Corporations are a threat to environment - Research Paper Example

Corporations are a threat to Environment (pollution) Corporations are a threat to Environment (pollution) Introduction There have been many cries among the U.S environmental programs due to the increasing environmental pollution that is caused corporations. Despite the Pollution Prevention Act that was passed by the congress around 24 years ago there has been no much progress as far as pollution prevention is concerned. Most of the corporations in the U.S are responsible for all the forms of pollution which include Air pollution, Water pollution and to a small extent noise pollution. Environmental pollution problems began in the 20th century as a result of emergence of many manufacturing industries. This research defines environmental pollution as an unfavorable variation of our surrounding through direct or indirect influence, causing changes in radiation levels, energy patterns, physical and chemical composition of our environment. Environmental pollution can occur naturally or in can be artificial (Antonescu & Mateescu, 2001). Due to this fact it can be said that the environmental pollution caused by corporations in U.S is artificial. Air, water and soil pollution caused by coporations can have health implications to the population living around the industries. Deaths and billions of dollars are lost in medical expenses caused by air pollution (Milton & Rahman, 1999). Industries are known to emit gases such as CFCs and metal ions such as Lead, nickel, copper and iron. These substances can find their way to livestock and contaminate the meat that humans are going to consume (Sabir et al, 2003). The goal of this research is to determine the implication of the pollutants that are emitted by corporations. It will also try to aim at investigating whether there are enough measure set in a corporation to recycle their waste as a ration to control pollution. This research aims to answers the following research question: What do you think is the most popular form of pollution caused by corporations? Are corporations responsible for the health of the communities in which they have factories? Should corporations should make recycling a priority in their business practice? Do you think there should be a law making corporations recycle or “go green” more? The central hypothesis of this research is: There is a reckonable relationship between the pollution caused by corporations and the health of the people around the corporations. If the hypothesis will be accepted, it will be prudent for the policy makers to formulate policies that will control environmental pollutions caused by these corporations. These will make the morbidity or mortality rates caused by pollution caused by corporation to decrease adversely. Methodology The research was conducted by means of survey and questionnaire to the people who live around corporations. This is primary source of data collection but it also integrated literature known as part of secondary data collection method. The survey was considered in this research due to the fact that a large amount of information could be collected from various people in a very short duration of time as well as economizing the costs. Questionnaires also give a platform for the collected data to be analyzed scientifically. From positivists the quantitative data collected from the research could be used to test an existing hypothesis. The participants who were involved in the research process were both male and female who were selected random to enhance validity and reliability of the data collected, a total of 45 people were surveyed. The questions that were selected for the survey had some significant reason to the study. The following is the reason as to why the questions were selected: What do you think is the most form of pollution caused by corporations? Are corporations responsible for the health of the communities in which they have factories? This was aimed at establishing the implication of pollution that is caused by corporations. Corporations should make recycling a priority in their business practice? Do you think there should be a law making corporations recycle or “go green” more? Can you give one solution that help to reduce the amount of the pollution caused by corporations? These three questioned were aimed at establishing the most effective and reliable way to manage pollution caused by the corporations. Results The most harmful form of pollution caused by corporations The survey sought to evaluate the most harmful form of pollution caused by corporations. The variables were global warming, ozone layer, depletion, infertile land and harms wildlife. The results are presented in the graph below. Global warming was presented as the most harmful form of pollution since it was selected by thirteen out of the twenty three participants. Harms wildlife followed with five participants, infertility had three slots while destruction of the ozone layer got two slots. No participant thought that depletion was the most harmful form of pollution by corporations. Percentage of Pollution That Is Caused by Factories or Corporations in the United States The criteria for selection of the percentage of pollution caused by corporations in the United States involved five groups; Less than 10%, 10%-30%, 30%-40% , 40%-50%, 50%-80% and 80%-100%. There were twelve participants who selected less than 10%, nine of them selected 10%-30% while only two selected 30%-40%. No participant filed that other slots as they felt that the percentages had not surpassed the 40% mark. The results are presented as below. Responsibility of corporations for the health of the communities in which they have factories They participants were almost in unanimous about the responsibility of the corporations towards the health of the communities in the locality of their factories. Out of the twenty three participants, twenty of them agreed that the corporations had a role to play while two disagreed. The results are presented as follows. Responsibility of corporations making recycling a priority in their business practice Recycling is adopted by corporations in order to limit the amount of disposable waste coming out of the factories. In order to draw results from this segment, there were five segments for the participants to choose from which were; strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree. Out