When the Power Goes Off

Events of the past few weeks have again reinforced the awareness that as a society we are extremely vulnerable to extended electrical power outages.

In my world, three recent events have helped to focus my attention and concern. At the Annual General Meeting of Steinbach Housing, Inc. on June 27^th, it was reported that a faulty stand-by generator had recently been replaced with a new one. Shortly after the announcement, the power went out, leaving the gathering in semi-darkness. “Will the new, standby generator work?” could be heard here and there. Fortunately the power came back on in about a minute so the standby system did not get a workout.

Then about a week ago a severe storm passed through Prince Albert, Saskatchewan where my son is working at Camp Kadesh. In that case power was restored a day and a half later, just in time to begin their annual staff training sessions.

Last week Friday, my sister flew home to Virginia after spending a week with family here in Manitoba. She made it as far as Richmond and then was advised to seek shelter from the “derecho” storm instead of attempting the one-hour drive to her home. She barely made it into a motel before the deluge hit. As we all heard in the news, electrical power went down for three million people. Four days later, 1.2 million people still were without power, and that amid sweltering heat.

All this makes me wonder what impact an extended power outage would have on us in Southeastern Manitoba. Of course the winter season is of greatest concern, but our normal lives would come to a virtual standstill during any season of the year should our electrical power system fail for more than a few hours.

Most of us don’t want to think about how vulnerable our power supply really is and don’t make even minimal plans for life without electricity. There is a collective denial among us that extended power outages could happen where we live. We simply choose to believe that when the lights go out, they will be back on shortly. Sometimes that happens. What if it doesn’t?

Larger institutions in our area place their hope on stand-by generators. These are good for short-term outages, but are less reliable when the power stays off for extended periods of time. And even so, these generators do not bring power to the larger population in the area.

A sustainable solution to such an eventuality has become quite elusive because we have built dependency on electrical power into the fabric of our modern life styles. Our grandparents survived quite well without electricity and so could we if we put our minds to it. But we cannot ‘flick a switch’ to erase such dependency. We have to think long and hard about how to minimize our dependence on electricity.

The question is whether we have the courage and willingness to change our lifestyles to reduce the vulnerability we now live with.

Jack Heppner

Rethinking Global Finance (II)

Two  weeks ago I alerted readers to the fact that global financial institutions, like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), are presently in the process of rethinking the advice they give to governments around the world. They have become acutely aware that the present trajectory of financial practices is simply not sustainable.

Johnny West, founder of OpenOil, a Berlin-based consultancy in oil and other extractive industries, and columnist for Petroleum Economist, has written extensively about some of the new thinking that is happening in these global institutions.

At the heart of this re-orientation is the notion that much more of the profits of extractive industries like oil and mining should flow towards local governments. According to Paul Collier, governments should then use these funds to “Invest in investing: the creation not of industries but of the infrastructure to support them, that infrastructure being partly physical, such as roads and utilities, and partly social, such as developing trading and legal systems which encourage private investment.”

Unlike manufacturing that actually makes something people need, extractive industries are making massive profits by delivering products to people who own them in the first place. (Consider that in 2008 Exxon made a profit of $45 billion dollars – the largest profit ever recorded by a company.) Because of this unique dimension of extractive industries, it is argued that we can stay well within capitalist orthodoxy by also applying unique taxation practices for these industries without creating market distortions.

The traditional argument is that these massive profits are justified because of the huge risks these companies take in discovering their products. However, with present computerized data now available on the substructure of most of the earth’s surface, the risks are substantially reduced. Why, for example, should government not use this data to identify where oil and minerals are located and then auction off the rights of extraction to the highest bidder. Nova Scotia did just that recently. It invested $15 million in oil exploration and then sold extraction rights for $900 million. You could argue that the rightful owners got the lion’s share of the profits.

There is cause for concern, for example, when corporations are extracting large amounts of oil from some African countries which are largely fed by Save the Children or the World Food Program. What would happen if, in such cases, the IMF moved in to advise local governments to insist that most of those oil profits should go to feed their own people and strengthen local infrastructure?

