June 28th, 1997

GREED
By Jackie Giuliano

In my years of studying the environment and our impact on it, I have searched for the reasons behind why we pollute, why we disconnect, and why we so easily turn our head away from the suffering of our neighbors. I have come to the conclusion that the answer is way simpler than I had previously believed.

It is greed.

Companies still manufacture DDT in plants along the Mississippi River, dumping millions of pounds of toxic effluent into its waters. DDT has long been banned in the U.S., but its manufacturer is allowed to export it to countries where it is still legal to use this toxic substance. The DDT, of course, eventually makes its way back to us on produce or in the bodies of migrating birds. How in the name of all that is sacred can a just government allow this to continue?

It is greed.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will not order airlines to implement a safety measure if it would be cheaper to pay wrongful death lawsuits. The FAA assigns a value of $2.4 million to a human life. If a safety measure will save 10 lives, but will cost $300 million to implement, then the FAA says it is more "cost effective" to pay the $240 million in lawsuits. How can this obscenity be allowed?

It is greed.

There is no finer example of the power of greed than the $368 billion "tobacco accord" that is now before the U.S. Congress. With this proposed agreement, one of the most powerful industries on Earth gets to:

1. continue to sell a deadly, addictive substance,
   
2. pay limited damages that will be recouped by higher prices paid by the addicted consumer,
   
3. prohibit the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from declaring nicotine an addictive, controlled substance for 12 years (enough time for the executives to protect their funds and find other work), and
   
4. prohibit future sufferers of cigarette-induced disease from suing them.

Wow, what an incredible deal this is. In fact, tobacco company investors are so happy that the companies stocks went up after the signing of the agreement. This is a vitally important agreement that we should all pay close attention to. If ever you needed to write your elected representatives, now is the time. The outcome of this agreement will set the tone for corporate dealings for the next century. If it passes as is, a powerful message will be sent around the world: that the health of corporations is much more important than the health of people. We cannot let this happen.

I decided to send a brief letter directly to the President. I sent it via e-mail through the "Executive Office of the President" web site (see "Resources" at the end of this article). Here is what I wrote:

Dear Mr. President,

I urge you to insist that the agreement that has been drafted with the tobacco companies be strengthened. Do not sign it as it is. In my view, it is unacceptable for a number of reasons. My father died a few days ago after smoking most of his life. It will never be proven, but I am sure the deadly drugs he was ingesting in every cigarette influenced his colon cancer.

The tobacco agreement does the following UNACCEPTABLE things:

1. ties the hands of the FDA and prevents them from declaring nicotine a dangerous drug for 12 years! This feels like a blatant attempt on the part of the tobacco company owners to get enough time to increase their wealth before the eventual banning of cigarettes happens.
   
2. prohibits sufferers of the results of their greed from suing for "pain and suffering" damages.
   
3. suggests that a 10% decline in smokers due to the increased prices of cigarettes is acceptable. It is not. People all over the U.S. are addicted to a DANGEROUS LETHAL DRUG that our government is allowing to be sold purely for reasons of greed.

This situation is an embarrassment to the U.S. government. Scientists, health professionals, and now the tobacco companies themselves, say that cigarette smoking is deadly. Yet the product continues to be sold and the only reason is greed. The U.S. gets significant dollars from the sale of this drug and a few men in the tobacco businesses get richer and richer. How can you justify allowing this to continue? I suggest the following radical program:

1. the immediate classification of nicotine as a controlled substance.
   
2. the immediate closure of all the tobacco companies and a seizure of their money and assets (you would do this with any convicted drug dealer, wouldn't you?)
   
3. set up nationwide "cigarette rehab" sites, using tobacco company money. At the rehab sites, people get whatever treatment they need to end their addiction. All this is paid for by the tobacco company's money.
   
4. Tobacco company money would also be used to pay growers a settlement fee to end their production.
   
5. Criminal charges should be entered against the tobacco companies and their officers who have been involved in covering up the dangers of nicotine.
   
6. The U.S. must declare an interest in the international impact that tobacco has on the world. Nowhere in the tobacco agreements is there any mention that these companies continue to destroy the health of the world. They are not very concerned about the U.S. situation (which they are controlling very nicely) because they can do whatever they want internationally. We must become a leader in world health as well. These criminals hand out free cigarettes to teenagers at rock concerts in other countries! How can we stand by and allow this?

Thank you for considering these measures. Please take steps to be remembered as the first President who put the lives of the citizens of the world ahead of political or economic matters.

Sincerely,

Jackie Giuliano
Professor of Environmental Studies and Environmental Health
Antioch University, Los Angeles

Strong words, yes. But we must use strong words to end the greed. We must take an active role in calling things by their right name. We must no longer allow the "cost benefit analysis," the committee hearing, or the delayed implementation of environmental standards to make it easier for "business." And we must stop hiding behind the "every person has the right to do anything they want" mantra. This is simply not true.

I posed a question to my environmental science class last night. We were discussing smoking. One student was claiming that she and her entire family has smoked for years and never had any health problem (in fact, she used to take puffs of her grandmother's cigarette). I asked my students to think hard and try to come up with just one action that an individual can take that really and truly does not affect anyone else. I don't believe it can be done. Any reader of this series has contemplated the myriad of connections that exist between us all and the natural world.

Every flush of the toilet affects the health of people at the beach. Every breath taken affects the balance of the atmosphere and thereby impacts everything else on the planet. Every time you purchase one pound of meat, you are responsible for the 100,000 gallons of water used in its production and the pain and anguish of the animal who died for it. Every cigarette purchase supports the exploitation of the world's youth by the tobacco companies. Everything we buy supports the practices of the company making that product.

Once again, I ask you to notice, really notice, everything that is going on around you. Make conscious choices. Be mindful of all that you do. Every time you see something on the news or in the paper that bothers you, stop and write a letter or make a phone call. Just about every elected representative has a web site and e-mail, so it will only take you a moment. Don't buy from companies whose policies you can't support. And say "thank you" to companies who are "doing it right."

To live content with small means,
To seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion,
to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich,
to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly,
to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart,
to bear all cheerfully,
do all bravely,
await occasions,
hurry never -
in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious,
grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.
-- William Ellery Channing

RESOURCES 1. Contact the President through e-mail at http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/html/couples.html

2. To learn about what boycotts are taking place world wide, visit the Boycott Action News at http://www.coopamerica.org/mban.htm

3. To learn about the effect our food choices have on the world around us, visit Earthsave's site at http://www.earthsave.org/"> 4. For wonder, affordable videos on environmental and social issues, visit and support the Video Project at http://www.videoproject.org/videoproject/index.html. For specific information on the dumping of toxics into the Mississippi River, their video "We All Live Downstream" is a powerful accounting of this tragedy. Learn of it at http://www.videoproject.org/videoproject/we_all_live_downstream.html

5. For hints on how to stop the consumerism rollercoaster, visit Adbusters at http://www.adbusters.org./main.html

6. For help in noticing the subtleties around us, visit The Context Institute and read "In Context" magazine. It can be found at http://www.context.org/. Check out their Summer 1995 issue which was devoted to doing "Business on a Small Planet." The entire issue can be read at http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/TOC41.htm

7. And finally, if you live in the Los Angeles area, visit the Yoruba House to drum and celebrate the music and dance of the Earth. Learn about them at http://www.primenet.com/~yoruba/welcome.html. If you live elsewhere, find a drum circle where you live or start one of your own.