of the twenty three responses, twelve strongly agreed, eight agreed, and two were neutral while only one disagreed. No participant strongly disagreed. The application Law making corporations, recycling or use of green ways The three concepts in the question sought to determine whether the participants felt the need to address the problem associated with pollution and offer the solution. The criteria was; strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree. While fourteen participants strongly agreed, seven agreed while only one was neutral and one disagreed. The other two categories were unrepresented. Solution that can help to reduce the amount of the pollution caused by corporation The survey selected three of what was regarded as the most effective solutions to address pollution caused by corporations. The solutions include; recycling, involving solar power in their factories or investing money for planting. This segment was highly represented with nine participants selected recycling, five in solar power while nine planting. The results are presented as follows. Discussions This section provides a discussion on the results obtained from the survey and analysis of the relevant literature. The results were able to answers the research questions sufficiently. The most harmful form of pollution caused by corporations The survey indicated that the most harmful form of pollution caused by corporations is global warming. The results are consistent with the mainstream research related to corporation pollution. According to U.S. EPA, the destruction of the ozone layer is one of the major harms of the environment as it is a primary cause of global warming. When inorganic and organic wastes are released into the environment, they emit ecotoxic gases and materials such as arenas compounds, halogenated organic compounds, volatile organic compounds, cyanide, ammonia and other heavy materials. Global warming is the most serious effect of air pollution attributed to industrialization. Factories and industries emit chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which is an ozone-depleting compound. Many modern industries are substituting with high global warming potential gases such as sulfur hexafluoride and carbon dioxide. Such gases are synthetic and potent greenhouse gases which speed up global warming and heighten the depletion of the ozone layer (U.S. EPA, 2011). Pollution also affects the harms wildlife and fertile land especially at the landfills and disposal points of the waste. Disposal of heavy metals, organic and inorganic waste, pesticides and agrochemicals reduce productivity of land. Furthermore, it interferes with the natural habitation of wildlife (Alexander, 2000). Air pollution by corporation can be solved by replacing fossil fuels with “green” sources of energy such as solar or wind. “Green” energy prevent the release of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which is responsible for global warming. Responsibility of corporations for the health of the communities in which they have factories The results of the survey indicate a unanimous concurrence in favor of the fact that corporations have a responsibility towards the health of the communities in the locality of their factories. These results are consistent with the concept of corporate oil responsibility that requires corporations to take care of the public’s social, economic and environmental concerns. Corporations are ethically supposed to adopt corporate social responsibilities in provision of healthcare to the public. By using safe sources of energy, few emissions will be produced and released to the environment. As such, the air quality will improve thereby improving the health of the public surrounding the industry. Furthermore, companies should also offer health care services to the population which is exposed to the burden of air pollution (Porter & Kramer, 2006). Application of recycling in corporations as a priority in their business practice The results from the survey indicate that the majority of the population are in the opinion that corporations should make recycling a priority in their business practice. This is because recycling is one major approach of reducing pollutants before contamination of the environment takes place. Using renewable energy allows corporations to recycle their sources of energy and waste. Renewable energy is also green and therefore, it does not harm the environment and therefore, it provides valuable benefits to the environment. Furthermore, corporations should invest sufficient money in planting to improve efficiency. Recycling improves the energy efficiency of the corporations thereby preventing emission of greenhouses gases (U.S. EPA, 2011). The application of Law making corporations recycle or “go green” more. The results of the survey indicate that there is a need for the more application of Law making corporations recycle or “go green”. “Green sources of energy are clean as they do not produce greenhouse gases. One of the major solutions to air pollution is fossil fuels as they emit greenhouse gases to the environment. The law should impose strict regulation in favor of “green” sources of energy such as solar and wind among others. Replacement of regular sources of energy and use of solar energy enables companies to improve their indoor air quality. When solar energy is adopted to replace other biofuels, it reduces the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (Diamond, 2005). References Antonescu, C.; Mateescu, C. (2001). Environmental pollution andits effects on honey quality, Roun. Biotechnol. Lett. , 6(5), p 371– Diamond, J. (2005). In — (Ed.), Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed [Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed] (— Trans.). (1st ed.). 375 Hudson St. New York, New York, USA: Viking Penguin (Penguin Group USA). Porter ME. Kramer MR. (2006). Strategy and society: the link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harv Bus Rev. 84:78–92, 163 Sabir S. M., Khan S. W., Hayat I. ( 2003). Effect of environmental pollution on quality of meat in district Bagh, Azad Kashmir. Pakistan. Nutrition 2 (2). U.S. EPA. (2011). ECOTOX database. Retrieved 11/06, 2014, from http://cfpub.epa.gov/ecotox/ U.S. EPA. (2011). Models and databases. Retrieved 11/06, 2014, from http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/science/models_db.htm Read More