Multi-national corporations stifle communities

Are multi-national corporations stifling communities?

There’s a movement in the air and you see it everywhere. People are being called to action and are taking the challenge. People are flocking in large numbers to events involving renewable energy, energy conservation, and community gardening. Americans are beginning to meet their neighbors and participating in community events.

I don’t know if it’s because President Obama has asked us to do our part or if Americans feel an impending doom looming (peak oil, global warming, resources running out, etc.) on the horizon. Maybe citizens are noticing friends, family, and neighbors losing their jobs, homes, and lives in the name of profits for multi-national corporations.

Is it quite possible that Americans are finally waking up to the corruption taking place for the past 30 years or more? People are fuming about the bank bailouts, AIG, and other scandals involving our tax dollars. Many of these citizens never took much interest in politics before, but when it comes to the people’s pocketbooks and their faltering futures they begin to take notice.

So maybe it’s time to talk to the neighbors and become citizen lobbyists. Maybe this is a fight against the million dollar corporate lobbyists for our freedoms and our rights. Communities are supporting small local businesses and community organizations for sustainable change. The birds are singing and everything will be wonderful again.

Wait a minute...there’s a stumbling block in the road. It’s more than a block it’s a BIG BOX! “No, you can’t post your flyer here for your small business,” the (insert big box store) customer service representative replied. I was posting flyers for a company I work for this week and received the same answer at many other large corporate stores. (Toys R Us, King Soopers (Krogers), and Whole Foods were the exceptions.)

Remember the days as a kid and we’d put up a flyer in the grocery store or other business to advertise babysitting or lawn mowing? Now even grocery stores and other large stores are shutting the doors to supporting local small businesses. Non-profits are okay, but for profit small businesses that aren’t even competing with these stores are not allowed.

Even large corporations want to stop workers from organizing unions. Yet give millions in bonuses to CEOs who fail in their positions.

Let’s not forget the huge insurance companies. They won’t insure many of us because we have pre-existing conditions and/or insurance premiums are so high they’re untouchable.

How about the corporate media being owned by only six people? The news media seems to be enamored with stories on murders and terrorists. We rarely see headlines on local or national movements or businesses creating positive change.

No, multi-national corporations are not for communities. Many of these corporations pride themselves in the amount they give back to communities in donations and participation in community events. Yet, their big box buildings, labor practices, outsourcing of jobs, pushing employees onto welfare, and accepting tax subsidies, credits, and bailouts on the backs of taxpayers FAR OUTWAYS any small gesture to communities. The damage they create in low wages, destruction of the environment, and encouragement of wasting resources seems to be having a negative impact on the global society. Stuff is much more important than people it seems in American culture according to the corporations. Can Americans find true love and honest friendships through the stuff they accumulate?

No, the last thing these multi-national corporations want us to do is to talk to each other. If we actually talked to each other we wouldn’t be so afraid anymore. If we aren’t afraid anymore we won’t buy all the stuff they push upon us like a drug. Wait pharmaceutical corporations push drugs onto the public and doctors all the time. Doctors focus on medicating instead of finding ways to improve our health and well-being. Why don’t doctors promote more exercise, diet, preventative care, and building positive relationships with fellow human beings and nature?

If Americans stopped buying so much stuff and began actually sharing with others that could quite possibly create a cultural shift where people come before profits. Americans could quite possibly be energy independent, create their own products, and not ones produced across vast oceans.

The last thing the mega corporations want are citizens creating community. If we continue to be unthinking and unquestioning consumers, we give up our freedoms. That’s good for big business. Shall we will continue to give our money away to corporations in bailouts, tax subsidies, and legislation in favor of big business? Will Americans stand up and speak out?.

Americans could very well become the creative inventors, entrepreneurs, and caring people we really are deep inside. We could become much more powerful than any multi-national conglomerate and we could quite possibly work as quickly as we did during the space race to make this happen. Can Americans, not corporations, become the world leaders we once were?

Shall we continue to allow corporations to stifle community building? Or should we begin to get involved and take action?

Near Zero Homes Not Nearly Green

Green is in! Go green! Even the U.S. Department of Energy is going green! NOT!

I had the opportunity to visit the "Near Zero Energy Homes" designed by Harvard Communities Architects with help from the Dept. of Energy. The development is located out at Stapleton in Denver, Colorado. The homes are built to LEED standards and may be energy efficient, but they are NOT green.

I can't understand how a 4,000 square foot home, located at 9126 E. 35th Avenue, and selling for $758,000 would be considered green. Most homes of this magnitude and price range usually only house two to four people, even though they could house many more. The rest of the house is used to fill up with STUFF. The homes promote consuming not conserving. It also has a two car garage to fill up with more cars or more stuff. To learn more about how consuming is not green check out www.thestoryofstuff.com.

Now I will give the builder credit for using recycled building materials, solar panels, excellent insulation, and thermal heat exchange. The builder stated that the power bill for an entire year would be no more than $525. Great! What about the cost to buy the place? What about the cost to build it and all the resources whether recycled or not that were used? Is that green? Who in this economy can afford that? Are only the rich allowed to be green?

What about south facing windows? The south facing windows in the upstairs were so tiny and up so high that they were only useful for ambient light. Passive solar is virtually non-existent in this home, which is important in green building.

You should check out the bathroom! It had two shower heads, a garden tub, and two sinks, with a huge counter in between. This a great place to collect more stuff. Not to mention the attached walk-in closet that Imelda Marcos or Carrie Bradshaw's (Sex in the City) shoes would love. Again I ask, "A green home?"

I was pleased with the recycled glass countertops and the home was insulated well. However when the designers were asked why the home was so huge, they stated that the cost of EE upgrades ($50,000), had to be a smaller fraction in comparison to the value of the home.

So those of us out here living on a middle to low income and want to buy a home valued at $250,000, you still would have to pay $50,000 in green upgrades. That is a larger fraction in the cost of building the home to larger more expensive home. Therefore green isn't valued in our society for middle to low income people. A view of the mountains is more valuable than saving energy. I think that's sad.

When I mentioned straw bale homes and how efficient they are to the builders, they scoffed and one designer claimed that straw bale homes have an R-value of only 16. Who did this guy think he was talking to? Anyone who knows straw bale knows the R-value is 35-48.

While the attempt at a green community is notable, the homes are not green. If you want to learn about truly green and affordable homes, check out: http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/ask_the_experts.htm