Ethical Implications of Businesses Polluting - Case Study Example

?Poverty and Pollution Ethical implications of businesses polluting third world countries are to substantial controversy considering the businesses motives behind when operating in these countries. This is because of common belief that ethics have no place in business, and the only reason behind application of ethics in businesses is that to facilitate success (Rao, 1996). As a result, third world countries have weak regulations that do not take any action against businesses engaging in pollution as long as the business is run under certain rules. This implies that there exists no evidence to penalize those that circumvent the law and put some that strictly following the law at disadvantage. In this case, ethical implications lies in the fact that businesses are using the third world countries for their own financial gain, at the expense of the people and environment of the host third world country. However, ethics dictate that any successful business should work within the existing framework of regulations for the benefit of all parties involved, which includes environment and local people. Furthermore, businesses that cause pollution only cater after their own interests and leave people to suffer the consequences of pollution. Moreover, strict ethical laws and regulations in the third world countries business sector has considerable impact relating to financial gains emanating from the said businesses due to the costs affiliated. This is because a country is not willing to let go of the revenue, hence, native people are left suffering the consequences of environmental exploitation and pollution in the quest for wealth. In addition, some of the mother countries of these businesses polluting the environment tend to be powerful and include handsome packages to the third-world governments, which are in return for unregulated exploitation of resources without limitations and liabilities. In addition, businesses operating in third world countries have a number of grounds to disregard pollution standards. One of the reasons leading to this problem would be weak regulations governing pollution menace in the developing countries. These weak guidelines facilitate businesses to disregard the law because little can be done to penalize them for their unethical acts. Thus, there is little to be lost by the said company as compared to countries with strict environmental pollution laws. Moreover, laws play a crucial role in the response of environmental agencies responsible for tackling these environmental issues. This is because weak laws do not foster law enforcement, thus, low motivation and increased pollution crimes in third world countries (Amnesty International, 2009). Corruption cannot to be left behind, as it is a critical aspect, this is in terms of regulation; where those charged with responsibility receive bribes from companies to allow pollution blatantly (“New A.T. Kearney...”, 2000). In addition, the issue of penalties leads to total disregard for standards of pollution control. This is in terms of leniency and harshness while punishing violators of these standards as they set examples to be emulated and followed. In this regard, companies that are leniently penalized have a possibility of repeating the same offence, as the income is much higher than the penalty. Besides, it could be cheaper to pay the penalty than follow the set guidelines. As a result, businesses may opt for the cheapest way out by maximizing their profits at the expense of conserving the environment. Pollution, economic growth and development all have a close relationship with each other since according to common belief, pollution is the price of progress, and that the cost of development is almost directly proportional to the resultant pollution in terms of industrial waste and pollutant material. This is evident in the case of china that doubled its Gross Domestic Product by over five times, and the results are a sharp rise environmental pollution, ecological destruction and increased carbon dioxide emissions (ZhiDong, 2003). This reveals that an increase in economic growth requires more energy to power up industries, which contribute positively to the economy in terms of GDP and negatively to the environment through pollution (“UN Chief Urges…”, 2010). In addition, in third world countries, any implementation of environmental pollution regulation would result in economic woes for the said countries. This is because rich western countries most of the times they tend to take advantage of the poor regulations in the third world in order to bring in incentives in the form of investments. As a result, the rich countries end up building plants in third world countries to beat the regulations in their own countries and remit revenues to the host country. Moreover, third-world countries allow pollution to take place only for the economic benefits they rip from businesses. This reveals the close relationship between economic progress and pollution controls in environmental protection, since protecting the environment is equivalent to economic sabotage due to lack of investors willing to work in a restrictive environment. In addition, a restrictive environment inhibits productivity and financial output as well as revenue remitted to a government to fund its projects, which results in reduced economic growth, as there are fewer resources to exploit as compared to investment potential in less strict regulations. The continuation of human kind and environment are interrelated in that the continuation of life in the world depends on the pleasant association between ecosystems and the environment (Darsini