Some of the impetus for this new way of thinking is coming from Latin America where an increasing number of countries are claiming ownership of their own oil and minerals. It is becoming clear, that if private companies want to stay in the game, they will have to be willing to make major concessions. The World Bank and the IMF should see the writing on the wall and begin advising governments differently in relation to their extractive industries.  

Jack Heppner

Rethinking Global Finance (I)

Most of the time we find ourselves preoccupied with personal and local issues with reference to developing sustainable lifestyles. In one sense that is appropriate because it is the sum of many individual choices that changes lifestyles generally in a region like Southeastern Manitoba. On occasion it is helpful, however, to raise our eyes to the global dynamics that either hinder or enhance sustainable lifestyles around the world.

Ever since World War II, two agencies that have impacted millions around the world are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They were created to assist developing countries to become economically viable. The World Bank would loan developing countries money for major projects designed to stimulate their economies. If a country had difficulty paying its debt, the IMF could be called upon for advice, additional monies or loan guarantees.

That was the theory. In reality it quickly became apparent that these agencies were the handmaidens of established governments and large corporations. In short, the following story was repeated around the globe: The World Bank persuaded developing countries to borrow money for projects to boost their economies. The money went directly to international corporations to build the projects but the debt was unloaded onto the developing country. When these loans could not be paid, the IMF came in to call for “structural adjustments” in exchange for debt reduction or further loan guarantees. These adjustments consisted of the three kingpins of neo-liberalism: privatization of public utilities, deregulation of industries and cuts to social spending. This, in turn, created an environment for international corporations to move in for the kill. (If you don’t believe this scenario, read “Confessions of an Economic Hitman,” by John Perkins, and “Shock Doctrine,” by Naomi Klein.)

This environment created a dynamic in which wealth inevitably flowed upward. The number of billionaires around the world began to mushroom while abject poverty continued largely unabated. And now even developed countries are beginning to look to the IMF to rescue their faltering economies. With most of the world’s wealth now in a few private hands, it is becoming clear that economies around the world are in deep trouble.

It is in this context that the World Bank and the IMF are attempting to re-invent themselves because the present trajectory is simply not sustainable. For the first time in history the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, is not an economist but an anthropologist and medical doctor who appears to be prepared to challenge status quo thinking at the World Bank. And the IMF is presently studying a paper proposing that extractive industries like oil and mining be taxed at a higher rate than other industries.

The IMF and the World Bank have a virtual monopoly on giving advice to governments about public finance and a whole lot else. So there is reason for optimism that the new winds blowing through these organizations will help to bring a greater degree of sustainability for economies around the world. More about this in two weeks.

Jack Heppner

Pesticide Ban in Manitoba

The Manitoba government recently gave notice that it is leaning toward banning the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes. We remain one of four provinces without such a regulation. So it appears likely that it is only a matter of time before Manitoba follows suit. 

Of course, there will be opposition from chemical companies. Like tobacco companies before them, the chemical industry continues to argue that there are no conclusive, scientific studies that prove that such chemicals are harmful to human health. And they may have a point. But just like any person of average intelligence knew a few decades ago that inhaling smoke was not healthy, so it is becoming increasingly clear that exposure to industrial chemicals can be harmful, especially to young children. There is no shortage of anecdotal evidence to support such an assertion.

Many will charge that such a ban is a threat to individual freedom; another example of the government telling me what I cannot do! I concede that sometimes government regulations are unfair and favor only certain sectors of society while, at the same time, harming others. However, from my point of view, this coming regulation will benefit us all in the end with respect to what really matters.

Most of us have been used to the “Betty Crocker” approach to maintain our lawns and gardens in the past half century or so. (Do you have a problem? Reach for the latest chemical and spread it around!) So the move toward a chemical-free approach is almost unthinkable. But one should remember that there were lots of lawns and gardens around before the age of unlimited access to chemicals.

