One can’t help thinking there is something wrong when the people trying to protect the environment are locked up and the people destroying the environment run free.
In North America, Europe and around the world, individuals are arrested, jailed and badly treated for their efforts to stop mountaintop removal, fracking, oil pipelines, dams and other projects and infrastructure that are damaging the environment.
At the most, big companies, if they are brought to account at all for oil spills or other serious incidences of pollution or environmental degradation, get fined with little impact on their bottom line. If anything, the compensation and bonuses of the CEOs are likely to go up.
It is an upside-down world. The problem lies with governments and companies which favor profits and economic growth at any cost, legal systems that if anything is getting tougher and more restrictive in terms of the right to protest, and judicial systems that appear skewed in favor of big business. And it does not help having media companies unwilling to rock the boat.
Warnings ignored
Periodic warnings by influential figures, including presidents of the United States (remember President Dwight D. Eisenhower on the dangers posed by the military industrial complex), have not been heeded. Government promises of more sustainable energy policies are largely just words.
People take action
In desperation, individuals and small groups are putting themselves on the line to take action to protect the environment.
In the U.S. state of Texas, protestors are currently attempting to block the building of the Keystone XL pipeline and are being beaten, tased, pepper sprayed and jailed for their actions.
In India, protestors who stood on the beach and buried themselves in the sand to protest against a nuclear power station were beaten and arrested.
Judicial system skewed
The judicial systems seldom favor the rights of an individual, instead favoring companies and the influential.
The law and judicial system is often skewed in favor of big business and against the common citizen.
In other cases, there are allegations that local authorities and businesses collude to get rid of activists. In Cambodia, the efforts of forest protector Chut Wutty lead to him being shot dead. Nisio Gomes, chief of a Brazilian tribe, struggled to protect the land from ranchers. He was shot down in November.
According to Global Witness, the killing of activists has happened in at least 34 countries, in both the developed and developing world, with more than 700 killed defending the environment and human rights over the last decade.
Running roughshod over the planet
In democracies, ordinary people appear to have little or no say over policies pursued by governments and companies that wreck the environment, plunder the oceans, and threaten biodiversity.
Given the damage being done and the serious crisis the world is facing, changes need to be made to obligate governments to put the environment and people’s well-being ahead of profits. A radical rethink is needed. Restrictions and legislation need to be brought in to hold companies accountable.
The pundits will grumble that this will cost jobs and profits. Such thinking is short-sighted.
Making this change is easier said than done. Governments have demonstrated all to clearly that they are unwilling to get the priorities right. Therefore, a sea-change is needed in how people and governments interact.
Governments should be servants of the people. And those in power need to listen to the people’s voice.
This may sound naive but unless people strive for change, we are stuck with the status quo.
