I just watched the movie Crude last night. It is not a really crude movie, it is actually a documentary about a legal battle going on between people in Ecuador and the company Texaco/Chevron. Basically the people there were exploited for their natural resources and abandoned to the toxic waste and damaged environment. They now drink and bathe in polluted waters. Their food comes out of these waters too, or drinks the water, and is thus also poisoned. I won't do into all the details, because you can watch the movie for yourself, but it a really sad tale of greed on one hand, politics, and people who were not involved with the initial crime who are now in charge of the company that was. It actually makes for a much more complicated moral play than you might think. That is to say, it is easy to simply blame the big company who has lots of money and try to take their money just because they have it. But it truly is not as simple as that. Corruption between the government and the company was rampent, I am sure, and for the last 15 years a government run oil company has taken over for Texaco. So it is hard to tell where the blame for damage in specific locations should fall.
But the environmental damage is clear. And it certainly can be traced back to Texaco's arrival on the scene. The kind of devastation left behind would NEVER be allowed here in the states. The suffering of the children there is horrendous.
As I watched I asked myself, "WHY?" Why do mothers keep bathing their children in the polluted waters? Why do men continue to drink from the streams? Why are all the clothing and the animals washed there too? Even an unpolluted stream can make someone sick, let alone one that makes its way through oil waste! And if all else fails, why don't these people leave and head to safer ground?
But for the poverty stricken people of that place, options are few. They are living on ancestral lands, and there is no indoor plumbing, let alone bottled water or purification systems...
And this is where the best part of the story comes in. The legal fight regarding Texaco's payment to the people may go on for a long time still...10 or 15 years, but Tudie Styler, wife of the singer Sting, didn't think the people should wait that long. She decided to act. She helped set up rain water collection and purification systems for the people in affected areas of Ecuador. She brought them clean water!! What a gift in a world where the water is literally killing you.
It doesn't solve all the problems, but it takes a big leap toward solving one of the problems, and that is a start. Check out the link below to read about this story. It is really great.
2020 Elections - The Hook
5 years ago
It's true, this case is complicated. But I agree with your point: the environmental damage is clear and there's no denying that it started when Texaco (now Chevron) arrived and began drilling. They have the resources and funds to help those they left behind who are now sick and dying. But instead they are filing one lawsuit after another, denying any responsibility and distracting the public from the real issue. You can get more info about the case at www.thechevronpit.blogspot.com.
ReplyDeleteThis says 2 things to me.
ReplyDelete1. (Most important) There are so many things that individuals can do if they decide to do something. Not that we have the economic power that Trudie Styler has, but we have our own spheres and I for one should do more than I do.
2. Huge capitalistic companies are monstrous.
Lucy, Thanks for your comments. It is so true. I thought about the scenario where Texaco/Chevron can just keep feeding small amounts of money at the problem until the little guy on the other side simply cannot continue. It is a small cost for the big company because they are avoiding a potentially huge (27 billion) pay out. So money literally prevents justice from happening. It is against everything I believe in about a just and verdant society. And yet it continues. So I am adding Cheveron to my boycott list along side BP. Of course I am sure the others are just as bad. It is just that I don't know what evils they are committing.
ReplyDeleteBRD, you are so right. It is MOST important that we all have power to do something. We may not be able to right this injustice, but we can right the injustices in our neighborhoods.
Also, BRD, I do disagree with your adjective. It is not capitalism that makes a company monstrous. It is greed. Socialistic and communistic systems are just as haunted by greed. But we have allowed companies to grow so large in this country that they are unstoppable, too big to fail, and politically powerful. They can then use the capitalism of our country or the corruption and poverty of other countries to do whatever they want.
Yes cadh8. You are right that a philosophical idea like the capitalistic idea or ideal is not bad in itself. It just seems like we need another idea right now. We need an idea that will address the problem of a growing and very exaggerated class/economic stratification that respects captitalism and the work ethic and human endeavor, but that allows for the kind of success for individuals that the founders of our nation's capitalistic system envisioned.
ReplyDeleteI am also very excited to see someone doing something! It's great to see someone who actually has the money and the power to fix the problem just saying, "Well, let's fix it!"
ReplyDeleteRegarding capitalism, etc etc - I think more and more I'm coming to a point where I feel at peace with the idea of a regulated capitalist system - as capitalist as possible, but with plenty of checks and limits to keep big companies in check and to keep particularly bad companies on notice. The problem is, that's not the system we have at all. We don't even have a strict capitalist system - that would be better. What we have is a system that actually rewards greed with bonuses - such as, for example, wall street bailouts, which while perhaps necessary, are also evil. We reward huge factory farms over small farmers who care about their animals. We have a system with tax loopholes that can only be exploited by those rich and tricky enough to find them. And there are too few politicians bold enough to say, for example, yes, you should pay per pound for the waste you spew into the environment, because you are destroying common resources when you do it, and the public needs to be paid back for what you steal from them. That's not anti-capitalist - it's basically 'you break it, you buy it' applied to the people who can actually afford to pay.
I think the biggest thing the government needs to have the power and the will to do is dole out big - even crippling - fines to companies who ruin other people's resources. If a few Texacos and BPs and Chevrons go bankrupt, then others will have the incentive to change. They're not going to change out of the goodness of their hearts -we know that.
Thanks to all of you for your insightful comments. This blog is great!
Crabby Hiker...all I can say is EXACTLY. You summarized it very well. I just read a book called Superfreakonomics. I highly recommend it. IT talks about the fact that we (personally and as multi billion dollar companies) do what we have a powerful incentives to do. So we must change the incentives. We can't just expect people to do what is right just because it would be "nice".
ReplyDeleteBRD, I agree with you too. We need NEW ideas, new systems. not the rehashing of tired old ways of doing business.