Environment

Environmental ethics considers the ethical relationship between people and

and the natural world and the kind of decisions people have to make about the

environment:

Environmental Ethics

Study of human interaction with nature. In a business sense, environmental ethics is

concerned with a company's responsibility to protect the environment in which it operates.

‘Public awareness of “damage caused to the environment by human action” has driven a demand for governmental regulations directly affecting the ability of businesses to conduct their operations.

Resources of Environment

The Environment is defined as the totality of man’s surroundings.

Today’s environment said to consist of elements each of which is a resource

Examples of Resources

Natural Resources- Land , water, air, fauna and flora (plant and trees), energy and fuels and raw materials, i.e minerals

Man – made resources- The socio- economic structure, cultural heritage, the people

Environmental pollution

The quality of environment is fast deteriorating through

Industrial pollutiontoxic chemicalsoil spills in the oceandeforestation

Air Pollution

Air pollution Largely caused by automobiles exhaust and other measures carbon dioxide,

sulpher oxide.

Air pollution prevention, monitoring and solution

Prevention interventions, a better way of controlling air pollution. These can either come from government (laws) or by individual actions.

A. Government (or community) level preventionGovernments throughout the world have already taken action against air pollution by introducing green energy. Some governments are investing in wind energy and solar energy, as well as other renewable energy, to minimize burning of fossil fuels, which cause heavy air pollution.

B.Governments are also forcing companies to be more responsible with their manufacturing activities, so that even though they still cause pollution, they are a lot controlled.

C. Companies are also building more energy efficient cars, which pollute less than before.

Individual Level Prevention

A. Encourage your family to use the bus, train or bike when commuting. If we all do this, there will be less cars on road and less fumes.

B.Use energy (light, water, boiler, kettle and fire woods) wisely. This is because lots of fossil fuels are burned to generate electricity, and so if we can cut down the use, we will also cut down the amount of pollution we create.

C.Recycle and re-use things. This will minimize the dependence of producing new things. Remember manufacturing industries create a lot of pollution, so if we can re-use things like shopping plastic bags, clothing, paper and bottles, it can help.

Water Pollution

Water pollution prevention and control measures are critical to improving water quality and reducing the need for costly wastewater and drinking water treatment. Because water pollution can come from many different sources, a variety of pollution prevention and control measures are needed.

Water pollution through sewage discharges and drainage from mines, water composts, chemicals which are toxic for human life, fishes and birds etc.

Externalities

All of the damage done to the pond, fish, and fishermen are “externalities”

Many companies discharge waste into bodies of water, like ponds. Sometimes this is relatively harmless to the ecosystem, but increasing the amount of waste could become too toxic for some of the organisms. If the toxins kill certain plants in a pond, then many fish could die. This in turn could frustrate fishermen who make a living by catching fish in the pond . or “spillover”.

Business transactions aren’t always just transactions between two people during trade. Sometimes other people and non human animals are also harmed by business transactions.

Many companies discharge waste into bodies of water, like ponds. Sometimes this is relatively harmless to the ecosystem, but increasing the amount of waste could become too toxic for some of the organisms. If the toxins kill certain plants in a pond, then many fish could die. This in turn could frustrate fishermen who make a living by catching fish in the pond (397-398). All of the damage done to the pond, fish, and fishermen are “externalities” or “spillover”—costs to third parties. Business transactions aren’t always just transactions between two people during trade. Sometimes other people and nonhuman animals are also harmed by business transactions.

Environmental Issues of Business Ethics

(a) Ecology (b)Traditional business attitudes towards

the environment(c) Problems involving environmental abuse(d) Environmental protection(e) Methods to pay for environmental

protection (f) Other issues involving environmental

ethics

Environmental Issues we face today:

Pesticides often harm or kill fish and birds and can cause illness in children . Too much pesticide is dangerous to adults

Air pollution contaminates the air, despoils vegetation and crops, corrodes construction materials, and threatens our lives and health

We generally assume we get sick from allergies, bacteria, or viruses; but pollution is a very common cause of illness as well.

Environmental issues

The ozone layer was damaged from chlorofluorocarbons .

Carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gasses) are causing global warming .

Toxic chemicals in our environment cause many health issues .

Nuclear power plants require minding, processing, and transporting of nuclear materials that causes cancer in many people,

Ecology

Ecology- study of plants, animals, people and institutions in relation to environment.

It refers to inter-relationships between people and fuanna (birds & animals)

Ecosystem is totally of-living and non-living elements in the ecological community interacting with one another and environment

Business’s traditional attitudes towards the environment

Businesses , A company would harm the environment to whatever extent was profitable

Overfishing , If the fish population is depleted by fishermen, then the fishing industry will go out of business.

Parables

Garrett Hardin’s parable- “The Tragedy of the Commons,” he describes the importance of the environment to human interests based on the fact that it’s limited

Hardin’s parable- is often relevant to real life issues, such as overfishing. If the fish population is depleted by fishermen, then the fishing industry will go out of business.

Ethics of environmental protection

It’s in our interest to protect the environment insofar as we are human beings and we are often harmed by environmental damage and measures to protect the environment can benefit us all

many people don’t feel responsible for harming the environment because they don’t personally do much harm to it

companies that harm the environment have externalities (and harm others) that they unfairly benefit from, which can violate our right to non-injury

Summary

The environment is one of the most important moral issues not only because harming the environment often violates our right to non injury, but also because environmental damage has been incredibly harmful to both people and other animals. Not to mention that many environmental issues can create even more devastation in the future, such as the possible depletion of the world’s resources to future generations.

The importance of the environment not only shows traditional failures of business ethics of the past and present, but it also helps clarify the importance of externalities and animals. Businesses traditionally saw no need to pay for externalities, but we now know that externalities are of grave importance and are often a matter of life and death. Businesses traditionally saw no need to respect animals, but many moral philosophers no longer see any reason to value ourselves over other animals at any cost.