The Legacy of Social Responsibility - Essay Example

Chapter Questions Discussion Questions The environment according to social responsibility is really an industrial responsibility. The social responsibility of any corporation is to be efficient and make an effort to not overuse precious raw materials. The legacy of social responsibility is the ability of the environment to support future generations. The use of raw materials and the efficiency then feeds to the bottom line so the corporation has been responsible to future generations as well as present generations. The other issues for them, of course is not to add anymore to green house gases than is necessary and assure that the potential for environmental accidents are decreased. The environment itself as the public sees it is what is around us. We see that we have a responsibility not to destroy it. It is where we live and what supports our life and all of the life around us. We also have a social responsibility but it is different in many ways. 2. Everywhere there is an abundance of the leftovers of business and our town is no exception. This includes wood, cans, paper, and plastic to name a few. There is smoke from smokestacks and pollution from vehicles getting there and transporting. There are many recycling efforts in play especially for cans, paper and plastic. Most of the companies that bring things in on pallets allow people to use the wood for projects and for burning if they wish so that helps. The air pollutions does not seem to be dealt with a lot though the water is being recycled as much as possible. 3. The issue of global warming is tremendously large. There are many things affecting it. Those countries that were not industrialized before are and the carbon products they are putting in the air are quite large. The rain forests that have filtered the air for generations are being removed for people to live there. There are more cars on the road in more countries than ever before. The ice sheets are melting, the permafrost is melting. It is a giant problem. There is a need for a global effort to decrease the carbon that is going into the air. However, there are two issues here. One is that many people are still not taking this seriously and the other is that there is a continuous argument about who needs to do what. Even the United States did not want to be a part of the summit. The United States is a leader in the world and until we get it, no one will. 4. Many times, in a effort to manage biodiversity, man moves a species. It then becomes an invading species and this causes problems with killing out other natural species. There is always a problem when man interferes. There might be a better answer and that is to be sure to save some of the habitat that each species uses and force man to live in such a way to live beside many of these species. It might also be a good idea to license species of animals that are purchased that are frequently let go in the wild. This would include, dogs, cats, and, many others. 5. The EPA is the Environmental Protection Agency and they carry a lot of responsibility. They are responsible for air, water, and land as well as endangered species and hazardous waste. They are a cabinet agency that has many other groups that report to them. They are also supposed to be the watchdogs of the environmental protection laws. 6. The environmental protection laws are those that affect them the most. These include regulations for all size businesses as far as water use and pollution, the use of resources, how many particles of pollution can go in the air, as well as energy and utility laws and environmental safety laws. 7. Stakeholders are really the whole story. If there were not stakeholders, there would not be a need for environmental protection as stakeholders include everyone from the CEO of the corporation to the baby that was just born across the world from that factory. Anytime pollution occurs, it affects us all. Companies do not want external stakeholders to have any say at all in environmental laws but personally this writer believes it is time that external stakeholders got much more involved than they have been. There are some radical agencies out there such as Greenpeace. At least they are considered radical but in the long run even when they are involved the corporation usually wins. 8. An environmental risk analysis is an analysis that is done to determine what the risk of damage to the environment might be if the project continues. An example locally would be the addition of a Cancer center to the local hospital next to a residential neighborhood or the cutting of trees for lumbar that house an owl species that is endangered. It is important to companies that are environmentally conscious because if the truly are, they do not want to harm the environment. A recent example is the oil spill in the Gulf. There is proof emerging that the company knew that this project was environmentally unsafe and they continued anyway and now see the result. 9. ISO determines international standards for all industry sectors and is highly specific. ISO-4000 is the designated standard for the dimension and load rates of metric series tires primarily intended to be sued on passenger cars. Stakeholders can always know what the standard is for almost any industry available. 10. First the business must know what their environmental responsibility is and then they must assure they are accountable. In today's renewed consciousness it might be important to hire someone to assure that this is well done. It is difficult to keep up with these issues if you are running a business and the environment cannot wait for you to get time. Students need to specialize in environmental business responsibility and be able to offer those services to corporations that are trying to make a difference. Reference Thorne, D., Ferrell, O.C., and Ferrell, L. (2008) Business and Society: A Strategic Approach to Social Responsibility, 4th edition Houghton Mifflin Company. Read More