Describe about the Environmental Ethics in Business.
Environmental pollution is one key concern that needs tangible answers. With the current age of industrialization, a lot of pollution takes place and the natural resources are depleted. Corrective measures ought to be done in order to stop this. Human activities are encroaching the peace of the wild rendering them homeless, depleted and extinct. For example, human tree cutting activities are dragging our forest thinner and thinner daily. The forest measure at the present, compared to the century before has been cut by a considerable percentage. One of the main causes of this is the huge growth of human population. The space for habitation has become so depleted that the need for space for habitation have become too much. Humans therefore clear the forests to make space for their habitation. In the process, it drives wild life population further and further down the memory lane. Owing to this therefore, the need for environmental ethics has risen. It is quite tricky to deal with the question of sustenance of both the human and wildlife and natural resources because issues of concern arise, thus;
The factor of how is the best way to conserve the environment, as we utilize and use the natural resources is of great concern. How can humans use the resources in a balanced way such that the environment will still remain clean and sustainable, at the same time having the human needs satisfied? This issue is tricky because, you realize that the human population keeps on increasing daily while the natural resources remain constant. The constancy of natural resources means that it is almost impossible to keep the natural resource at a constant level. Also it is impossible to replace natural resources. For example, if we say that we do not carry out mining to some level, the issue of poverty will kick in.
Another issue of concern is whether to save humanity or the wild. This question is well demonstrated in instances where wild animals attack and encroach human settlements. Will it be ethical to drive away or kill these animals? A good example is a case that happened in Nairobi National park in Kenya, where lions started to escape from the park. Some were found along the roads while others close to town. One of the lions attacked a human and the tranquilizers had finished. A warden had to shoot the animal with the live bullet in order to save the man. In this case, it goes without saying that there are battles between human survival in the environment and the survival of wild animals.
Concerning air pollution, the biggest question is whether to continue manufacturing gasoline and vehicles that use gasoline. Global warming has really affected the global climate. Rivers have dried up and many parts have become dry. You will notice that not only are the human being affected by this state but also the wild animals and the natural things are degraded. A perfect example is the Mara River, where the iconic wild beast migration is well captured. This river has become almost seasonal yet in the past it was so vast and thick. Many wild animals around that area have been affected and this has caused many to die. Concerning the issue of extinction of the wild animals, it is noteworthy that poaching has become one of the most heinous crimes. The number of white rhinos present currently globally is one aging rhino in Kenya, being guarded twenty four hours. You might ask why it that only one is remaining is. It is all because of poaching. Elephants also are part of the big five whose tears continue flowing because of the multiple and perpetual injustices man have done to them.
In observing the ethical issues as per the depletion of natural resources, the incident in Brazil where a dam burst washing away people and property in an example of hazardous aspects of human activities. Such an incident opens a debate of how safe are we, owing to the human activities that have become uncontrollable. The issue of control is of major concern.
In my opinion, the code and rules for the practice of mining in Brazil and also the BHP should be held accountable. In essence, it is the body that sets the rules and regulations governing mining in Brazil that should be held accountable. This is because; the mining Company operates according to the present regulations (Hester and Harrison,1994). With the case of Brazil, it was the case of negligence that there was such an accident. If the authorities had been keen enough, there would be little likelihood of the incident occurring. The authorities should have acted earlier because Samarco sensors had given warnings months before the accident happened. It would have been easier to prevent the accident given the fact that there was a warning of a prevailing danger. Neither the government nor the authorities played a role in preventing the accident.
The reason the Brazilian authorities have to be dragged into this blame is that it didn’t create strict enough regulations, in preventing the deaths from occurring. If the government had been warned of the impending danger, why then did it take time to address the issue. If the government had taken seriously the warning given, and acted upon them, then there wouldn’t have been cases of such an accident from happening. It is of importance to note that in as much as the blame has been so much focused on BHP, the authorities had a role to play. This is because, the authorities make and enforce laws to which will form the foundation of the company’s actions. If the Brazilian codes for mining were effective and efficient enough, such negligence couldn’t have found a place. It would therefore be quite hard to experience such disasters as the Brazilians have experienced. Also, the mining companies have a key role to play. Since it is responsible to the activities that caused the tragic accident, then they should explain how that happened.
