24 Protec ting Natural Resources for All
Corporate control is bad for our health
The health crisis on the coast of Ecuador (see Chapter 1) was caused by a big
corporation that paid local people to clear the forest. Not only did people lose
the trees that kept the soil healthy and protected them from storms, they also
lost important resources for daily survival such as food, fuel wood, medicines,
fiber, and other basic needs. When a resource like a large forest cannot be put
back, it is the same as if it had been stolen – from nature, from communities
who rely on it, and from future generations.
When corporations control resources — whether timber, oil, water, seeds,
or the labor power of people themselves — they gain profit for themselves, and
have little reason to protect or improve the lives of the people who need those
resources to survive. Corporations may provide short-term jobs or income, but
if their interest is to export local resources, when those resources are gone they
will leave too. And people will be left in deeper poverty than before.
When we have cut down the last
tree, polluted the last river, and
cooked the last fish, then we will
realize that we can’t eat money!
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012