Chris Dunfield
Capitola, Ca, 95010
(510)332-8313
ChrisDunfield@gmail.com
12 May 2013
Dear Millennial
Generation and youth society,
Today, the division
of wealth and poverty in the global society has only been growing. As
citizens of this world, we all have a responsibility to uphold the
health of the environment and each other. The destruction of the
environment is possibly the biggest problem we face today, one that
we can all relate to. Furthermore, the unethical economic policies
put in place by corporations hold undeveloped nations in an abyssal
hole, unable to move upwards. Corporations-- conglomerate, private,
multinational companies-- create a system of environmental
degradation coupled with economic dependence and the oppression of
these undeveloped nations that now solely rely on exports. This being
of such vast importance, it is necessary we understand the ways that
these corporations are affecting everyone. This letter will address
that effect of corporate culture on the global society.
Corporate control of
society has many adverse effects. One such effect is the
conglomeration of media companies, which has created a way to
broadcast a thought up and created culture to millions of people
every day. People are unknowingly allowing horrible things to happen
everyday and are trapped in a global market place that is almost
inescapable. Town halls are now malls. Trapped in omnipotent
“free-market”, we are losing our democracy. You all must become
aware of these actions being taken by corporations because they
affect your futures, as well as those of your children.
Reliance of
exporting goods in undeveloped nations, a system of dependence set up
by corporations, has caused austerity programs in both the United
States and elsewhere. Austerity means cutting of social services and
usually manifests in cutting of funding for things like education--
one of if not the most important thing needed for us to make change
in society. This system of dependence only increases the gap between
the poor and the rich, the power of corporations, the rate of waste
and pollution to the environment. The business perspective views
things in terms of how little harm is possible;
the more healthy perspective is how
much harm is probable.
The effect on the
environment from the global monopolization of industry that these
corporations exert is terrible. Multinational corporations have the
power to override international laws on trade and environmental
waste, thereby either directly or indirectly causing widespread
destruction. The amazon rainforest, for example, is currently being
deforested at least an acre per second. The result of this is
widespread soil erosion, water and air pollution, loss of
biodiversity, the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and
increase threat of global warming, and finally the spread of malaria
epidemics-- yet this is all done in the name of profit—for whom I
might ask? Not the environment, and certainly not the natives..
In India, the
degradation of the environment caused by the corporate companies can
be exemplified by the Coca-Cola company. There, the Coca Cola company
took water at such rates that it was affecting the local environment
and peoples, “In March 2004, local official in Kerala shut down a $
16 million Coke bottling plant blamed for drastic decline in both
equanimity and quality of water available to local farmers and
villagers.” Clearly, without our awareness we are
being taken advantage of and marketed a harmless and joy-filled
product, like Coca-Cola, when in reality it has only been for the
worse. Many such examples can be listed, but they generally point to
the same conclusion: that we cannot treat corporation like people,
that these corporations are practicing unjust methods of increasing
the profit margins, and that we as a community must do something to
stop it.
It is important
that we all make these steps to change our consumption habits and
voice out to limit the power of these corporations, as well as care
and help maintain the health of the environment! To help empower
change, we can buy local, sustainable, and environmentally products--
be smart about our energy consumption-- and exercise our rights as
human beings in saying no, for these are our futures and together we
have the power to change how they come out. If ignored, the
destruction of the environment and of societies is almost guaranteed.
Without movement to create real
change, people will be stuck in systems of tyrannical
oppression.. We must be adopt a planetary environmental perspective
instead of a global business perspective-- without such, we are
doomed to destruction of our own world and regression of culture and
society.
Works Cited
CARRAWAY, LESLIE N. American Midland Naturalist. Jul2011, Vol. 166 Issue 1, p1-12. 12p.
Hawes, Colin.
China Journal. Jan2008, Issue 59,
p33-61. 29p. 1 Chart
Moore,
Daniel. "Amazon Rainforest Deforestation..." AMAZON
RAINFOREST DEFORESTATION. Unique South America Travel
Experience, n.d. Web. 26 May 2013.
http://www.unique- southamerica-travel-experience.com/amazon-rainforest-deforestation.html.
Stecklow, Steve. "How a Global Web of Activists Gives Coke Problems in India." IndiaResource.Org. Wall Street Journal, 07 June 2005. Web. 26 May 2013. <http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2005/1062.html>.