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DA8. Individual and Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Sustainability

Statement

Please read the case study “Corporate and Personal Choices Regarding the Environment of the Future” from chapter 4 of the Business ethics textbook that you find in the reading assignment.

Based on what you have learned in this unit, answer the following questions:

  1. Should corporations and individual consumers bear joint responsibility for sustaining the environment? Why or why not?
  2. What obligation does each of us have to be aware of our own carbon footprint?
  3. If individual consumers have some obligation to support environmentally friendly technologies, should all consumers bear this responsibility equally? Or just those with the economic means to do so?
  4. How should society decide about matters related to environmental responsibility?

Answer

1. Should corporations and individual consumers bear joint responsibility for sustaining the environment? Why or why not?

Corporations have identities just like persons in the eye of the law; thus, they have the same rights and responsibilities as individuals (Byars & Stanberry, 2018); thus, it is logical for both corporations and individuals to bear joint responsibility for sustaining the environment. However, it is not fair to consider an organization as equal to a person, as the size of an organization, its carbon footprint, and its impact on the environment are much larger than that of an individual. Therefore, corporations and individuals should bear joint responsibility, but the responsibility of corporations should be greater than that of individuals.

2. What obligation does each of us have to be aware of our own carbon footprint?

Carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases emitted directly or indirectly by human activities (Byars & Stanberry, 2018). Awayness of our carbon footprint is the first step towards sustainability and fixing the damage that we did to the environment. Once the individual has quantified their footprint, the next step is to reduce it, by driving demands towards environmentally friendly products and services, while boycotting those that are not. It is important to understand that is a collective effort and it will only work if enough people start to care about it.

3. If individual consumers have some obligation to support environmentally friendly technologies, should all consumers bear this responsibility equally? Or just those with the economic means to do so?

No, not all consumers should bear the responsibility equally; although the consequences of environmental damage affect everyone to the same degree; it is important that your degree of obligation is proportional to your ability to act, and not to your footprint. That is, if a person has a low footprint but is economically able to support environmentally friendly technologies, he should do so. On the other hand, it is not fair to put an extra burden on people with devastating backgrounds who are barely making it.

4. How should society decide about matters related to environmental responsibility?

This requires collective efforts from governments, corporations, and individuals. Governments should make the right policies to enforce environmental responsibility. Corporations should always report their carbon footprint with great transparency and avoid greenwashing content. Individuals should also take their part by ensuring that good companies are rewarded by buying their products and services while boycotting those corporations that do not do well.

References

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