Why is it that many business leaders refuse to take an interest in the future of the planet?
Image from Flickr via rickz
By David Barsamian with Michael Parenti
By arrangement with Alternative Radio.
As the planet moves closer to environmental catastrophe, the captains of industry, the robber barons of the age, could hardly be bothered. They have more important matters to consider: making money. They better be on the ball and deliver those dividends, because if they don’t they will soon be replaced. Profits uber alles is the guiding mantra. It gets in the way. Sure they’ll recycle paper and glass, but forget about anything substantial. Pursuing new corporate earning opportunities and wealth accumulation are in capitalism’s DNA. The owners of the economy, the 1 percent, are operating the tar sands in Alberta and fracking in Pennsylvania. They have their eyes on the only prize that matters to them, and the lust for lucre continues unabated.
Michael Parenti is one of this country’s foremost independent political analysts. He has taught at major colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. He is the author of numerous books including the classic Democracy for the Few, The Face of Imperialism, and the highly acclaimed The Assassination of Julius Caesar.
David Barsamian is the award-winning founder and director of Alternative Radio, the independent weekly audio series based in Boulder, Colorado. He is the author of numerous books with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Eqbal Ahmad, Tariq Ali, Arundhati Roy and Edward Said. His latest books are Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism with Richard Wolff, How the World Works with Noam Chomsky and Targeting Iran. He is winner of the Media Education Award, the ACLU’s Upton Sinclair Award for independent journalism, and the Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan Foundation. The Institute for Alternative Journalism named him one of its Top Ten Media Heroes.
