Jun 15, 2010
"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be
simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor
weakness weakness." (Thoreau)
Being a father has been one of the seminal events in my life and to
have the joy of being a grandparent has just doubled the blessing. It
has also made me even more aware of my responsibility to my grandson and
his sisters and brothers around our precious planet.
All of us are anxiously waiting a fix to the devastating oil spill
that BP created in one of our most environmentally fragile regions in
North America. Let us also not forget the terrible destruction
Chevron/Texaco caused in the Ecuadorian Amazon (as of this writing, more
than 400 times the toxic wastes of the BP disaster), Shell in the
Congo, Exxon in Alaska, and all the other tragedies that result from
drilling, mining, cutting, and dredging. As I frequently discuss in
media interviews and public speeches, it is our job to be in a true
relationship with the environment. Just as a father guides his children
toward maturation, we must do the same for the environment. If we want
to save our lands, forests, air, and water, we must dream actively of
this better world.
While we encourage organic farmers and many types of companies to
turn toward green technology, we still are not doing nearly enough.
Every one of us must alter our dream, must continually re-create
ourselves and the societies we form. We must rescue our dreams of this
sustainable and just world from the clutches of sociopathic CEOs, public
relations con artists, greed-driven corporate policies, and the form of
predatory capitalism all of these promote.
When politicians run for office, they talk about "growing" the
economy. What they usually mean is manufacturing houses, cars,
appliances, computers, and other material products from cement, metal,
plastic and other raw materials that are mined from the Earth,
Pachamama. Such production consumes vast amounts of energy and causes
unquantifiable pollution. We see how these processes then create huge
trash piles of waste that are incompatible and harmful to the land and
the water surrounding them.
Our Founding Fathers would call on us to revolt and battle the
corporatocracy that has grown so selfish and greedy and so entrenched
that it threatens the security of our nation, the entire planet, and
indeed the very survival of our species and many other life-forms.
Now is the time for all fathers and mothers to parent our children to
not only dream for a more sustainable and positive world, but to also
demand it of ourselves and for future generations.
We can -- and must -- achieve this. I know you and I will continue
working very hard to complete our journey to success.
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John Perkins
John Perkins has written nine books that have been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than seventy weeks and translated into over thirty languages. His book--"New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" (Berrett-Koehler)--came out in 2016. His previous books include "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" (2005) and "Hoodwinked: An Economic Hitman Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded--and What We Need to Do to Remake Them" (2011). He has lectured at Harvard, Oxford, and more than 50 other universities around the world, and been featured on ABC, NBC, CNN, NPR, A&E, the History Channel, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Der Spiegel, and many other publications. For more information go to www.johnperkins.org.
"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be
simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor
weakness weakness." (Thoreau)
Being a father has been one of the seminal events in my life and to
have the joy of being a grandparent has just doubled the blessing. It
has also made me even more aware of my responsibility to my grandson and
his sisters and brothers around our precious planet.
All of us are anxiously waiting a fix to the devastating oil spill
that BP created in one of our most environmentally fragile regions in
North America. Let us also not forget the terrible destruction
Chevron/Texaco caused in the Ecuadorian Amazon (as of this writing, more
than 400 times the toxic wastes of the BP disaster), Shell in the
Congo, Exxon in Alaska, and all the other tragedies that result from
drilling, mining, cutting, and dredging. As I frequently discuss in
media interviews and public speeches, it is our job to be in a true
relationship with the environment. Just as a father guides his children
toward maturation, we must do the same for the environment. If we want
to save our lands, forests, air, and water, we must dream actively of
this better world.
While we encourage organic farmers and many types of companies to
turn toward green technology, we still are not doing nearly enough.
Every one of us must alter our dream, must continually re-create
ourselves and the societies we form. We must rescue our dreams of this
sustainable and just world from the clutches of sociopathic CEOs, public
relations con artists, greed-driven corporate policies, and the form of
predatory capitalism all of these promote.
When politicians run for office, they talk about "growing" the
economy. What they usually mean is manufacturing houses, cars,
appliances, computers, and other material products from cement, metal,
plastic and other raw materials that are mined from the Earth,
Pachamama. Such production consumes vast amounts of energy and causes
unquantifiable pollution. We see how these processes then create huge
trash piles of waste that are incompatible and harmful to the land and
the water surrounding them.
Our Founding Fathers would call on us to revolt and battle the
corporatocracy that has grown so selfish and greedy and so entrenched
that it threatens the security of our nation, the entire planet, and
indeed the very survival of our species and many other life-forms.
Now is the time for all fathers and mothers to parent our children to
not only dream for a more sustainable and positive world, but to also
demand it of ourselves and for future generations.
We can -- and must -- achieve this. I know you and I will continue
working very hard to complete our journey to success.
John Perkins
John Perkins has written nine books that have been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than seventy weeks and translated into over thirty languages. His book--"New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" (Berrett-Koehler)--came out in 2016. His previous books include "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" (2005) and "Hoodwinked: An Economic Hitman Reveals Why the World Financial Markets Imploded--and What We Need to Do to Remake Them" (2011). He has lectured at Harvard, Oxford, and more than 50 other universities around the world, and been featured on ABC, NBC, CNN, NPR, A&E, the History Channel, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Der Spiegel, and many other publications. For more information go to www.johnperkins.org.
"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be
simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor
weakness weakness." (Thoreau)
Being a father has been one of the seminal events in my life and to
have the joy of being a grandparent has just doubled the blessing. It
has also made me even more aware of my responsibility to my grandson and
his sisters and brothers around our precious planet.
All of us are anxiously waiting a fix to the devastating oil spill
that BP created in one of our most environmentally fragile regions in
North America. Let us also not forget the terrible destruction
Chevron/Texaco caused in the Ecuadorian Amazon (as of this writing, more
than 400 times the toxic wastes of the BP disaster), Shell in the
Congo, Exxon in Alaska, and all the other tragedies that result from
drilling, mining, cutting, and dredging. As I frequently discuss in
media interviews and public speeches, it is our job to be in a true
relationship with the environment. Just as a father guides his children
toward maturation, we must do the same for the environment. If we want
to save our lands, forests, air, and water, we must dream actively of
this better world.
While we encourage organic farmers and many types of companies to
turn toward green technology, we still are not doing nearly enough.
Every one of us must alter our dream, must continually re-create
ourselves and the societies we form. We must rescue our dreams of this
sustainable and just world from the clutches of sociopathic CEOs, public
relations con artists, greed-driven corporate policies, and the form of
predatory capitalism all of these promote.
When politicians run for office, they talk about "growing" the
economy. What they usually mean is manufacturing houses, cars,
appliances, computers, and other material products from cement, metal,
plastic and other raw materials that are mined from the Earth,
Pachamama. Such production consumes vast amounts of energy and causes
unquantifiable pollution. We see how these processes then create huge
trash piles of waste that are incompatible and harmful to the land and
the water surrounding them.
Our Founding Fathers would call on us to revolt and battle the
corporatocracy that has grown so selfish and greedy and so entrenched
that it threatens the security of our nation, the entire planet, and
indeed the very survival of our species and many other life-forms.
Now is the time for all fathers and mothers to parent our children to
not only dream for a more sustainable and positive world, but to also
demand it of ourselves and for future generations.
We can -- and must -- achieve this. I know you and I will continue
working very hard to complete our journey to success.
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