CEO Statement Misses the Planet

Last month, CEOs of nearly 200 corporations signed a statement saying their corporate purpose includes all stakeholders—NOT just shareholders. They made commitments to their customers, employees, suppliers, and communities while continuing their commitment to shareholders. This is an overdue step in the right direction and I applaud them for it. 

However, the statement has a glaring omission: the planet. Even though there is an urgent need to address both the climate and extinction crises, the corporations fail to make the most fundamental commitment to help protect our shared environment that provides the life support system for all the named stakeholders (and everyone else for that matter). Until the corporate world commits to truly making their supply chains sustainable or, even better, regenerative, the very existence of thousands of species and the long term prosperity of humankind are at risk. 

Let's hope they correct this omission and make some real commitments to the planet. 

Do not be ashamed 

by Wendell Berry

You will be walking some night
in the comfortable dark of your yard
and suddenly a great light will shine
round about you, and behind you
will be a wall you never saw before.
It will be clear to you suddenly
that you were about to escape,
and that you are guilty: you misread
the complex instructions, you are not
a member, you lost your card
or never had one. And you will know
that they have been there all along,
their eyes on your letters and books,
their hands in your pockets,
their ears wired to your bed.
Though you have done nothing shameful,
they will want you to be ashamed.
They will want you to kneel and weep
and say you should have been like them.
And once you say you are ashamed,
reading the page they hold out to you,
then such light as you have made
in your history will leave you.
They will no longer need to pursue you.
You will pursue them, begging forgiveness.
They will not forgive you.
There is no power against them.
It is only candor that is aloof from them,
only an inward clarity, unashamed,
that they cannot reach. Be ready.
When their light has picked you out
and their questions are asked, say to them:
"I am not ashamed." A sure horizon
will come around you. The heron will begin
his evening flight from the hilltop.