Alma professor's new book examines corporate responsibility

Examining corporate greed and civic engagement might seem like a very of-the-moment book topic, but the latest book published by Alma College professor Ed Lorenz actually has been in the works for a decade.

The newly-published Civic Empowerment in an Age of Corporate Greed was inspired by Lorenz's involvement over the last ten years with the Pine River Superfund Citizens Task Force.

"The environmental problems along the Pine River are a classic consequence of corporate irresponsibility," Lorenz says. "People complained about the pollution from the Michigan Chemical Plant in Gratiot County right from the beginning in 1935. Now, the Environmental Protection Agency has admitted that at a minimum, it's going to cost $370 million more to clean the river up."

The book goes outside that local situation, however, to look at other Superfund sites, food contamination, stock and financial manipulations, and the offshoring of jobs.

"One of the themes of the book is confronting the abuse of greed," Lorenz says. "It's a criticism, too, of officials who get trapped in between interest groups. Companies need to feel pressured by citizens, and citizens need to feel like they can do something about corporate irresponsibility."

Lorenz says the real message of the book is citizen empowerment, which made a difference locally and nationally in many of the situations he cites.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Ed Lorenz, Alma College