Consumption and Environmental Footprint - Essay Example

Student: Tutor: Course: Date of submission: Entry one Consumption and environmental footprint The past century has seen massive development of human civilization as we know it today. Life for humans all over the world has been made easier by technological advancement in almost all fields. While the growth of technology is good and results in enhanced productivity and more free time for humans, I believe it has made humans and human institutions more irresponsible than they used to be before. Today the level of consumption is very high as products lifecycle and lifestyles change. Technology items rank high up in the most consumed items in the world today together with food and energy according to Zaccai (2007). After reading through Zaccai’s argument, I realized that we as humans have adopted a very irresponsible or rather imprudent approach towards using the limited natural resources that we have. It is worthy to note that nature has its own way of balancing the eco system as argued by Karl, Jerry, & Thomas (2009). and I believe some of these ways are the rapid climate change phenomena such as typhoons, landslides, droughts, global warming resulting in melting glaciers, rising sea levels and more. All these is attributable to repercussions of unsustainable exploitation of natural resources driven by irresponsible consumption of the final product and artificial demand that results in misuse of resources rather than prudency in resource usage[Edw07]. I must confess that I am in more than one way guilty of engaging in the imprudent consumerism culture. I am particularly very interested in buying new technological device in the field of entertainment and communication. I, just like most of my friends cannot last more than one year with one model of a Smartphone; once a new model is out, I have to get it and discard the other one almost immediately. These gadgets will find their way into the landfills a few years to come. It is the same with TVs and computers. As technology changes rapidly, so do we have to adapt to the trendy technology which adds little if any value into our lives. I have come to understand that the big corporations want us to keep on changing devices and stuff almost as fast as we could so that we could sustain their business operations. Most organizations such as SAIBT cannot use a desktop computer for more than 5 years; it will be labeled obsolete and necessitate the buying of another one even though it was still functional. While this is good for the economy, it is having devastating effects on natural environments from which the raw materials for production of the computers and other devices are sourced. The raw materials such as rare earth metals and plastics are not renewable; they are being mined at alarming rates with no regards for future human generations. The people working along the production chain have poor working conditions and exposed to harmful elements that reduce their life expectancy[Bie12]. Shipping some of the items is also costing billions of dollars and resulting in wanton emission of harmful hydrocarbon gases[Edw07]. This is the footprint that consumerism is leaving out there in the world. I appreciate SAIBT efforts made by SAIBT in accommodating students but at students hostels a lot of food goes to waste as students purchase more than they need, resulting in throwing away a lot of it. Once in a supermarket, most students buy a lot more than they need maybe because of the discounts offered only for a lot of it to go to waste. This is an unsustainable lifestyle that wastes resources and accelerates demand resulting in use of chemicals to enhance the products attributes and increase production but reduce nutritional content and put consumers at a health risk. Initially I had no idea how irresponsible consumption negatively affects the sustainability of ecosystems and make economies and lifestyles uncertain in the future. Now I understand that the artificial demand created in the mind of consumers either by themselves, the society or the producer through advertisement, strains the ecosystem and leads in unsustainable systems where pollution increases, working conditions deteriorate and natural resources exploited drastically. I believe if humans as a society consume just what they need, then the ecosystems will be sustainable and resources can be preserved for future generations. Entry two Developing work target I hold the notion that a successful career is one in which a person sets reasonable and high targets to pursue for a greater goal of realizing personal achievement. I believe setting goals is the first step towards success as lack of strategic direction means one can only make futile attempts towards success in terms of career progression. Having said that, I believe the activity of filling out the career book helped me realize what I want for my career and how I should move towards that. First of all, from this activity I realized that being a professional is more than a title; an accountant is not simply an accountant because he has taken some accounting courses and understand how to balance accounting books. It goes beyond this as I came to discover. Gildenhuys (2004) strengthens my argument by holding that to be a professional means being guided by some set norms and ethics which one is bound to observe religiously as he/she goes about their work. Some of these ethical requirements are a law requirement while others may not necessarily have substantial legal ramifications[Dus11]. Engaging in them though is against the code of conduct and the spirit of goodwill by the professional body. I was personally influenced by the contention of Duska & Ragatz (2011) in