Business Environmental Decisions: A Response

In today’s world, one of the largest issues is the environment. Global warming, the misuse of energy, and the poisoning of the environment are all large issues. These issues also affect businesses. If a business is green, and cares about the environment, then it will look good in the media and gain new customers. Therefore, companies that are polluting the earth run the risk of losing customers. That is why in today’s society, it is difficult to tell when companies are becoming more environmentally friendly because they care, or because they just don’t want to look bad and want to create more profits (‘greenwashing’). On my classmate Shaoshu Jin’s blog, she discusses H & M’s decision to stop using PFC’s in its clothing. PFC stands for perfluorinated compounds which never degrade, and are environmentally unfriendly. While H & M’s decision was a good one, I don’t think they made the decision purely for environmental reasons. Shaoshu says she “recommends this decision” because it shows they care about their “consumers safety and the environment.” I believe this is true, but I also think that H & M would not have made this decision if it would have severely hurt their profits. After all, H & M is a business, and they are trying to make money.