"The environmental movement discovered that to protect the environment, it had to confront power, corruption, and mendacity in the world of commerce." -Hawken, 59
While reading "The Rights of Business" in Blessed Unrest, I was reminded of Annie Leonard's (the Story of Stuff lady) latest web video. In this chapter Paul Hawken discusses the power of businesses and the power they hold over government. When reading about these multinational corporations (such as Exxon and Shell) I was picturing a giant machine. We discuss corporations as if they are people, when really, they are a label with multiple real persons behind them. In order to fully launch environmental change - clean energy, emphasis on mass transit, less housing developments - the power has to be returned to citizens. It is nearly impossible to shift America's solo commuter mindset when oil giants like Chevron block the view. This video addresses corporate funding for presidential campaigns but the visual images are what I was picturing while reading.
*This is just a thought post and does not count towards my weekly assignment. See below for week 2 post.
Emily! Even though your latest post, relating "The Story of Stuff" to Blessed Unrest, wasn't meant to be a post directly for class, I found it really intriguing. I really liked how you connected information from different terms (what we are supposed to be doing, really). It puts everything in perspective and shows how everything is connected. A lot of these major corporations are what is driving people in the wrong direction of not knowing where our products actually come from and who makes them or even what goes into them. This kind of relates back to the farmer who came and talked to our class about "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food." Your blog is great! Nice job!
ReplyDelete