I do not agree that it’s the fact that society views the world as a free and unlimited good that has caused the environmental problems we currently experience, but the capitalism and profit making that has caused it. The reason for this is that before the rise in industrialization, the environment was better and cleaner and yet people freely used the natural resources. However, when industrialization kicked in and took root, the problems of environmental pollution and natural disasters started. Capitalism is the main problem because natural resources are meant to be used and utilized by humans for the propagation of life otherwise they would have no meaning for existence. Responsibility in utilization is therefore the key. So, the issue as to whether the utilization that comes with an understanding that the resources are free for use that causes environment-related problem is explained.
The answer to the previous statement is no. It is indeed true that natural resources are free and should be utilized, but it isn’t this understanding that brings about issues of pollution and depletion of natural resources. The real issue is greed. There are many schools of thought that have risen, in order to explain environmental ethics and some include; applied theology, conservation ethics and ecologic extension. It is the conservation ethics that explains why humans have contributed to the environmental woes. This school of thought suggest that conservation is a means to an end and humans conserve the environment, only if that will add value to them. In essence, it argues that conservation is a means to an end. In linking this to the aspect of capitalism, humans will mine in a certain area, conserving the environment, for the sake of continuing to do the mining. For example if the written laws demand some level of environmental conservation. When this happens the level of conservation and recovery measures will be very minimum. Hence creating a situation whereby the environment becomes depleted to some extent. After all the resources have been depleted and there is no reason for mining, there will no longer be any reason to carry out conservation measures. Conservation ethics runs the day in the current practice of environmental conservation (Bharucha, 2005). Human being only conserves the environment as long as it is relevant for their continued utilization. This practice is the reason why the state of the environment remains in a sorry state.
Therefore, the best way to deal with the issue of pollution and irresponsible use of the environment is to change the mentality of humans about conservation. The environment should be conserved for the purposes of sustaining natural resources and living things. The environment does not only belong to humans but also to other living things. In borrowing from applied theology school of thought, it is noteworthy that everything is a creation of God and He placed the responsibility to care the environment to man. Man has not obeyed this and he reaping the fruits of that disobedience. If man took care the environment for the sake of caring for it, then the earth would be a better place. The unfortunate thing is that man cares for the environment to the extent of utilizing it. In order to ensure adequate resource allocation and eradication of poverty, the capitalism mentality should be changed. The height of this mentality is when the rhino horns became a value to humans. Instead of caring for the beautiful animals, humans went ahead, and started killing them for the sake of getting money from the horns. It is paining to see a herd of lions murdered in cold blood and their tusks missing. Not a day or two but many days.
The Kenyan government recently burned tons of rhino hones and tusks, with the president himself lighting the fire. All those resources being burnt represent dozens of elephants and rhinos murdered and their horns and tusks removed. This has become a practice to every regime of government in Kenya. The horns have been burnt by all the sitting presidents ever since the country became a republic. It is now having one white rhino remaining in the face of this earth. This is so saddening, and capitalism and profits pushing the levels of greed to greater heights. This is why the conservation ethics have really failed. In this case, other animals of little value are being conserved and taken good care of. Others of great value are being killed and used because of profit. It is so wrong because the value of natural resources and the environment cannot be equivalent to money. If money was full in this world without water to drink, how will life be propagated? It will be impossible to survive and living things would die all because of profit making.
The direction taken by the earth is very dangerous because, in the past, natural resources such as water and plants were so free and nobody had to buy them. With the present age, humans are now buying water for sustenance. The gravity of the situation is that rain water is under threat. This is because of salty water, caused by repeated and widespread pollution of the environment. The environment have been so much polluted that even natural resources are giving back the waste emitted to them. For the future of the planet and the continued propagation of life, the attitude about the reasons for conservation of the environment should be well reshaped. Apart from having effective and adequate policies and regulations concerning the conservation of the environment, it would be of great importance to instill some value to the society. This will be very effective if the children are empowered at an early age. Measures such as including the environmental conservation ethics in schools curricula will play a huge role in ensuring that the environment is protected and conserved at will. If the society is empowered to protect the environment at will, then the results would be a cleaner, healthier and better environment.
Few countries have been successful in realizing a cleaner environment. Developing countries should borrow a leaf from the developed and cleaner countries. The secret is that when the environment is clean, then it goes without saying that economically, the country prospers. This is because; less resource would be spent trying to solve the negative effects of environmental pollution. For instance, the huge amount of oil spillage would mean that the government perpetually has to clean up the spillage, compensate those who have been affected, and suffer the losses amounting from the lost resources.
