionally to assess the gains and the losses. It’s OK to tweek. It’s OK to say ‘does this decision serve us in the long term?’ It's OK to ask 'Who will this hurt?' It's OK to make adjustments.
‘Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth, these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women’s empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.’ Ban ki-Moon
Ann Andrews CSP. Author, speaker, profiler, Life Member PSA NZ
Further reading:
https://listverse.com/2012/01/16/top-10-disadvantages-to-capitalism/
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/oct/04/ontario-six-nations-nestle-running-water
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5 年I am aghast that Australia has done that deal with Adani.? If you could see the state of our river systems and the extreme drought affecting so many farmers....i beggars belief ??