The Nature Conservancy: Partnering With Poisoners
Posted by keith on April 19th, 2008
I sometimes get the feeling I’m shooting fish in a barrel, writing this blog — not that I would ever shoot a fish — with the targets getting easier and easier to pick off. This is never so true as with the “environmental” charities that huddle up, all cosily, with business in the vain attempt to get them to play nicely.
They really don’t get it — business doesn’t want to “play nicely”, business wants to do business, and will not do business if it doesn’t make a profit. In order to make a profit the business must get more more out of a process than it puts in; and if you are a manufacturer or a producer of raw materials then that extra either comes from cheap labour or the extraction of something you didn’t have before — like oil or timber. If you are a retailer or an investment bank, the profit you gain is dependent on selling something for a greater value than you bought it — you are dependent on the manufacturer or producer of raw materials having something you can resell at a profit, so they must reduce their costs as much as possible. In order for these costs to be reduced they must cut corners, so they treat workers badly; pollute the land, water and atmosphere; use their commercial muscle to ensure they don’t have legislation to comply with…and so on. If you are an advertiser or PR company, your job is to make all these companies look good.
In short, business is unsustainable, at all levels.
If you are the Nature Conservancy, one of the largest and most respected environmental charities in the world, then it would make sense not to work with profit making businesses, especially not the most damaging of them…you know, companies like Alcoa, BP and Cargill — really, really bad companies.
Actually, if you are the Nature Conservancy, you say the following:
The Nature Conservancy works with the business community to find common ground between conservation and industry. We accept their financial and land donations, engage in cause-related marketing, foster direct conservation action, and participate in event sponsorship.
As you can see, they really think there is common ground between business and conservation, and will happily provide branding for any company that pretends they are doing good things. They are good enough to provide a list of these companies — here are some really nasty ones:
Alcoa — massive polluter and consumer of energy
American Electric Power – coal burning (73%) electricity producer
Bank of America — will invest in anything, regardless of impact
BP – oil giant and greenwasher supreme
Cargill – food giant, GMO user on massive scale
Caterpillar – provides military equipment to repressive regimes
And many more, including Monsanto, Proctor & Gamble and Georgia-Pacific. All of the nasty companies The Nature Conservancy have partnered with continue to be nasty — but look great, because of their links with TNC.
In fact the history of the Nature Conservancy shows that they were only able to grow as they did in the 1960s because of a cash injection from Ford Motors, which allowed them to employ an IBM executive as their first President. Now please humour me and read this web page about their cosy relationship with General Motors, and tell me if I am being paranoid:
http://www.nature.org/joinanddonate/corporatepartnerships/partnership/generalmotors.html
I think I need to lie down…
April 19th, 2008 at 11:37 am
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April 19th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I always get frustrated with this particular manifestation of the Enlightenment myth - that if the combatants could only be brought to sit down together and talk, you’d find they had lots of common ground from which to work toward a mutually acceptable compromise.
The simple problem with this is, it is often just not true.
Just to give an example from America and the presidential campaign: America desperately needs REAL health care reform (I’d say more like revolutionization), a necessary part of which is the end of the private health insurance industry, which is as purely parasitic an industry as you’ll ever see - it adds literally nothing constructive, only complexity and cost. So it follows by definition that a real reformer knows he cannot “sit down” with them and look for that hallowed “common ground”, since it does not exist. It is truly a zero sum game.
Yet both Democratic candidates, though claiming to want real reform, still (to varying degrees) treat the health insurance industry as a legitimate participant. So we know they’re either lying or hopelessly naive.
This seems to be a common, congenital trait among environmentalists. Sometimes I wonder if enviros, on the whole, are just too “nice”, too enamoured of compromise and believing that deep down all people are good, and that there are consensual, “civilized” solutions to all these problems.
It’s not that I want a cesspool of negativity, mind you, but I look around and feel like everyone looks at the worst horrors and stays so “cool” and “reasonable” when I want to explode, and wherever it seems anger and even hate are appropriate, Americans seem to be capable of only irony, sarcasm, “snarkiness”. I guess that’s from everybody having their brains and emotions rotted by television.
April 19th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Russ, the nail has rarely been hit so squarely on the head. I’m hearing a lot of good stuff going around; I now know I’m not the only person saying and thinking it.
Keith
April 20th, 2008 at 7:44 am
The Nature Conservancy is neither a “charity” nor “most respected”. If you look closer you will find that The Nature Conservancy is a the world’s largest multi-billion tax-exempt land broker with a long history of scandals, shady partnerships and mis-use of public funds. Their track record on management ethics makes most for-profit corporations look like alter boys. The Nature Conservancy has never been recognized as a charity by the U.S.
The Nature Conservancy is, however, one of the most successful marketers of modern times whose lobbyists, mass marketers and PR Department have created a spin machine that has captured America’s fascination with going green and makes The Nature Conservancy look like the good guy. A conversation with anyone who knows the organization’s tactics will tell a different story. I cover this topic in “The Nature Conservancy Scandal Blog” at www.tncscandals.blogspot.com.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Nice to be vindicated. Good link too.