which professionalism is described as a noble call to serve the society through the special talents and experience that the professional possesses. What I understood from this is that, when a professional sets goals and targets in relation to his/her career development, he/she should not fail to consider the wellbeing of the society that he/she will serve. More often than not, professional pursue what appears to me now, a selfish orientation towards career development which considers financial gain in terms of higher salaries and not societal impact. In light of the above understanding, the goals I have set for my career will be simple; to advance my knowledge in the field of accounting by seeking out more opportunities to gain real experience through internships, and to gain interpersonal skills and knowledge on how accounting can improve society. To gain such skills and knowledge, I will have to read a lot of books, academic journals and multimedia features regarding the same. This will give me a whole new perspective on which I can view accounting as a profession rather than a means of making money. Understanding how to relate with people is a great way for professional to know he/she can be of help to them [Dai05]. According to Bambacas & Patrickson (2008) the only way to do this is by improving my interpersonal skills such as emotional intelligence and team working ability. Accountants are expected to be always engaging in quiet work stations but I believe they should interact a lot with coworkers to give their perspectives on matters, which is very beneficial for the organization and the individuals as well. Reading and attending conferences on accounting is a move to the right direction as I will understand what the society expects from me as an accountant. Much of this knowledge might not be available during professional training but can only be gained through interaction. It is thus a wonderful way of gaining such experience and knowledge. I believe my career targets as a professional are in line with the expectations the society has in me in terms of ethical conduct and impact on the societal development. The career workbook is therefore a tool that has completely changed my understanding of professionalism and goals setting in career progression. Entry three Professional ethical in the global workplace Professionalism to me is belonging to a certain occupation body which as norms and ethics that members should subscribe to if they are to be identified as members of the profession. It is what Platts referred to as having a covenant[Pla03]. By this Platt meant that professionals have a certain pledge that they make to themselves and the society and should thus stick to the pledge without necessarily having somebody following them around to ensure they keep the covenant. Platt noted that being a professional is a choice and not coercion. Platt puts it that one can only embody a principle out of choice and not simply because they have to. From this perspective then, it is clear that being a professional means making sacrifices for the sake of the society. Sacrifices can be viewed as giving up some ‘good’ things for the sake of the society, but this is a self-centered view of sacrificing in relation to professionalism. Sacrifice in this case means sticking to the principles that define the profession and refusing to yield in to pressure that would otherwise find one doing unprofessional things. In as much as abiding to professional conduct may seem like a simple task, it is actually not. Professionals regularly find themselves in tight positions where they have to choose between rationality and hedonistic orientation and ethics as part of sticking to professional conduct[JGi04]. It is obvious that ethical conduct is desirable but I believe there are many forces in play most being selfish ambitions either by the organization the professional is working for or by the individual who is the professional. As an accountant I would definitely find myself in such situations where I have to choose between sticking to my professional expectation and societal benefit and lowering myself to selfishness and unethical conduct. At times I know professional have little choice as it is about survival in terms of keeping the job or loosing it. Accountants find themselves exaggerating expenses for companies to reduce tax burdens. They get some of these instructions from their superiors and there is little they can do about this[Dus11]. Freelancing accountants may also find themselves in compromising situations where businesses want the value of their assets inflated to get debt financing from banks. It is the accountants who do this. I believe such actions are unethical to say the least and criminal in nature. I believe being an accountant is the same as being a doctor, if a doctor fails to treat a disease in the right way; it is the society that will suffer. Same way with an accountant, if an accountant becomes corrupt, then the society suffers as it is in the loosing end as noted by Duska & Ragatz (2011). I thought making money through such ways is common in the accounting profession and I can do for as long as everybody else is doing it, however, I have come to understand from this course and the article by plats that professionalism goes beyond the simple notion of making money, but rather is all about making a covenant by yourself and sticking to it no matter what. This is what makes the society progressive where everybody depends on the other to safeguard his or her interests. References Edw07: , (Zaccai, 2007), Bie12: , (Biemann & Pattberg, 2012), Dus11: , (Duska & Ragatz, 2011), Dai05: , (Dainton & Zelley, 2005), Pla03: , (Platts, 2003), JGi04: , (Gildenhuys, 2004), Read More