Category: Environmental Sustainability

There are numerous processes that simultaneously influence the current state of the global economy and environmental sustainability. Since these processes often have a more adverse impact than positive ones, it is possible to predict that in the future, bigger problems will emerge. This paper aims to investigate the scholarly literature on the identified topic to understand the most important controversies and debated in this area of concern and to review the arguments and common fallacies.

It would be appropriate to begin the investigation of the identified topic by reviewing the article by Schaltegger et al., which is dedicated to the issues related to origins, present research, and future avenues of business models for sustainability (3). The authors suggest that the role of sustainability management in organizations and its contribution to the overall sustainability of society and the environment is well-recognized by the researchers (Schaltegger et al. 3). However, the concept of the business model only recently came into the focus of sustainability management research as the initiating factor of corporate sustainability (Schaltegger et al. 3).

Considering the origins of the idea of the business model, Schaltegger et al. indicate that it derived primarily from work by Stubbs and Cocklin, and then later it was developed by numerous scholars and researchers (4). Another reason for such significant demand for a sustainable business model and management is the recent global economic and financial crises, which have imposed new challenges for nearly every stakeholder in the global economy (Schaltegger et al. 4). A business model is described by the authors as the instrument for value creation, and it also functions as the mechanism of capture and delivery. Overall, the origins of the business model concept are multidisciplinary.

Further, it is essential to discuss the future of the implementation of business models and sustainability management. The article by Schaltegger et al. suggests that there is no currently established consensus on this topic, and thus it is not possible to determine the only right track for further development of this sphere (5). Therefore, the issue under discussion is subject to constant debates among scholars and researchers. Some theorist considers business models to be the new approach to technology development since they think that sustainability-oriented innovations will benefit the current business systems (Schaltegger et al. 5).

However, other researchers suggest that it is essential to draw parallels between business models and business cases as a means of improving corporate sustainability (Schaltegger et al. 5). Another existing perspective, which to some extent overlaps with the previously mentioned opinion, perceives sustainable business models as a means of facilitating ecological and environmental sustainability (Schaltegger et al. 5). Nevertheless, it is also appropriate to mention that some scholars consider the employment of such business models as the instrument for addressing social needs. Some of them discuss the “entrepreneurial approaches to improving health care services in poor regions,” while others created “a typology of “isolated” and “interactive” business models in low-income markets” (Schaltegger et al. 5).

Thus, it is apparent that there is no universal answer to the question of the further development of the concept of the business model. However, this problem is of immense significance because this approach has considerable potential for the development of the future economy. According to Schaltegger et al., there are perspectives of facilitating and improving the notion of business models by combining organizational and individual-level theories (8). The combination of economic and environmental problems, which is projected to have a more negative impact in the decades to come, is the primary factor for focusing the attention of the researchers on the development of more sustainable ways of managing organizations and businesses.

Another aspect of the future economy, which is of significant interest, is the availability of jobs. As David points out, during the last two centuries, there were several outbreaks of people’s uncertainty about the future of their workplaces that are taken by automation (3). The first and one of the most recognizable social movements connected to this issue is the Luddite movement of the early 19th century, which emerged in the environment of a rapidly increasing level of industrialization in England (David 3). However, in recent years the similar concerns seemed to appear again. It is evident that technologies are developing at an increasing speed in the past two decades, and thus it is not surprising that people are frightened by their inability to compete with machines and robots in terms of efficiency. Nevertheless, David concludes that it is not likely that the number of jobs occupied by humans will dramatically decrease in the following decades (26). Instead, he suggests that these processes will be more integrative, with the employment of the principles of machine learning (David 27).

Further, it is appropriate to change the focus of this essay from economic perspectives to the future of the environment. This issue is arguable even more important for future generations since the declining state of environmental health is considerably worrying. To illustrate this thought, it is possible to mention the article by Neumann et al., in which the group of authors explores the issue of future coastal population growth and its influence on exposure to sea-level rise and coastal flooding (1). As the authors suggest, there are two main trends: the exposure to a larger amount of risks, which is experienced by people who live in coastal areas, and at the same time, these areas have the highest rates of urbanization and population growth (Neumann et al. 3).

