Parvati Magazine December 2014/January 2015: Consequence/Beginnings | Page 49

BUSINESS
This is shown all too starkly
in the rush to exploit all
possible oil reserves on
the planet. As the Arctic
ice shelves continue to
collapse and the once
impenetrable polar ice
continues to melt, new
areas of our earth become exposed for potential mining. Practices such
as fracking, oil drilling and
seismic bombing to gain
access to Earth’s natural
resources are not benign
and have an impact on
our sustainable future.
Yet, companies choose
to go ahead with these
practices and exploit the
earth for profit without
considering the ramifications of their actions. Businesses must be accountable to a force greater
than the drive for profit,
if their activities have the
potential to leave the
world worse off than before they came along.
The first mission of the
recently founded notfor-profit parvati.org is to
stop the proposed bombing of the Arctic seabed
by big oil consortiums.
Volunteers with this or-

ganization have been researching the companies
involved and have discovered that there seem
to be suspicious connections between government and businesses, between board members of
certain companies, that
suggests nepotism.
For example, the company Petroleum Geo Services (PGS), is connected
with Japan Oil, Gas and
Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC). This company has just signed a
memorandum of understanding with Greg Rickford, Canada’s minister
of natural resources - the
very minister who oversees the National Energy
Board, which is granting
permission to PGS and
other companies to carry
out seismic testing in
the Arctic seabed over
the objections of all the
local communities and
concerned scientists.
This is just the tip of the
proverbial iceberg, and
research is ongoing.

supply chain seem not
to want to be identified
at all. Some company
names on the legal applications for permission to
carry out this seismic testing have no web presence, and little can be
found out about them.
This interconnection and
secretiveness is not in
keeping with the arm’s
length principle and is
ethically just as questionable as having board
members of cancer
research foundations being major tobacco stakeholders.
I am sure this will not be
the first or last article you
will read about big oil
and its insatiable feeding
on the planet’s resources
at the cost of our future.
I hope this article is the
start towards bringing to
light all those individuals
and companies who seek
to remain hidden as they
engage in nepotism and
environmentally destructive behaviors that have
an impact on all of us.

Some of the companies
tied to the top of the

Since 1994, Rishi Deva, founder and CEO of RishiVision and
entrepreneurial coach, has empowered thousands of businesses.
Rishi has an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurial studies and a BBA
in accounting. He has spent nearly twenty years coaching, consulting,
managing and supporting thousands of businesses from new startups
to active global leaders.
For more information on Rishi, please visit www.rishivision.com.