Summary of chapter 11- business ethics - Essay Example

Any business in the creation of its products will use resources and make waste by products. Through this process it functions within an ecological system. Ecology is the “science of the interrelationships among organisms and their environments.” Ecosystem refers to everything within the ecology which is both living and nonliving. These systems are interconnected and have a framework of checks and balances. If one of these systems experiences a change, all those that are connected to it will be affected as well.

Effects of tampering by man can have unforeseen consequences which can be both injurious and beneficial. Though businesses are usually blind to such factors they have a duty to take them into consideration. In a traditional sense both society and business have considered the environment a free and unlimited resource. Though actions by a singular company are negligible, collectively their pursuits cause depletion of natural resources. In certain cases these policies may end up affecting the public such cases are known as spillover or externality.

Thus spillovers cause the public to not only pay for their products but also the byproducts of their manufacturing process. The efforts taken to internalize processes so they do not adversely affect the environment are essential for our own benefit. Certain businesses may choose not to follow this business contract and the public would find themselves dealing with the spillover. According to Blackstone, every person “has this right qua being human and because a livable environment is essential for one to fulfill his human capabilities.

” Given this right, acknowledging our actions is the moral course. Though despite this acknowledgement all this does is prevent the environment from degrading further. We must thus be careful to not consume that which we know is scarce. Before we can save the environment, it must first be decided which state we want to leave it in. Do we want to preserve it or restore