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Global Warming: What Happens When Corporations Prosper?

Michael E. Bauman, Ph.D., is Director of Christian Studies and Professor of Theology and Culture at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, MI.
Michael E. Bauman, Ph.D., is Director of Christian Studies and Professor of Theology and Culture at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, MI.

Recently some Members of Congress have accused scientists who question dangerous manmade global warming of conflict of interest because they allegedly accept funding from fossil fuel corporations.

Some do, some don't, but being funded by a given source, whether an individual, a corporation, or a government, doesn't necessarily mean the researcher will therefore dishonestly conform her conclusions to those favored by the funders. If it did, all scientific research would be untrustworthy, since it all has to be funded by somebody.

That consideration by itself makes it clear why the accusations are fallacious.

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But when I think about the accusations, I think about something else, too: the extent to which people mistakenly assume that there's something inherently evil about corporations.

Of course, corporations are made up of flawed human beings—the only kind there are. But that doesn't make them any more evil, in principle, than any individual or group.

Corporations can in fact do a great deal of good.

When folks run up against a challenge too difficult to tackle alone, they sometimes form corporations to get it done. They know that when they work in concert with others, the chances of success rise.

Just like the persons who form them, corporations sometimes are effective; sometimes not. They have built transcontinental railroads. They have put satellites into orbit. They have pushed the frontiers of digital know-how further and faster than any of us ever expected. They've even made the deserts bloom. When corporations succeed in these and other ways, please consider who benefits. The list is impressive and wider than you might realize.

When corporations succeed, most folks simply assume that the fat cats get fatter and that the rest of us miss out. Not so. Corporate investors are not who you think they are. They aren't merely the affluent folks who own big cars and big houses. More frequently they are the little old ladies whose financial security is tied into corporate ventures, whose retirement and well-being depend directly upon corporate success. Corporate yields are their yields. Corporate success keeps their graying heads above water. It keeps them fed, clothed, and housed.

Corporate success means personal success and security for lots of persons who otherwise would be worse off, maybe even desperate and indigent. When the desert blooms, in places like Las Vegas or in rural Israel, the poor become less poor. I'm glad about that. I'm glad that thousands of folks have a prosperous and secure old age rather than having their final years immersed in penury and want. When corporations succeed, the elderly succeed.

So do workers. When the desert becomes a resort, workers of every sort find jobs where there used to be nothing.

Cooks, valets, bellmen, housekeepers, managers, wait staff, caddies, car rental workers, high-end shop owners and shop keepers, just to name a few, all get jobs. So do homebuilders, developers, contractors, and the laborers, architects, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, bricklayers, roofers, and painters needed to build the houses in which the folks who now work in the blossoming desert need to live. So do the police, the fire fighters, the school builders, the teachers, and the administrators needed to make the new communities safe and efficient.

And where people go, so do churches. Those churches require the same things everyone else requires: They need worship facilities, houses, and schools for their staff, and all the attendant blessings of community. Successful corporations make it possible.

There's more: the desert itself benefits. Its native hostilities and dangers are tamed, domesticated. Rivers and streams are re-routed and managed. Farmers are attracted. Land is irrigated and food is grown. Hunger gets pushed back a little further. Parks are designed and built, along with their ponds, lakes, bike paths, and conveniences. Wastelands become a pleasure spot. Barrenness becomes an oasis.

I am not saying that corporations are perfect. They are not. Like all human institutions, they have their flaws. They make mistakes, and it is only fair to acknowledge them.

I am saying that when corporations succeed, so also do the elderly and retired, the working class and the investor class, churches, the hungry and the indigent, and even the desert itself. When corporations succeed, so do employers, employees, and the environment.

One organization that understands this is the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, a network of theologians, philosophers, scientists, economists, and other scholars pursuing environmental stewardship and economic development for the poor, both through, among other things, limited government, free markets, and sound science and economics.

From now through March 25, the Cornwall Alliance is coordinating prayer for the environment and the poor. One thing I hope they and their partners will pray for is the success of corporations, coupled with their responsible stewardship and their service to the poor.

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