Moving toward chemical-free lawns and gardens is not a regressive step, as some charge. Even while chemical usage was mushrooming, various groups and individuals suspicious of this new trend were developing techniques for chemical-free gardening. They discovered things that even our grandparents didn’t know. So the coming ban on pesticides does not spell a cataclysmic end to lawns and gardens.

What is required, however, is a reorientation of our approach to lawns and gardens. No longer able to “spray and forget,” we will have to enter into a long-term relationship with our soil and our plants to ensure a better future.

I offer a few pointers to help us move in that direction. Reduce the size of your lawn. Spread compost and aerate your lawn regularly. Don’t insist on a “monoculture” lawn. Remember that a healthy lawn is the best defense against unwanted weeds. I know, because it works for me. 

Similarly, in your garden, make generous use of compost, green manure and straw to create a vibrant soil and control weeds. Try companion planting and crop rotation. Reduce the size of your garden by making use of raised beds and vertical gardening techniques. And finally, don’t be afraid of getting some exercise in your garden.

In light of the coming ban on pesticides, it is fair to say that the best is yet to come!

 By Jack Heppner

Lights Out…

Although it was only 8:30 p.m. on February 9^th, the temperature outside had slipped to minus 25 Celsius. John and Mary were enjoying a quiet evening in their home on First Street in Steinbach when the lights went out.

“They’ll be back on in a few minutes,” declared John confidently.

Meanwhile Mary felt her way to a drawer where she found a candle. 

“Where are the matches, honey?” she called from the kitchen.

“Check the junk drawer in the utility room,” responded John.

Once a candle was lit, John and Mary huddled around it, even feeling somewhat romantic. By 10:00 p.m. the power was still off, and the temperature in the house had dropped by one degree.

“Let’s go to bed to wait this out,” said John. “We like it cool at nights anyway, and surely by morning everything will be back to normal.”

The next morning John stuck his foot out from under the covers. The cold shock quickly shot up to his groggy mind and suddenly he was wide awake. 

“Mary, wake up! The power’s still off!”

Once up and dressed in multiple layers they noticed the temperature in the house had dipped to 14 degrees.

“Let’s check the radio to see what’s happening,” muttered John under his breath.

“The only working radio we have is in the car,” replied Mary.

A few minutes later, huddled together in a cold car, they heard a Manitoba Hydro representative saying that the outage was widespread and that no one knew when the power would come back on. And, as though to comfort himself, he added, “But we know that everyone has a plan for such an emergency.”

“So what is our plan?” inquired Mary. Only silence from John.

“I know we’re out of milk,” said John, “so I’ll pop over to Extra Foods so we can at least have a normal breakfast.”

As John approached the supermarket he noticed the lights were out and no one was around.

Then he noticed a commotion around Main Bread and Butter. As he got closer he noticed a sign in the window, CASH ONLY.  “Lucky me,” he thought, “I have ten dollars in my wallet!” He managed to leave with a litre of milk in hand.

“So how do we cook our lunch?” Mary wondered after finishing their granola with milk.

“Hey, our barbeque has a cooking element on it! I’ll haul it out,” John answered cheerfully as though congratulating himself.

By evening the house had cooled to eight degrees. “Let’s go to bed early and just hope and pray for the best,” suggested Mary. “I’ll throw on an extra comforter.”

Once under the covers, John and Mary cuddled a little closer than usual to keep each other warm.

“So what do we do tomorrow, my dear,” queried Mary.

“Don’t worry, honey,” replied John, “All we need is for the power to be restored by morning.”

“But what if it isn’t?” probed Mary.

“Don’t worry, my love. I’m sure the city has a plan.”

Join us for a discussion of solar possibilities Thursday, Feb 23. 

Jack Heppner

Electricity and Resilience

I have been thinking recently about how reliable our electrical power supply really is.

