Too many of us increasingly feel that we have little control over the world around us.
Whether it’s the driver pushing up too close behind us on the highway, news that a friend has lost her job, finding out that a relative has cancer, realizing the roof needs to be replaced, or learning the price of our health insurance has gone up yet again, it’s not hard to find signs that things are becoming unmanageable.
This perspective becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. As we read about politicians bought with corporate donations, we are less inclined to vote. As we watch the BP oil spill spread through the Gulf of Mexico, we wonder if our own recycling efforts truly make a difference.
These stories steal away our power and belief that we can make a difference. Our feelings of diminished power play right into the hands of those who want us to believe our voices don’t matter.
In a tiny northern California town of 3,500 residents, citizens are taking on corporate power through an unusual process—democracy. The residents of Mt. Shasta have written an extraordinary ordinance, to be voted on in the next special election that would ban corporations such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola from taking water from their local aquifer.
Since 1998, more than 125 municipalities have passed ordinances that put citizens’ rights ahead of corporate interests, despite the existence of state and federal laws to the contrary. These communities have prevented corporations from dumping toxic sludge, building factory farms, ripping open the Earth for minerals, and draining aquifers dry.
In November, the city council in Pittsburgh voted to ban companies from drilling for natural gas, an environmentally toxic practice known as “fracking.”
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit public interest law firm, is helping communities draft these local ordinances. Through its Democracy School, it provides a detailed analysis of corporate law and environmental regulation that shows communities how to fight back.
Isn’t it time you renewed your faith in how you can make a difference?
Note: This post is based on a story Dr. Allen D. Kanner, cofounder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and co-editor of Psychology and Consumer Culture, wrote for Tikkun magazine.
we have that power but most people are either not willing to use it or inclined to wait for others to solve their problems, which is the easy way out but not necessary the way that brings most results
Keep sharing these stories, and motivatingly well written.
It’s really interesting to see how the US (compare to Europe) are pionners in defending our/their Citizen rights. BCorp is also a very good example of how far we can move to change things and making them really happen. In my opinion, change has to be built with but not against a system. We have to pull the system in the CSR or/and sustainable capitlism direction. That’s challenging but feasible!
I totally agree. While the problems are enormous, giving up should not be an option. I am reminded of the question: How do you eat an elephant? And the answer: one bite at a time.
Thank you for reminding, and challenging people, to continue to try to make a difference. There are plenty of problems that need solving….as individuals our responsibility is to make sure that we become part of the solution.