et al., 2010). Therefore, human existence is dependent on the natural resources on the earth such as air, water, and land, which are the fundamental to life forms. This is because man is dependent on these resources as they give him the right and privilege to live in a clean environment regardless of their country of origin. In this regard, other countries should not look to exploit the poverty of countries by polluting their environment, as every man has the right to have a clean environment. The major issue that conflicts the right to live in a clean environment is the lack of uniformity in regulations and standards of the environment that people live. This is as a result of poverty and economic inhibitions by rich countries and threats of sanctions. Sanctions come in the form of trade bans and lack of financial support to the budget and crucial national projects that promote survival of humans. In addition, the United Nations bill of rights calls for human conditions to be enhanced in all means such that the wellbeing of humans should be put before individual goals and interests. It does this by declaring that all human beings are equal in dignity and rights, as well as a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing (United Nations, n.d.). Thus, wealthy nations have a moral obligation to help poor countries adopt greener industries and sources of energy in place of exploiting their poor laws in governing pollution. This is concerning the adoption of strict regulation in their countries to curb pollution for a cleaner environment and living in healthy environments. Hence, taking this into account rich countries hold the key to easing the pollution burden on poor countries as they hold the technology and means to prevent pollution. Helping poorer countries develop greener industries, and sources of energy will contribute tremendously in terms of efficiency in production of materials and goods in all industries. This is regardless of the operator, be it local or international for the said rich countries, as in this case, developments made will work to the advantage through producing more profits when comparing the cost of inputs and outputs. In addition, the poor nations suffer the wrath of global warming caused by pollutant investments by rich countries. This provides a moral basis to make up for all the misdeeds done against third world countries by, at least, providing green solutions to energy requirements and industries. In addition, a plan to control global pollution standards uniformly, there is a need to come up with a plan such as compensating and putting caps to the production of pollutant materials such as carbon emissions. This is by having certain countries cut or reduce their carbon emissions levels while others have to increase their emissions quotas in order to keep the average of carbon emissions at a sustained level. This is much better as compared to having carbon emissions increase every now and then without worrying about the consequences to the environment. In addition, strict regulations can be put in place by international organizations such as the United Nations and its agencies with punitive measures to those countries that contravene these stipulations. This can be achieved through implementation of charters meant to cater for environmental wellbeing and to ensure that all nations look after their own interests while not breaching those of others. This can be achieved through vetting all companies that seek to move their operations into third world countries, and monitoring their pollutant outputs. In conclusion, poverty and pollution have been exploited by rich and developed countries to enrich themselves in terms of exploiting financial gain and other precious resources from third-world countries, as a result, all measures must be taken to curb these unethical issues and protect the poor countries from exploitation. References United Nations. (n.d.). Universal declaration of human rights. United Nations Department of Public Information. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007/hrphotos/declaration%20_eng.pdf Rao, S. (1996). The effect of published reports of environmental pollution on stock prices. Journal of Financial and Strategic Decisions Vol. 9 Number 1. Amnesty International. (2009). Petroleum, pollution and poverty in the Niger delta. Retrieved from http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19492.pdf ZhiDong, L. (2003). Energy and environmental problems behind China’s high economic growth – a comprehensive study of medium - and long-term problems, measures and international cooperation. The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan - IEEJ. Retrieved from http://eneken.ieej.or.jp/en/data/pdf/188.pdf Darsini et al. (2010). Human rights approach towards pollution free environment. indiastat.com. Retrieved from http://www.indiastat.com/article/14/indira/fulltext.pdf "New A.T. Kearney Study Finds Globalization Linked with Economic and Income Growth, Reduction in Poverty -- and also with Wider Income Gap, Worsening Air Pollution." PR Newswire: 1. Apr 05 2000. ABI/INFORM Dateline; The Advocate (Stamford); Baltimore Sun; Business Dateline; Greenwich Time; Hartford Courant; Los Angeles Times; Morning Call; Newsday; Orlando Sentinel; ProQuest Newsstand; ProQuest Newsstand; Sun Sentinel. Web. 28 Aug. 2012 . "UN Chief Urges China to Continue Reducing Pollution, Wealth Gap." BBC monitoring Asia Pacific: n/a. Nov 01 2010. ABI/INFORM Dateline; The Advocate (Stamford); Baltimore Sun; Business Dateline; Greenwich Time; Hartford Courant; Los Angeles Times; Morning Call; Newsday; Orlando Sentinel; ProQuest Newsstand; ProQuest Newsstand; Sun Sentinel.  Read More