It started while reading the Kindle Book, “Farming 101: Transitions.” In this short novel, Gary Martens of the University of Manitoba is making a case for Natural Systems Agriculture. He does not have much success until he interjects into the plot a major, electrical power outage in the middle of winter.

The power failure embraces all of North America and the electricity simply does not come on again. And it is in that context that some enterprising farmers rediscover a more natural and sustainable way of farming.

“How ridiculous!” I hear someone say. Power always comes back on within a few hours or days at the most. But what if it didn’t? I began asking people what they would do if the power went off in mid-winter and didn’t come back on. A look of incredulity usually was followed by some statement like, “I just don’t want to go there.”

I googled for information about the massive power failure in the Eastern USA and Canada in 2003. I discovered that at least 50 million people lost power, some of them for 33 days. Reading through the government report about that event was not encouraging. It revealed dozens of weak links in the electrical grid and documented how, because of the integration of multiple systems, one part can affect another to bring down the whole. In the end the report made 46 recommendations to improve the system. Yes, forty-six.

Hmm! This led me to a book I found at the U. of M. library; “Brittle Power,” by Amory and Hunter Lovins (1982). It is a major work outlining the vulnerability of all of North America’s energy sector, including its electrical systems. They document how all the systems society depends upon for survival are vulnerable to major disruption because of internal flaws, human error, natural disasters and sabotage of various kinds.

The authors point out that because all the energy systems are so interconnected, both within each sector and with each other, it would not take much to bring down all the systems at one time.

Some people tell me to be quiet about such things. This kind of “fear-mongering” is not helpful, they say. But why was it okay to consider the fearful possibility of Winnipeg being totally flooded once in 700 years, which led to our building a massive floodway at huge expense? Just to be prepared.  But to anticipate an inevitable collapse of the electrical grid is off limits.

The Lovins leave us with something to ponder. “It is not pleasant to have in the back of one’s mind that the next time the lights blink out, they may take an exceedingly long time to come back on again (140). Personally, I think a responsible society needs to think about such things. Especially in mid-winter.

In future articles we will explore possible ways to be better prepared for major electrical outages.

Jack Heppner 

Slowing Down

Recently I have been thinking about slowing down. Of course, say my friends, you have reached retirement and so that is a legitimate proposition. But then, when I connect with some of my retired friends, one of their complaints I hear most often is that they are busier than ever.

I conclude that busyness has become one of our culture’s virtues. We tend to think more highly of people whose calendars are chock-full than of those who have a few open spaces left.

A lot has been written in recent decades about margins and boundaries. How long would you stay with a book, for example, that had no margins. Most of the book would likely remain unread. Slowing down reminds us that we are most fully alive when we live within appropriate boundaries that allow some room for surprise and flexibility. A good cup of coffee is best taken slowly, as is a good quality wine! So why do we gulp down our lives so quickly?

Beyond being better for you, slowing down is becoming imperative in our day because a fast life always leaves a larger ecological footprint than necessary. This is so very evident in the fast food industry to which many of us have become enslaved. We grab our food on the run and wolf it down on our way to the next thing on our calendars. Of course, on our way in we drop a large bag of paper and plastic into the garbage. Sometimes we even just throw it out the car window. We have yet to add up the personal and social cost of giving up a regular, slow-paced, family dinner.

Feeling the need to take in every possible event we can, we zip around in our vehicles and fly around the world lest we commit the “sin” of missing out on something. Of course, in the process we build up a large number of experiences we can share with our friends. The only problem is we don’t really have time to get together much for a leisurely sharing of life. And at the same time we keep on using up more and more of diminishing fossil fuel reserves of the world.

One commitment I have recently made is to literally slow down while driving. I have developed a 90-90 principle which states that 90 percent of the time on the road I will not exceed 90 kilometers an hour. Some of my trucker friends tell me that such a move can make the difference between breaking even or earning a decent living – given the amount of fuel you save at the slower speed. 

