David Mitchells’ Cloud Atlas

A dystopia could be described as a horrendous vision of events to occur in the near future which can be depicted in David Mitchells’ book, Cloud Atlas, where the author mentions of polluted lands, waters and air (Mitchell, 2004). Such a dystopian wasteland is imminent in Rosia Montana, Romania where a substantial gold mining project managed by Gabriel Resources Ltd, a Canadian firm, might demolish three villages and four mountains, and build up a considerable reservoir for 214 million tons of cyanide waste which is used to extract gold from ore (BBC, 2013). Although several ethical dilemmas can be depicted by this, the author chose to emphasize whether CFO, Jonathan Henry alongside the board of directors should continue with this over 12 year old project and ruin its reputation further (share price is considerably affected) and destroy the environment or convey the $585 million invested already and pursue legal action under investment protection treaties which could cost Romania billions of dollars (Buckley, 2013).

Such an immense gold mining project has never been attempted in Europe which would extract 330.5 tonnes of gold and 1,628.4 tonnes of silver (Zaharia, 2010, p.5) at the cost of infecting surrounding rivers, including the Danube alongside physical, chemical, and biological degradation of land (Ştefănescu et al. 2011, p.3) and atmospheric pollution (with particulate matters, gas, and aerosols). The CFO of the Canadian mining company persists in reassuring the population by stating that it will meet the highest industry standards and that the pollution circumstances will be resolved in accordance to the European Union standards (Zaharia, 2010, p.6) which Shrivastava and Siomkos (1989, pp. 26-30) and Vassilikopoulou and ...

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Vassilikopoulou, A., Siomkos, G., Chatzipanagiotou, K. and Pantouvakis, A. 2009. Product-harm crisis management: Time heals all wounds?. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 16 (3), pp. 174—180;

Werhane, P. 1998. Moral imagination and management decision-making. p. 76 New York: Oxford University Press;

Wilson, J. 2013. Gabriel Resources threatens action against Romania over gold mine. Financial Times, [online] September 9th. Available at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/695287f4-1960-11e3-83b9-00144feab7de.html#axzz2kq0ZYzzX [Accessed: 16 Nov 2013];

Zaharia, I. 2010. Business Ethics in Third World Countries. A Romanian Representative Case: Roşia Montană. BRAND. Broad Research in Accounting, Negotiation, and Distribution, 1 (1), p. 1-7 Available from: doi: ISSN 2067-8177 [Accessed: 8 Nov 2013].