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Economics / Finance / Business

For an unclean

   business-plan

      flow-chart,

         scroll below. 

 A  Business  Plan  (flow-chart)  for  monetizing  pollution:   

 Fossil-fuel companies look for   coal/gas/oil. 

 Deposit is suspected - go below  v 

 If nothing likely - go to the right   > 

 They dig or drill or virtually explore,   to find an accumulation of fossil fuel. 

 If a deposit is found   v 

 If no deposit  

 If the deposit may be "rich", they 

 ask investors for up-front money. 

 If no investors agree to give $   > 

 If investors provide funds   v 

 With investor cash, they buy   rights to where the fossil-fuel is. 

 Go below   

 If unable to purchase rights   > 

 Nothing thought to be there. 

 Start over.  Look elsewhere. 

 No deposit found - go above   ^ 

 Unable to come up with   funding for the project. 

 

 Return to beginning  

 Without rights from government   officials, project is stymied... 

 Corrupt payments, lawsuits, or   intimidation could be tried... 

 

 Otherwise, go above   ^ 

 Drilling/fracking/mining   operations are set up. 

 If fossil fuel is unearthed   

 If unable to obtain the material   > 

 After extraction, the raw material   gets transported for processing. 

 Assume no major problems   

 If unable to transport   

 After processing, 

 the product is transported to a   "buyer/purchaser". 

 Sell product to "buyer"   

 No one wants to buy the product   >

 Can logistics problem be   resolved? 

 

 If so, return to left   < 

 If not, argue with investors about   how to split financial losses   ^ 

 If transportation problems are   unsolvable   ^ 

 An odd situation, but one could   sell it at a loss. 

 Go two steps up   ^ 

 "Buyers" burn the fuel in order to   accomplish a profitable task 

 (or sell to customers to burn). 

 If goes as planned   

 If consumers won't pay   > 

 Consumers pay the "buyer" for   the services/item   

 Citizens refuse to buy the   services/item   >​ 

 Pollution goes into the   atmosphere as a by-product of   the burning; 

 plants, animals, & people 

 suffer and/or die. 

 Go back to the beginning to   repeat the business cycle   ^ 

 Or...boycott   > 

Consumers don't pay as expected.

 The price could be dropped and   sold at a loss   

 Or the buyer may try again later,   when economic factors change. 

 People don't pay because of   unusual situation (i.e., pandemic)   ^ 

 People don't pay because of   moral commitment to boycott   pollution   v 

 Boycott disrupts this scenario. 

 Fossil-fuels stay in the  ground. 

 Investors lose $, corporations go   bankrupt, employees lose jobs. 

 Lives are saved, investors place   ($) bets on different businesses,   employees try to find other work. 

Other options to stop this toxic madness:

  • Appeal to investors, boards of directors, and corporate CEO’s

  • to stop seeking pollution-oriented profits?  

  • Convince political leaders to refuse campaign contributions

  • from pollution-profiteering companies?

  • Ask government leaders to make profits from pollution illegal?

  • Ask voters to vote for candidates who will prohibit pollution?

  • Ask polluting companies to no longer lobby political leaders?

  • Ask them to stop using ads to convince people to ignore pollution?

  • Ask commercial media owners to no longer accept those commercials?

  • Ask workers in pollution-related jobs to go on strike until company

  • bosses put the company out of business by leaving the fossil-fuel

  • where it sits (and thereby laying off all the workers)?

 Or join a boycott of pollution? 

 Investors have already moved some money into renewables. 

 Will they be rewarded, or will they lose their bet (on "green")? 

 

 It depends upon consumers like you and me. 

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