An additional benefit I experience is that every time I set my cruise on 90, I am reminded to slow down in other areas of life as well. Perhaps I can retrain myself to leave a smaller ecological footprint as I learn to slow down and actually have time to smell the flowers.

By Jack Heppner

Saving Summer Shine

Just a few weeks ago, Ruth and I harvested a dozen large, organically-grown cabbages from our garden.

Most of those cabbages ended up as sauerkraut. For the most part, our generation has forgotten about this wonder-food. But last year, Ruth and I made our first attempt to re-discover lacto-fermentation, one of the oldest preservation methods known to humankind.

The process is really quite simple. Cut up the cabbages into thin wedges or send them through a food processor. As you layer this cabbage in a large container, preferably a stone crock, sprinkle on a bit of salt and break open the cells of the cabbage with a “stomper.” Repeat this process until either your container is nearly full or you run out of cabbage. Then cover it with a large plate and place a weight on it.

Within 24 hours the natural juices will have covered the cabbage and the fermentation process will be underway. After about six weeks, when the juices have been reabsorbed into the cabbage, you will know that your sauerkraut is ready. Then it is a matter of placing the sauerkraut in clean jars and storing them in a cool place. And bingo – you are set for the winter.

Even before modern studies have proclaimed fermented sauerkraut as an amazing health food, James Cook introduced it as a staple food for his sailors and found that it helped to prevent the plague of the seas; namely scurvy. He didn’t know exactly why it worked, but later studies showed that it was because of the high level of vitamin C in sauerkraut.

Further studies through the years have identified many health benefits to sauerkraut. For starters, it is an immune booster. The common cold and flu, skin problems, weight gain and tainted blood can all be fixed with a healthy immune system.

Sauerkraut is also a cancer fighter. An interesting study of breast cancer rates among Polish-American women showed that they were much more likely to contract cancer than Polish women who had stayed in Poland and continued to each generous amounts of sauerkraut.

And sauerkraut is an amazing digestive aid, protecting the balance of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract. It also helps to neutralize anti-nutrients found in many foods and facilitates the breakdown and assimilation of proteins.

So this is the second winter in which we will be eating sauerkraut three or four times a week as a side-dish to whatever else we eat. We find it goes amazingly well with most dishes.

Now if I have convinced you to eat sauerkraut and you head to the supermarket to buy some, be forewarned that much that passes for sauerkraut is simply cabbage soaked in vinegar and salt. Make sure that what you buy is “fermented” cabbage if you want to experience the benefits listed above.

Better still, grow your own cabbage next year and make your own sauerkraut. And save some summer sunshine for the dark winter months. 

Jack Heppner

Simply in Season

In 2005, Mennonite Central Committee published a cook book called, “Simply in Season.” It is a delightful work that gently invites us to eat fresh, seasonal foods instead of relying on the mono-culture of produce found in supermarkets year-round.

Here in Southeastern Manitoba, we have four very distinct seasons. I lived in a tropical climate for a number of years where temperatures and daylight hours varied only slightly throughout the year. After a few years I found this quite monotonous. When I came back home I gained a renewed appreciation for the ever-changing seasons in this part of the world.

As I reflect on the many tidbits of writing scattered throughout, “Simply in Season,” I am reminded that a sustainable lifestyle requires two things of us all – living more simply and making the most of each season.

Living more simply is not as simple as it sounds. Every day we are bombarded with messages telling us that in order to be happier and more fulfilled we need to buy more stuff, travel more widely, participate in more activities and eat “fast” and “processed” food. Mostly we believe these lies.  

Yet, if we are to survive as a human race with any degree of social justice, we will need to move toward simplified lifestyles. Our earth simply does not provide enough resources for all of its citizens to live the consumptive lifestyles we have become used to in the western world.

Living more simply will mean different things for different people. For my Ruth and me, it means walking or biking more, down-sizing to become a one-vehicle family, growing most of our own vegetables and, if at all possible, purchasing whatever else we need locally. That may not seem like much, but we are in transition. 

