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Battle the Corporatocracy by Demanding Sustainability
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.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
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.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.