http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/pollution-corporate-crime.html




How to Challenge Corporate Power and Fight the Real Source of Pollution
We each have to make important changes but the corporations are in an eco-league of their own.
Mickey Z.
Fri Oct 9, 2009 13:32




Sure, we all know someone who doesn't recycle or uses his car for errands of less than three blocks or refuses to switch to CFL bulbs. And yes, we must help them recognize what desperately needs to be done. But despite all the greenwashing and social conditioning, multi-national corporations deserve the bulk of eco-blame. Pollution is corporate crime. Here's but one example of what I mean:

On December 2nd and 3rd, 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India became the site of the world's worst industrial disaster. According to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, "the plant began leaking 27 tons of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate. None of the six safety systems designed to contain such a leak were operational, allowing the gas to spread throughout the city of Bhopal . Half a million people were exposed to the gas and 20,000 have died to date as a result of their exposure."

"In addition to the dead, hundreds of thousands were injured, and thousands more deal with lingering maladies," writes Kyeann Sayer at TreeHugger. "Children born years later face reproductive problems and physical malformations. The original settlement between Union Carbide and India did not quantify these effects, and current definitions of corporate liability do not include them. Victims continue to struggle for redress from the Indian government and Dow Chemical (who bought Union Carbide)." Of course, Union Carbide has its side of the story but regardless, the struggle for justice continues.

Sort of makes you feel a little less guilty about those coffee grinds you forgot to compost last week, huh?

4 Simple Ways to Challenge Corporate Power Every Single Day

1. Identify corporate polluters. You get alerts when certain convicted criminals move into your neighborhood, so why not find out which polluters are near you and yours? And once you get the scoop, spread the word...loudly.

2. Boycotts. Vote with your dollar by not purchasing the products or services of corporations known to hurt the environment. Be sure to contact those corporations so they are aware of why their sales are plummeting.

3. Don't be a walking advertisement. If you discover a particular company engages in eco-practices you find offensive, you'd probably not want to buy and wear a shirt bearing their corporate logo. Even better, find a t-shirt that reflects your values.

4. Step away from the corporate life. Help decrease corporate power by re-creating community and frugality. Shop at local mom-and-pop stores, buy used, buy less, and encourage habits like freecycling, swap parties, and bartering.