{{B}}Responsibility to Natural Environment{{/B}}
The difficulty of balancing profits and social responsibility is very apparent when you consider environmental issues. Consumers value the goods and services that business produces, but business cannot produce goods and services without polluting to some degree. Businesses strive to lower their costs in order to offer products to consumers more efficiently and to make profits for investors, but sometimes it is necessary for business to spend more in order to pollute less. When such situations arise, whose interests should be served first—those of society, the consumer, or the investor? Clearly, this question has no easy answer, but examining how businesses pollute may provide some perspectives.
Economic progress threatens our air, water, and land because these elements can so easily be tainted by pollution(the contamination or destruction of the natural environment by humans). Moreover, the pollution in any one element can easily taint the others. This problem is pervasive in industrialized and developing nations alike. In fact, the emerging economies of Asia and Latin America have built much of their growth on very loose environmental standards. But Mexico, Malaysia, and other countries are realizing that their prosperity can be sustained only if their citizens can enjoy a quality of life that comes with a clean environment. At the same time, the countries of Eastern Europe are scrambling to reverse the decade of environmental neglect that occurred around the middle of the 20th century. As you can imagine, this is no easy task.
The most noticeable form of air pollution, smog, is produced by the interaction of sunlight and hydrocarbons(gases released when fossil fuels are burned). Another damaging air pollutant is acid rain, created when emissions from coal-burning factories and electric utility plants react with air. Acid rain has been blamed for damaging lakes and forests in southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States.
In addition, emissions from factories and cars pollute the air and contribute to global warming through the greenhouse effect, in which heated gases form a layer of unusually warm air around the earth, trapping the sun's heat and preventing the earth's surface from cooling. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), which includes over 900 scientists worldwide, recently reported that global warming will cause worldwide temperatures to rise by 1 to 3.5 degrees centigrade in the next century. This is expected to lead to increases in both droughts and floods in some regions and cause the sea level to rise about 50 centimeters by 2100. The report concludes that "the balance of evidence suggests a discernible influence on global climate". However, some scientists refute the theory of global warming, claiming that no solid evidence yet exists to support a human influence on global climate change. The debate will continue. However, we need only look at the smog that hangs over many major cities of the world to know that air pollution is a problem that businesses, consumers, and governments must address together.
Experts worry about airborne toxins that are emitted during some manufacturing processes. Large and small companies together release millions of pounds of chemical wastes into the air each year. Although the effects of many of these substances are unknown, some are known to be carcinogenic(cancer causing). Of special concern in recent years are microscopic particulates in the air that may be responsible for more than 150 000 deaths each year.
Our air is not the only part of our environment to suffer. Water pollution has damaged many U.S. lakes, rivers, stream, harbors, and coastal waters. This pollution comes from a variety of sources: manufacturing facilities, mining and construction sites, farms, and city sewage systems. Although dramatic accidents like the Exon Valdes oil spill in Alaskan waters are widely publicized, the main threat is the careless day-to-day disposal of wastes from thousands of individual sources.
Even if all wastewater were purified before being discharged, our groundwater would still be endangered by leakage from the million of tons of hazardous substances that have been buried underground or dumped in improper storage sites. Much of this pollution was created years ago by companies that carelessly—but legally—disposed of substances now known to be unhealthy. Cleaning up these wastes is extremely difficult and expensive.
In addition, companies and individuals generate enormous amounts of solid waste—over 200 million tons in the United States each year. Much of this waste ends up in landfills. A large part of the problem is consumer demands for convenience and fashion. These demands lead to creating disposable items, manufacturing products with excess packaging, and discarding useful items that are no longer the hot style or color. Fortunately, recent efforts to conserve and recycle resources are helping to combat the land pollution problem.
{{B}}Exercises{{/B}}