Thursday, January 6, 2011

Shopping is a Form of Voting



This article shows that Bayer and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been operating in cahoots, to ensure mass honey-bee extermination.

Is it deliberate? Did they set out to kill as many honeybees as they could? No, of course not.

They set out to make money – and good for them; I have no problem with that.

Here’s what I have a problem with.

We live on an incredibly, finely balanced planet full of amazing creatures which, en mass, ensure our survival. This is not some romanticised notion. Honeybees are essential for crop fertilization. Without them, we don’t eat.

These insects are part of my ecosystem; part of what constitutes my home. They belong to me. And to you. Just like the clams in the ocean and the blue fin tuna, they are nature’s gift to us.

 When the Bayers of the world (and, for that matter) the BP’s of the world do not respect our property, wreaking destruction on major ecosystems and species for their own blind self-interest, they break our wild free world. They break the mechanisms that ensure our survival. In the extreme analysis, they murder us slowly.

Do we get anything out of this? No.

Do they? Oh hell yes. We’re talking about multimillion dollar businesses which operate by robbing us of our legacy.

The appropriate response is outrage. The appropriate response is to ask “How dare they??” and to demand that they be shut down.

Why don’t we?

Well … because you can’t (well you can but…you wouldn’t make any significant difference) go storming the Bayer headquarters wielding placards and petrol bombs.

What you can do, however, is understand that every Bayer product you buy ensures the continued survival of this company.

If it has a Bayer logo on it, put it back on the shelf and buy from someone else. Tell your friends to do it too.

If enough of us do this, we will bring Bayer to their knees… cent by cent.