And that brings me to the idea of making the most of each season. Supermarkets and shopping malls have pretty much obliterated seasons for most of us. Apart from seasonal changes in the clothing stores, most everything remains the same all year round. We can buy California lettuce and “notional” tomatoes any day of the year, plus fruit from the farthest corners of the world. And no matter what the weather, we are accustomed to climbing into our climate-controlled vehicles and burning precious fuel to get ourselves around.

So the lifestyles we have adopted have gradually removed us from living well “in season.” A simpler lifestyle re-connects us with the diverse challenges and delights that each season brings. My favorite season is autumn. It is the time of the year when we eat mostly from our garden. All year I look forward to biting into that first vine-ripened tomato as well as other organically grown vegetables fresh from the garden. And the colors of autumn never cease to amaze me.

I am convinced that the more we simplify our lives the more we will get in touch with our four distinct seasons – a blessing we cannot really afford to miss.

Jack Heppner

Purposeful Exercise

Our push-button lifestyles emerged in the 20^th century along with the introduction of electricity. I still remember the euphoria that swept the countryside around 1950 as we all got “plugged in.”

Of course by that time tractors and cars had, for the most part, replaced horses. A gallon of gasoline probably got more done in an hour than man and animal together had formerly done in a day. And the advent of petro-chemicals on the farm eased the burden of keeping weeds at bay.

Modernity was celebrated. Perhaps nothing symbolized this shift better than the thermostat. In earlier times it required a lot of physical activity to keep one’s house warm. Now, with the advent of the modern oil furnace, you could do it with a little push of your index finger.

As the decades rolled on, technology advanced steadily with gizmos and gadgets that allowed us the luxury of not using our muscles very much at all. Soon cars had automatic transmissions, power steering and electric window openers. Manual typewriters became electric and then morphed into computer keyboards. Fruits and vegetables for which we used to labor now appeared like magic year-round in supermarkets.

Ah yes, utopia was within reach! But as we bore down on the close of that great century we gradually became aware that modernity was bringing with it unintended consequences. We were being changed as people.

The term, “couch potato” was born. The word “obesity” found its way into our vocabulary from relative obscurity. Books and articles about the negative effects of a “sedentary” lifestyle began to flood the market. And, wouldn’t you know it, soon it was suggested that a host of medical problems were linked, directly or indirectly, to lack of exercise. Modernity was beginning to bite back.

And so emerged the modern exercise gym. Many of us began to drive miles for the opportunity to sweat it out at the gym in order to gain back the health that modernity had taken from us. Or we could be found walking or running around town, going nowhere in particular, just to get back into shape. But most of us soon gave up. It was too hard to fit modern exercise programs into a tight schedule in which we drove from one sedentary activity to another.

So what is emerging now in the 21^st century is an attempt to build purposeful exercise into our lifestyles. In some senses it is a throwback to earlier times before electricity and oil took over most of our daily physical responsibilities. Walking or biking instead of driving is making a comeback. Growing your own food is gaining popularity. Participatory sports is putting a dent into spectator sports.

The genie is out of the bottle. Once we begin to comprehend what the modern lifestyle has taken from us, we will find many ingenious ways of putting exercise back into our daily routines. The more we do, the more our bodies and our environment will thank us.

Jack Heppner

Searching for Alternatives

Old habits die hard. Usually we have to be thoroughly convinced that the old way of doing things is harmful or not sustainable and that an alternative way is better before we make a move to change our lifestyles.

Smoking is an easy example to pick on because by now even the government is trying to convince smokers to quit. But there are many other lifestyle habits that society as a whole has not yet identified as being harmful or unsustainable. And so many voices call out to us to continue on with destructive patterns of life. One hour of television viewing will garner an amazing amount of bad advice about lifestyle choices.

But once we are alerted to the possibility that the voices calling out to us generally do not have our long-term interests in mind we need to start asking serious question on a broad front about the way we live.

