Catherine Jampel is a PhD candidate in the Graduate School of Geography, Clark University. We interviewed her
What motivates you to be involved with Corporate Accountability?
I remember in 2015, the year I turned 30, climate scientists reported that people younger than 30 had never experienced a single month of below-average global temperatures. That was very chilling: What was I to do now, and for the next 30 years? You helped me understand how “little me” could face big, powerful corporations—in community with thousands of other people. In general, I’m motivated by the Jewish values of tikkun olam—“repairing the world”— and by your systems-level analysis and transnational approach to addressing economic injustice.
What feels most urgent or important to you about our work right now?
Has Corporate Accountability’s work ever not been urgent? It’s perpetually important: The underlying profit motive of corporations means exploitative practices are baked into their structure. Your campaigns are vital precisely because they directly address exploitation, or how corporations make a profit from privatizing public goods such as clean water.
Which of our campaigns resonates with you the most?
I can’t say a “most”— they’re all important! I appreciate how Corporate Accountability uses the collective expertise of its community from fighting Big Tobacco to take on the fossil fuel industry. I’m heartened to be part of an organization that has been fighting corporate abuse for 40 years, and is continuing to build its power into the next 40 years.
