Reinforced recently by a disturbing deep fake on TikTok portraying the astronomical net worths of some of Earth’s richest individuals, we as Gen Z are becoming increasingly aware of the grotesque sums of money individuals such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos hoard. With money comes power, the ability to manipulate regulations and to exploit individuals for personal gain. So let's have a look at the disturbing truth of Amazon.
During lockdown alone Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, saw his net worth soar, adding another estimated $48 billion to his ever-expanding pile. As the comedic but startlingly eye-opening twitter account, ‘Has Jeff Bezos decided to end world hunger today?’ explains, in just a minute Bezos earns enough money to change someone’s life, that figure being just shy of $150,000. In theory, this one man has the money needed to end world hunger. Not only is hoarding this amount of money unethical in itself, but during that same period of time over lockdown more than 40 million Americans filed for unemployment, this not only shows the staggering divide between the mega-rich and the working class but in addition the selfishness of Bezos- a man who could quite literally have transformed those peoples lives.
Amazon as a company practises outrageous tax avoidance. In 2018, Amazon paid only a total of £220 million in direct taxes in the UK despite total revenues in the UK amounting to £10.9 billion, this staggering tax avoidance robs money from invaluable services vital for a functioning society including the NHS, public housing and transport.
As a global monopoly accounting for 49% (as of 2018) of the US e-commerce market, it is no surprise that Amazon’s carbon footprint is extensive. Last fiscal year the internet giant admitted to emitting 51.17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a 15% increase from the previous year. This amount of CO2 leads to catastrophic environmental impact, largely due to the company’s failure to make rapid and much-needed changes to their practices, but also, in turn, due to us as consumers and our ever-growing demand for faster delivery that equates to a more carbon-intensive journey.
Focussing on their violation of human rights, documents leaked in 2019 revealed factories in China supplying for Amazon were found to be breaking the law by practising child labour. This horrifying discovery follows a 2018 report that accused all the major tech companies of slave labour and human rights violations, of which Amazon scored the worst. Amazon has become notorious for treating their staff badly exemplified by accounts of employees in Pennsylvanian warehouses working in such hot conditions in summer months that Amazon kept ambulances outside buildings to rush employees to the hospital (source) being brought to light nine years ago. This disgusting treatment, unfortunately, doesn’t come with a large paycheck either, as in four US states Amazon ranks in the top 20 employers whose workers rely on food stamps.
Avoiding Amazon in 2020 is a difficult but necessary feat. This conglomerate has weaved its way into all areas of our lives, some of us even have our very own Amazon voice assistant living in our homes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make a start to stop funding one of the global corporations responsible for the destruction of our planet today. Start by looking for smaller companies that care more about you and your planet, or, even better, shop locally, thus reducing the travel distance of products whilst also giving you an opportunity to seize back control of the island you live in, by stimulating the local economy in an ethical way. To find out more about ways to shop without Amazon check out Ethical Consumer for great alternatives.
Imi Dobber, year 12
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