How much energy do we consume? Where does that energy come from? What effect does the production and use of that energy have on our environment? Is it possible to reduce our energy requirements? If we decide to live in a way that consumes less energy, does that down-grade or enhance our quality of life?

How many toxins do we consume via the processed foods we buy at the super market? What pesticide residues are left on the fruits and vegetables we consume? What effect do the chemicals used in our groceries to maintain long shelf life have on our bodies? Are there ways of reducing the number of toxins we ingest? Will that improve our chances of being healthy longer?

How many of the gizmos and gadgets that get thrown at us by an aggressive business community do we really need? What negative effects are left behind in the environment and in the lives of those persons who make them? What are the minimum number of products and services we need for a healthy and purposeful life? Does our happiness quotient rise significantly with every purchase we make? Could we do with less and possibly be more happy and content at the same time?

Once we begin asking such questions we begin looking around for alternatives to our status-quo lifestyes; alternatives that will help us transition toward healthier and more wholesome lives.

But the next question is whether anyone has thought of alternatives and actually made them work. One of our goals at South Eastman Transition Initiative is to facilitate connections with people and their ideas that might help us in our transition efforts.

A group of people that has been modelling alternatives to the modern lifestyle is the intentional community, Northern Sun Farm Coop, located near Sarto just south of Steinbach. Join us for a visit with that community at 7:00 p.m., Thursday, July 28^th to listen, look and learn about possibilities that might work for you. For those who wish to carpool, we leave the parking lot at Steinbach 55 Plus at 6:30 p.m.  

Jack Heppner

Loosening Corporate Grip

In an article, “The Corporation As Psychopath,” Michael Jessen states, “Our economic system will eventually change. As currently structured, the system is unsustainable for both people and the planet.

Believe it or not, there was a time when corporations did not exist. Now “…they determine what we wear, where we work, what we read, what we listen to, what we watch, and what we do.” Many corporations are larger and more powerful than most countries. One result is political apathy in western democracies because people sense that their governments are mostly incapable of loosening the corporate grip on society.

In law, a corporation is defined as a “person” and, according to Noam Chomsky, “…its legally defined mandate is to pursue its self-interest regardless of who or what suffers as a result of its actions.”

In his ground-breaking book, “The Corporation: the Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power,” Joel Bakan asks the question what kind of a “person” a corporation might be. Using standard checklists for personality types and mental disorders, he concludes the corporation is a psychopathic personality.

“A Corporation has a callous unconcern for the feelings of others, an incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, a reckless disregard for the safety of others, a pattern of deceitfulness, an incapacity to experience guilt and a failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviour.”

Such psychopaths are normally locked up to protect the public. But in the corporate world they are allowed to dictate to the rest of us how we should live. Sad that many are willing to march to the beat of a psychopath’s drum.

Fortunately there is a push back beginning to happen. Within the corporate world there is a lot of window dressing going on right now to appease our new consciousness about social and environmental sustainability. A lot of money is being spent on “cleaning up the corporate image.” A case in point: change the traditional designation of “tar sands” to “oil sands.” And, hey, Walmart is going “Green!” But there is reason to be skeptical. The bottom line is still what share-holders care about, not much else.

Here and there corporations have gone through a conversion of sorts and have in fact incorporated social and environmental sustainability into their mandate. For example, Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface, the world’s largest carpet manufacturing company, is determined to “give back to the planet instead of taking from it.” Such corporations will survive into the future. Psychopaths will eventually be “locked up.”

Meanwhile there are a lot of things we as individuals can do to loosen the corporate grip on our lives.

1. Resist the temptation to buy needless goods and services psychopaths thrust at us.
2. Avoid doing business with multi-national corporations as much as possible.
3. Buy needed goods and services from local people and businesses you know personally.
4. Reduce your need to accumulate ever-more stuff, especially stuff from a distance.
5. Recycle, share and cooperate.
6. Petition lawmakers to limit the powers of corporations.

Jack Heppner