So too do NGOs need companies which have the capacity to influence change across the world. It may not be a comfortable relationship and it follows a history of mutual ignorance and suspicion. It is a learning process for both, but it is vital to the future. But I am no nearer to giving a definitive answer to the question posed because both suicide and survival are possibilities and the answer lies in our hands. So let me sum up and come to an end.
Capitalism is in principle wonderfully productive.
As practised today by companies it is profoundly parasitic. It has barely begun to internalise its environmental costs. It has not even started to internalise its social costs. It therefore parasitises the weak and poor, not the rich and strong. This is clearly unsustainable.