I thought it would be interesting today to anthropomorphize a corporation since I love to do that so much with the animals and other creatures of our planet. Heck, I even like to give Earth the characteristics of a graceful warrior and serene being. Hmmm. Isn’t there a womanifesto out there somewhere that mentions the graceful warrior?
OK. I confess. I absolutely idolize my dear Gaea and Gaia, her physical manifestation. She is the finest example of a Woman Not Waiting out there and truly a force to be reckoned with while at the same time nurturing, wise, loving, and infinitely patient. She is also the most compassionate teacher although her students often choose not to listen.
So let’s examine one such student of Gaia who decided to drop out of in pre-school. Yes, the terrible toddler – the corporate entity.
If you are interested in understanding how a business platform for commerce and riches weaseled its way into obtaining legal rights as a “person” in the mid-1800s and enjoys ever increasing rights over and above a real person, the documentary The Corporation is an excellent resource. The history of mob “toddlerism” has its root in, you guessed it, the mastery of money over the human slave.
And nowhere has this selfish nose mining, string pulling, whining, tantrum throwing, and reckless behaviour been more destruction than in the tar sandbox (well actually it is rampant in the mining industry too, and then the agri-business industry, and also the factory-farm industry, and let’s not forget the fisheries, and…your get the picture).
The toddlers playing in the tar sandbox have not developed their great faculties of cause and effect.They just aren’t mature enough to realize that drinking the tailing water is not a good thing. So let’s take a moment of silence out of appreciation for their enormously powerful sense of curiosity and exploration and then lay down the rules.
“Now Mikey, we all have to share, remember?” Gaia attempts to explain.
“No I don’t…it’s mine mine mine!” And thus the legal and environmental stomping begins.
It is unconscionable to think that YOU as an individual would be legally allowed to dump any of your garbage into the municipal water well without suffering a penalty from local authorities. However, as a corporation you get the right to dump your chemical poop straight into rivers, into oceans, into the ground and the underlying water table (as in the case of fracking), and into lakes,. You can even create your own industry-made lakes called tailing ponds.
Take for example, the following headline: Enbridge Rejects Ontario Demands On Pipeline. Now replace that headline with “YOUR NAME” Rejects Ontario Demands On Poopline. Do you think you would be able to get away with this?
How about this headline: Americans Finding Themselves Powerless to Stop YOUR NAME From Taking Their Land? Would you be able to dig a trench to put your poopline under the Tanciar’s swimming pool in Fenton, Michigan?
Or what if you took your fancy pail and shovel and did this to the local forest? Too bad for the poor animals living on the wrong side of the tracks, eh?
So how can we rein in these spoiled toddlers and teach them the rules of fair play?
Well, it turns out that all land in Canada is “leased” from the Crown. The government essentially owns it all; individuals are simply tenants with the purchase process acting more like a front-loaded rental agreement. For example, if there happen to be endangered species living on someone’s “property”, the government can designate it as a protected marshland.
However you choose to use your land, you must have the proper permits and permissions from the government…regardless of which political party is in power.
Did you hear that Mikey? The land is not yours, yours, yours— even the tar sandbox you think you’re the boss of.
Now THAT is the best news I’ve heard so far regarding the Tar Sands.
The government has the power to dictate that all Gaia abuse cease immediately and the “owners” vacate the property unless they comply…and we have the power to put pressure on them by writing letters, signing petitions, joining protests, and educating our social circles until 2015 and if THEY don’t comply…vote them out!