Only when one signs up for an interdisciplinary degree program such as the MDP does one get to participate in a course on Climate Change co-taught by a professor of law, professor of business and a professor of ecology, only then do you get the intriguing discourse of the validity of corporate social responsibility practices done by your local mining monster, Newmont Mining Company.
Newmont, one of the world’s largest producers of gold, owns and operates one of the most productive and profitable mines in the world, the Yanacocha Mine in Peru. Newmont’s operations at the Yanacocha mine have been rebuked time and again not only for shady interactions with embezzling, ousted minister Montesinos, of Peru, but also for its environmental destruction of the land and nearby community of Cajamarca, including a seriously damaging mercury spill in 2000. In attempts to mitigate the affects of these pernicious stories being spread like wildfire with new social media tactics, disrupting consumer commitment to the industry, Newmont has tried to clean up its act a bit in Peru. The “new and improved Newmont portfolio includes the commencement of social health programs, education programs, the construction of roads and other infrastructure, all within the auspices of a a greater public participation with the local community. Sounds great, or sounds like a serious case of green washing?
A long discussion ensued in class last night with the typical players: recalcitrant, impassioned, justice-seeking graduate students relentlessly revealing the ‘skeletons in the closet’ if you will, and a well-read, well-experienced professor of business arguing against the idea of a Utopia where every great big multinational giant truly alters their objectives to that of altruism.
How good is good enough? Newmont meets with local village leaders, incorporating their authority, wisdom and opinion into new operation decisions. That local government may be infested with corruption, inefficiency or marked by dsitrust by a number of the local villagers, but, hey, a lot of tea-party members must feel the same way about Obama but Ahmedinijad still has a direct line to the Obama White House when he needs to talk business. “This is the journey businesses are on,” says Professor Bruce Hutton, “Their job is to make profit and try to do that in a way that gives people what they want/need, and in a way that doesn’t damage the environment. They are not god. There is no Nirvana out there that says that some people or some things don’t get hurt.”
Bottom line, we buy gold. Maybe not stocks of gold bars to put on display atop the mantle, but gold is a component of many devices and products we use daily. Somebody has to mine the gold until consumer demand changes; and mining gold is just never going to be a pretty process. Many local inhabitants of Cajamarca, despite the international headlines of rampant Newmont destruction, are in fact pleased with the presence of a job-producing, economy-boosting company such as Newmont in their community. They have new roads, schools and health programs, and more importantly they have money in their pockets. Consequently, they have pollutants in their air and water, perhaps mercury in their soil, and perhaps pneumonia in their lungs.
Is there consolation between these two ends? Can we truly alter the game of capitalist economics to make Newmont’s “bottom line” alter its appearance to one that represents social equity, environmental stewardship … <em>and</em> economic benefit? These are the challenges of our generation, and I personally believe we are forging ahead, slowly but surely, to a world more saturated with just and sustainable development. Washington D.C. imposed a mandatory tax on plastic bags used at the grocery store in 2008. The federal government, tea-party naysayers aside, wants to require the use of LED light bulbs in all lighting sources, equaling the carbon savings of 11 nuclear power plants if used by everyone. There are steps we are taking forward and for a company like Newmont to engage with local communities to allow participatory development in decision-making, greenwashing or not, is a sign of improvement in my eyes.
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