Page - November 30, 2006
Corporate activism is a powerful tool. Stopping the activities of just one corporation can protect our food, save an entire ecosystem or significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
AUCKLAND: Greenpeace activists hand out the new GE Free Food Guides at an Auckland supermarket
As a consumer, you have the ultimate sanction against unethical business - you simply stop buying a company's products. If you are unhappy with a company's environmental policies, you can let them know about it. Use your power as a consumer to make positive change.
All corporations that want to stay in business will listen to you, the consumer. So let the corporate world know how you feel. Use your power as a consumer. If their products damage the environment, tell them you will leave it on the shelf or shop elsewhere until they clean up their act.
If you don't want to eat genetically engineered food, tell the food companies. If you don't want to buy ancient forest timber, tell the furniture companies. Boycott fuel companies that support greenhouse polluting government policies. And tell them you are doing it.
Greenpeace has had great success pressuring corporations to think about the environment, in conjunction with the public using their consumer clout. For example, we forced Coco-Cola to change their greenhouse polluting refrigeration worldwide, and we have targeted corporations to end their associations with Japanese whaling and stop ancient forest logging, and in New Zealand we saw Tegel stop feeding their chickens with GE feed.