Week 5 Discussion Responses - Leadership and Ethics

Week 5 Discussion Response 1 - Leadership and Ethics - SOCIETAL NEEDS TODAY

BY: ZT

Natural resources and the ecosystem are not illimited and society's pressing needs should be fulfilled with future generations in mind, by working towards the sustainable development goals (World Economic Forum, 2015).

Individuals, businesses, governments should work to end poverty, ensure food security, education, health and gender equality, access to clean water and energy, create employment and resilient infrastructures, reduce inequalities, create sustainable communities, promote sustainable production and consumption, combat climate change, conserve oceans and forests, promote peace and justice and implement global partnerships (World Economic Forum, 2015).

Polman (2016) stated that "it is not possible to have a strong, functioning business in a world of increasing inequality, poverty and climate change". Businesses should have sustainability at the forefront. Sustainability not only allows environmental protection but also makes financial sense; there is an important correlation between sustainability strategies and financial performance (Oppenheim & Stuchtey, 2015). 

Businesses should first acknowledge the fact that sustainability is important then proceed in establishing sustainability priorities and targets, calculate costs and benefits and plan for incentives for reaching the targets assigned.  (Oppenheim & Stuchtey, 2015).
REFERENCES
Oppenheim J., Stuchtey M.(2015).Like it or not, sustainability is now core to your business. Fortune. Accessed from http://fortune.com/2015/09/24/sustainability-practices-in-business-intel-unilever-wal-mart-dupont/

Polman P. (2016). Why Sustainable Development Makes Good Business Sense. Huffington Post. Accessed from http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/10734670

World Economic Forum (2015). How can the development goals be achieved?Accessed from http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/09/how-achievable-are-the-sustainable-development-goals

Week 5 Discussion Response 2 - Leadership and Ethics - SOCIETAL NEEDS TODAY

BY: EH

1. How can society meet its own pressing needs today, without damaging or depleting the ecosystem on which future generations will depend? Support your position.

Air, land and water are three parts of the Earth’s ecosystem that are at risk from depletion and overuse by mankind on a global scale. With an exponential growth of the human population, we are using both renewable and nonrenewable resources faster than they can be replaced (Lawrence, 2014, pg. 214-215).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established to enforce laws protecting various environmental concerns (Lawrence, 2014, pg. 236). When contaminants, whether man made like vehicle emissions or naturally occurring like smoke from fires, are introduced into the atmosphere we risk damaging the Earth’s protective layer.  Air pollutants such as lead, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and toxic pollutants like asbestos, benzene from gasoline and some chemicals from some dry cleaning, are particularly harmful to a person’s health and climate changes (Lawrence, 2014, pg. 238). Planting trees is one way to help clean our air and when planted in urban areas trees remove approximately 18,000 tons of air pollution in the year 2007 (Nowak, 2013, pg. 14). In 2013, the Chicago metro has established the Chicago Region Tree Initiative (CRTI) to build a more diverse urban forest by 2040 (Chicago region, n.d., para. 4).

      Addressing water issues is probably the easiest thing we as individuals can do. Utilizing rainwater for irrigation helps to maintain both the underground supply and prevent runoff contaminants from entering our naturally occurring waterways like rivers and lakes. There are ways to improve our landscape which then in return helps to collect and store water through projects like rainwater harvesting, rain gardens and permeable pavements (What is green infrastructure, n.d., para. 4). In my home state, a local community Burnsville Minnesota, tried to protect Crystal Lake from excess phosphorus and stormwater runoff that met hard surfaces prior entering the lake (Burnsville, 2006, pg. 1). Rainwater gardens were adjacent to street curbs that had cuts make into them to allow stormwater runoff to flow into below grade areas containing, soil, mulch and plants surrounded by edging (Burnsville, 2006, pg. 1). Results concluded that there was a 93% reductions in the overall runoff volume since the rainwater gardens were installed (Burnsville, 2006, pg. 10) which then in turn means less pollutants are entering our natural occurring water sources. Here at home we harvest our rain water through a gutter collection system that we use for watering our flowers, lawn, herb and vegetable gardens so we don’t have to use city water.

Burnsville stormwater retrofit study. (2006, June). Retrieved from http://www.ci.burnsville.mn.us/DocumentCenter/Home/View/449

Chicago region tress initiative. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mortonarb.org/science-conservation/chicago-region-trees-initiative

Lawrence, A.T., & Weber, J. (2014). Business and society: Stakeholders, ethics public policy. 14th ed.). New York, NY. Mc-Graw-Hill.

Nowak, D., Hoehn, R., Bodine, A., Crane, D., Dwyer, J., Bonnewell, V., & Watson, G. (2013). Urban trees and forests of the Chicago region. Retrieved from https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/rb/rb_nrs84.pdf

What is green infrastructure? (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/what-green-infrastructure