One area of concern is the poor disposal of resources. One of the greatest causes of environmental degradation is the irresponsibility of many industries that dispose of waste products in natural resources such as water catchment areas. The reason why there have been mysterious deaths of sea life is because of the chemical that are disposed to the waters. If then such malpractices are dealt with, then it means that the management of resources would be much easier and the planet would be a more conducive environment.
The case study above changes the perspective of whether more options should be added to the developing economies and countries in order to ensure that they deal with pollution effectively. Instead, it brings the need to answer the question of how these countries would utilize effectively the available measures and options that are already in place. One of the great challenges these countries face is that it lack adequate skills and resources for dealing with pollution as environmental hazards. This is because they just experience the industrialization movement and therefore the experience of handling industrialization is quite minimal. For instance, Nigeria have not been in the oil business as long as the Arabic states. Therefore, her level of experience is quite limited. However, this would be a lame excuse for the continuous degradation of the environment. If the purpose for conserving the environment would have been well understood, then these African countries would not drag their feet in a bid to conserve the environment. The reason is that the long term effect of environmental degradation as a result of pollution is irreversible. These effects would latter turn to haunt the economy of a given country and the general livelihoods as a whole.
Some of the conservation measures include setting up of policies and regulation governing the conservation of the environment. For example, in the country of Kenya, there was a rule of ‘cut one plant two tree’. It later became illegal to cut trees irresponsibly, unless one had the permit from the government authorities concerning the same. These policies have help to slow down the depletion of the environment but some have been defied. For example, poaching have been the greatest problem to the protection of wild animals yet there are strict laws against it.
Another measure is the planting of trees. Tree planting have been very successful and many countries have strived to reach a cover of ten percent tree cover. Some are close to reaching the target while many are still struggling to reach the target. Carbon di oxide causing global warming is one of the greatest reasons for pollution. A vast tree cover covers the oxygen deficit. This is because; trees consume a lot of carbon di oxide during the day. With that, it goes without saying that trees act to reduce the amount of carbon di oxide in the environment.
Also, proper disposal of waste is a measure that have been placed and mostly despised (Woolfolk, 2001). If that wasn’t correct, we wouldn’t be experiencing mountains of dirt and dumpsites. Also, we would not experience a massive death of sea life. All these effects of pollution have been caused by poor disposal of waste. However, a lot of technologies for disposal of waste have been successful in mitigating this ill. For example, circulation of plastic materials has been an added advantage because the amount of plastic that goes to the environment has been reduced considerably.
The propagation of green energy is an awesome directive that has born fruits in environmental conservation. Electronics and automobile companies are working on the future of gasoline free automobiles and green energy powered electronics and vehicles. Already, there are many vehicles using solar energy as a source of energy. Therefore, these vehicles hardly emit the carbon di oxide to the environment. With this kind of culture, the environment would be free from pollution once and for all. It’s only that it demands a lot of resources and time to invest on green energy because change is normally a hard thing. Also, there still other issues and concerns to be considered, such as the market for crude oil. Crude oil is very important in the sense that it is responsible for one of the largest economies of the world. The issue that arises would therefore be how will the economies relying on oil be sustained if the market for oil is diminished? This is an area that opens up a debate between economy and environmental conservation.
The measures above are sufficient only if they are successfully implemented. For example, Rwanda is a small country which doesn’t have much wealth but it’s one of the cleanest in Eastern Africa and Africa as a whole (Keim, 2014). This means that the cheap and simple environmental protection measures it puts in place are implemented to the later. Countries globally should borrow a leaf from this. It not the number of measures and policies put in place that determines the success of environmental conservation but the effectiveness of implementation that matters. In this case, it’s very important to consider having a stronger mechanism for implementing the measures mentioned above and the quest for a cleaner, healthier and better environment would come into fruition. Therefore, governments, authorities and relevant environmental bodies should consider investing more resources and time for the purposes of implementing feasible measures to the environmental conservation. This will offset the goals for eradication of global warming and other ills related to environmental pollution.
References
Bharucha, E. (2005). Textbook of environmental studies: For undergraduate courses. Hyderabad: Universities Press.
Harris, P. G. (2007). Europe and global climate change: Politics, foreign policy and regional cooperation. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Hester, R. E., Harrison, R. M., & Royal Society of Chemistry (Great Britain). (1994). Mining and its environmental impact. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Keim, C. A. (2014). Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and inventions of the American mind. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Woolfolk, J. M. (2001). The only astrology book you’ll ever need. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
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