Английский для социологов. Астафурова Т.Н. - 81 стр.

      Nowadays, most of us are more or less aware of what we call
environmental issues. How many of us conscientiously deposit our
empty bottles at the bottle bank, save electricity by switching off
lights, or make a big thing of using recycled paper — all in the belief
that we are ‘doing our bit’ for the environment? But what impression
are we actually making on the environment by doing so?
      Tragically, the answer is almost none. For even if every household
in the world recycled practically everything it used, solid waste would
be reduced by a mere 2 %. In global terms, that would make absolutely
no difference whatsoever, because the real problem lies, not with the
private individual, but with big business and the $ 21 trillion world
economy.
      NO SOLUTIONS YET
      Business, just like everything else, depends upon the survival of
the eco-system, and you would think it would be in the interests of
commerce and industry to learn how to manage Corporation Earth.
Yet the fact is that though business is the only mechanism powerful
enough to reverse the current global trend towards ecological disaster,
it has yet to come up with a practical plan to halt the destruction of
the planet.
      POOR TRACK RECORD
      The track record of the world’s companies is poor. Whereas the
Chernobyl disaster can perhaps be attributed to lack of funds and the
antiquated technology of a crumbling Soviet regime, no such excuse
can be offered in the case of Union Carbide. When the full horror of
the chemical accident at Bhopal in India became apparent, the
company, quite legally, liquidated a large portion of its assets in the
form of shareholders’ dividends, thereby reducing the company’s
compensatory liability to its 200,000 victims. And when the Exxon
Valdez tanker ran around, tne Exxon company seemed more concerned
to reassure the stock markets that its financial strength was undiminished
than to console the Alaskans, whose livelihoods were wrecked by the
catastrophic oil spill.
      LARGE SCALE POLLUTION
      General Electric has taken what some people call ‘corporate crime’
to even greater extremes. So much so, that it actually had its contracts
suspended by the Pentagon. It stood accused, amongst other things, of
bribery and insider trading, and of being one of America’s greatest

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