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Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Microstory 468: Floor 18 (Part 2)

Skeptic: Environmentalist, I just read this report, and I’m confused. I broke lockdown to come down here so you can explain it to me.
Environmentalist: Happy to help, though I’m not sure what the point would be. That’s an old report. The subject matter has long since past.
Skeptic: I’m not talking about how it pertains to the projects we were planning at the time. I’m concerned with the numbers in general. Are these right?
Environmentalist: I promise that all of the data and calculations have been checked, rechecked, verified, and confirmed. They are 100% accurate. I’ll bet my job on them.
Skeptic: You’re claiming that these new, more advanced, supposedly environmentally friendly materials and procedures would-slash-would have cost us less?
Environmentalist: In the long-run, yes. In the short-term, because of turnover, method reconditioning (a.k.a. backlash), and equipment replacement, it does look like it costs more.
Skeptic: You have here that the financial benefit could be realized in five years time.
Environmentalist: That’s a maximum expectation. Two years would be the minimum, and expected.
Skeptic: Why aren’t we doing these things?
Environmentalist: You would have to tell me.
Skeptic: You wrote the report, did everyone see it?
Environmentalist: I submitted it according to Analion protocol. I’m actually not personally cognizant of who is supposed to ultimately get their hands on my reports.
Skeptic: This is our problem, Environmentalist. No matter what issues a company has, they all come down to money. If everything was free, everything would be fine. We would have no reason to not make the changes you suggested.
Environmentalist: Well, that’s not entirely true, is it? If we didn’t need money, we wouldn’t need to do anything, so we wouldn’t do anything. Money is a motivator exactly as much as the absence of it is a limitation. That’s capitalism.
Skeptic: Okay, but you should have done more. You should have made sure that the right people saw this report. I just found it today, and now it’s too late.
Environmentalist: I’ve thought a lot about my role in this organization, and within society as a whole. What a lot of people don’t realize is that gain is not the primary operant behind capitalistic practices. It’s control. People don’t like new things, because new things come with a shift in power. An oil company spends all this time, and all these resources, investing in that day’s technology. It doesn’t think about the future, so when the future comes, they can’t change with it, because they weren’t ready. No one is ever ready. So when you ask me, Mister Skeptic, sir, why I didn’t do enough to push my ideas through, the answer is simple. Because nobody gives a shit. Nobody.

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