111 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 53 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 9/18/14

Corporate Personhood Is the Ebola Virus of Climate Chaos

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   19 comments

Harvey Wasserman
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Harvey Wasserman
Become a Fan
  (22 fans)
Ebola virus virion
Ebola virus virion
(Image by (From Wikimedia) CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith, Author: CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith)
  Details   Source   DMCA
>
Unrestrained corporate power is the Ebola virus of our global ecological crisis. Rooting it out will demand a whole new level of resistance.

The worldwide march for the climate this weekend is focussed on moving us to a Solartopian energy supply, a green-powered Earth.

The core engine of our economy must at last be made directly accountable to humankind and our Mother Earth. Until that happens, we are an endangered species.

But those who march must also focus on the real core problem: the nature of the modern corporation.

As currently structured, the corporation's sole mandate is to make profit. Its insatiable need for more and more money, and its immunity from the consequences of its actions, are unsustainable in any sense.

Its fossil fuels heat our planet. Its atomic reactors threaten us all.

Meanwhile, solar, wind and other Solartopian technologies plunge in price while surging in efficiency. It's now abundantly clear they can power our civilization cleaner, cheaper, more reliably and with more job creation than old King CONG (Coal, Oil, Nukes and Gas).

In a free and open marketplace, they would have won long ago.

But it's the inherent nature of corporations to HATE the marketplace.

They always demand monopoly. They push complex, capital-intensive, centralized technologies that only they can control.

They fight off any social or ecological responsibilities. And they do not tolerate competition.

Not on the internet, where they want to kill net neutrality and monopolize the flow of ideas and information.

Nor from green energy technologies that threaten their profits and control.

Windmills have been around for centuries. The photovoltaic cell was born six decades ago. A 1952 federal report predicted 13 million solar-heated U.S. homes by 1975.

By all rights, we should already have a green-powered planet.

Today's climate crisis was avoidable.

But in the fossil/nuke world it currently rules, King CONG is above the law. It's been cheaper for the fossil/nuke corporations to wreck the Earth--and our health--than to protect them.

So now we must take the next step.

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Rate It | View Ratings

Harvey Wasserman Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Harvey is a lifelong activist who speaks, writes and organizes widely on energy, the environment, election protection, social justice, grass-roots politics and natural healing, personal and planetary.He hosts "California Solartopia" at KPFK-Pacifica and "Green Power & Wellness" atprn.fm. (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Will 9 GOP governors put Romney in the White House?

Four Ways Ohio Republicans are Already Stealing the 2012 Election

Toll of U.S. Sailors Devastated by Fukushima Radiation Continues to Climb

Is Fukushima now ten Chernobyls into the sea?

Humankind's Most Dangerous Moment: Fukushima Fuel Pool at Unit 4. "This is an Issue of Human Survival."

Japan's Quake Could Have Irradiated the Entire US

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend