The Environment or The Economy: Society’s Trade-off

Checkout the New Yorker Blog for more on the economy vs. the environment!

The trade-off between a healthy environment and a thriving economy is one of the most controversial dilemmas faced by society today. The harsh reality is that people care more about their own well being than the shrinking glaciers, and especially more than the generations hereafter that must live with the consequences of our actions. So whose responsibility is it to sustain both the environment and its economy? The answer is: it begins with the businesses. David Owen’s blog on The New Yorker says, “The world’s principal source of man-made greenhouse gases has always been prosperity.” When the economy is thriving, the actions of the people greatly affect the state of the environment. For example, more employed, well-off people leads to more cars on the road, more travelling emissions, and the like. However, we must think back to the cause of this prosperity: the thriving big industrial, job supplying, carbon-emitting companies. Many big businesses have supplied a great deal to the economy, but at the expense of the environment. The only way to stop this trend is to transform businesses to jointly create a profit for itself, value to its consumers, and environmentally harmless procedures. Thus, the environment and the economy should not be viewed as needing an “either or” type of solution, but rather one that mutually benefits both, and it starts with the businesses.

For further information on the topic visit: Eco IQ

 

Businesses’ Superficial Aim to Sustain

It is unethical, in today’s awareness of the effects that humankind has on both global warming and the environment, for businesses not to take action. Although many businesses do operate with a social conscience, there are many others that are not nearly as sustainable as they have led you to believe. Businesses are more keenly motivated to appear environmentally righteous through the eyes of society than their own aim to improve environmental responsibility. Attaining sustainability for moral purposes does not seem to be the true aspiration for most organizations on the environmental movement.

2013 Global Corporate Sustainability Report

Based on the most recent Global Corporate Sustainability Report, many businesses have found a way to please the environmentally aware while doing as little as possible. According to the report, 65% of companies surveyed have developed and/or evaluated policies and strategies at the CEO level. This fact would lead many to believe that progress is being made in businesses towards more ethical environmental approaches. However, the report clarifies that only 35% are training managers to actually integrate sustainability into strategy and operations. Action should not only be taken until society believes the company meets the people’s environmental standards, but until they do. Many businesses today are hiding the fact that they are creating harm to the environment by promises and policies that have yet to be fulfilled.