Capitalism and the tragedy of the commons
About six weeks ago I wrote about how a substantial number of Amazon employees, which has grown from 5,000 to 8,000, published an open letter to the company’s management demanding the creation of a serious corporate environmental action plan to include the fight against climate change into its strategy.
The company presented the proposal to its general meeting of shareholders, who rejected it. A ban on the sale of facial recognition technology to governments, another proposal supported by many employees and an issue that triggered concern among civil rights groups, was also rejected by Amazon shareholders.
These are important decisions that define the company and its role in society, and that have been rejected by shareholders whose only focus is increasing the company’s profits, regardless of how that’s done. These people have shares in Amazon and are willing to do anything and accept anything, even if it means the end of civilization, in order to maximize profits.
The case shows how our model of capitalism is now unsustainable: a classic example of the…
