514-398-4400, Extension 094660
gregory (dot) mikkelson (at)
mcgill (dot) ca
Human suppression of biological diversity has reached catastrophic levels. The imperative to relieve and reverse this trend motivates all of my research and teaching. On the more practical side, I list some projects below under the heading "Land protected". Yet while direct interventions on behalf of species and their habitats are crucial, they will not suffice as long as our current system of political economy prevails. To have a chance at saving the magnificent variety of life on Earth, conservationists must go deeper.
The current, unconscionable devastation of wild species' habitats results ultimately from unjust relationships among members of our own species. In turn, social injustice results from the fact that one-dollar-one-vote systems, such as markets, have the upper hand over one-person-one-vote, i.e., democratic, systems of governance.
… is one context in which to begin redressing this kind of problem. Unlike corporations that weight shareholders' votes by the money they have invested, many pension plans operate democratically: each member of a given plan has an equal say in how the plan is managed. McGill, however, runs on a plutocratic, dollar-weighted model when electing faculty and staff representatives to the Pension Administration Committee. This effectively disenfranchises newer faculty and staff, despite the fact that they, unlike corporate shareholders who can buy and sell stock at will, have a long-term and indeed mandatory stake in the pension plan. And it amplifies the effects of the large disparities in salary, unrelated to merit or need, that exist between different departments and faculties across the university. This can and should change.
However, pension plans are only one place to start. While channeling benefits toward managers and absentee shareholders, corporations re-distribute harms onto workers, consumers, society at large, and the natural world. Democratic governments therefore need to subordinate and re-define corporations so that they evolve into entities that, on balance, benefit nature and society. I am working with non-profit organizations dedicated to pursuing this goal.
Several scholars have identified publicly-traded corporations as the most problematic of all types of business. Alternatives include worker-owned cooperatives, community and consumer coops, government corporations (e.g., Via Rail and Amtrak), non-profits, and locally-owned businesses. Over the course of several months, I tested whether I could avoid giving any money directly to any publicly-traded corporation. Although it took a fair bit of work at the beginning, progress got easier after making the switch, e.g., from a bank to a credit union (a form of consumer coop). Within a relatively short time, I whittled down to four the number of publicly-traded corporations that I did business with directly: local and long-distance telephone service, and the two companies that McGill required its employees to buy insurance from. The success of this experiment suggests that publicly-traded corporations are quite dispensable. However, changes in the law are needed for more socially and ecologically sane kinds of business to flourish.
Government subsidies are a major source of money for corporate managers and shareholders. Industries related to automobiles are by far the biggest recipients of "perverse subsidies" – government giveaways that on balance do more harm than good. Besides causing far more "accidental" death and disfigurement than any of its alternatives, automobile transportation has greatly increased the scale of habitat destruction, resource depletion, urban sprawl, and many other health and environmental problems around the world. And the din and stench of traffic have made city living well-nigh insufferable. Unfortunately, people often seek private solutions to this public problem, by moving to the suburbs, thus increasing traffic still more. Having liberated myself from owning an automobile many years ago, I am now working to change the transportation infrastructure in my neighborhood and city. The aim is to slow and reduce the number of cars, and otherwise make life safer, quieter, and less polluted for everyone.
I enrolled 30 acres of forest in Vermont's "Current Use" program, which forbids any building or road construction, mining, heavy logging, etc.; and also in the US Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program. I also played a small part in protecting an area 40,000 times larger – the Paakumshumwaau and Maatuskaau watersheds on the east coast of James Bay, now one of the Québec government's officially proposed biodiversity reserves.
In a very small step toward holding corporate managers accountable for more than just monetary profits, colleagues and I together overcame great resistance from our own administration, to make a socially-responsible pension fund available to university faculty and staff.
Neighbors and I, through the Plateau borough government, had eight sizable areas of pavement at our intersection replaced with soil supporting flowers, grasses, and trees. That same project increased not only the area devoted to green space, but also that enjoyed by pedestrians – at the expense of room for cars – and added two new stop signs. We also successfully lobbied to block, with a massive and scenic planter, the entrance to our alley nearest that same intersection – thus completely ending the large daily stream of illegal traffic therethrough. Other traffic-calming and green-space projects are underway throughout the Plateau, which will ideally help inspire other boroughs, cities, provinces, and countries to join in turning the tide against the automobile and toward healthy human communities and more-than-human ecosystems.