Battle the Corporatocracy by Demanding Sustainability

by John Perkins

"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.