The article by Neumann et al. conducts immensely profound research based on statistical and quantitative methods of projecting the results. One of the principal findings of the authors is that in the period between 2000 and 2030, the population of the coastal area will increase at least by 50%, according to the lowest growth assumptions (Neumann et al. 20). Another trend, which is predicted by the authors, is that the less developed countries outnumber the more developed regions regarding population in the same time scope that was mentioned in the previous example (Neumann et al. 20). China is marked as the country with the highest projected coastal population by the year 2030 (Neumann et al. 20). Also, it is essential to mention that the authors consider Africa to be the most urbanized coastal area by the end of the same period of projection (Neumann et al. 21). However, the authors suggest that these places of habitation will also be subject to the risks of flooding, and thus specific policies will be implemented to avoid possible problems.

Concerning the topic of the future of the planet’s environment, the issue of resources of renewable energy is also of immense importance. In the article by Ellabban et al., the authors suggest that one of the most urgent needs of contemporary environmental management is to decrease the emissions of greenhouse gases (748). It is proposed to find new resources of energy, which has to be renewable and be considerably less damaging to the environment. Another approach is suggested by Cucchiella et al.: the authors state that the appropriate assessment of present and future e-waste streams is also a highly important aspect of maintaining environmental health (263).

In conclusion, it should be stated that the future of the economy and environment appears to be questionable at the moment. There are numerous adverse factors that impose considerable challenges to the sustainability of global economic and environmental systems. However, there are several currently developing perspectives that would help to facilitate the condition of future economies and the environment.

Works Cited

Cucchiella, Federica, et al. “Recycling of WEEEs: An economic assessment of present and future e-waste streams.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 51, 2015, pp. 263-272.

David, H. “Why are there still so many jobs? The history and future of workplace automation.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 29, no. 3, 2015, pp. 3-30.

Ellabban, Omar, et al. “Renewable Energy Resources: Current Status, Future Prospects and Their Enabling Technology.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 39, 2014, pp. 748-764.

Neumann, Barbara, et al. “Future Coastal Population Growth and Exposure to Sea-level Rise and Coastal Flooding – A Global Assessment.” PloS One, vol. 10, no. 3, 2015, pp. 1-34.

Schaltegger, Stefan, et al. “Business Models for Sustainability: Origins, Present Research, and Future Avenues.” Organization & Environment, vol. 29, no. 1, 2016, pp. 3-10.

Introduction

The hospitality industry uses large amounts of natural resources and also releases wastes that degrade the natural environment. In order to minimize the negative effects on the environment, hotels and tourism resorts are adopting environmental sustainability in facilities management. Environmental sustainability refers to the responsible management of natural resources in order to preserve the lives of human beings and other organisms in the ecosystem.

Human beings impact on the environment through releasing toxic chemicals in the atmosphere that deplete the ozone layer. Human economic activities also use up natural resources as a source of energy. Economic activities also produce wastes that pollute the environment. All these factors have led to serious degradation of the natural environment. There are devastating consequences of environmental degradation such as global warming.

Failure to adopt sustainable practices will lead to the depletion of natural resources and pollution of the environment and consequently, the earth will not be able to support any form of life (Blackman and Carter, 2009). People are getting more informed about the effects of business activities on the environment. The hotel industry uses a lot of energy and water due to the nature of its operations. Many hotels are embracing environmental sustainability in hospitality facilities management.

They achieve this through using sustainable building materials, furniture, lighting, and cleaning supplies in the facility in order to cut costs, save energy, and improve the guest experience. Many hotels are also pursuing environmental sustainability certifications such as the ENERGY STAR and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications. Hotels also participate in the various green lodging state programs.

For a hotel to achieve a LEED certification, it must attain several sustainable requirements in indoor environmental quality, energy use, materials and resources, water efficiency, design process and innovation (Steiner, 2012). This paper explores the concept of environmental sustainability and its impact on facilities management and the hospitality industry. The drivers of change towards sustainability in the hospitality industry are also discussed. In addition, the importance of knowledge in environmental sustainability to future tourism managers is discussed.

Background

Facility management refers to processes that are required to maintain and operate businesses to support its principal goals. Developing facilities management programs enables managers to achieve several goals. It facilitates the preparation of future capital budgets that are more accurate. They are also able to reduce expenditure by developing more accurate and meaningful space requirements forecasts.

Facilities management programs also provide a framework for meeting the budgets that have been established. Space utilization is improved. Improved efficiency and morale of the employees is also increased. Reduction of the consumption of energy is also achieved. Moreover, the managers are able to effectively control and allocate resources needed to support all the operations. It also ensures the establishment of a more flexible, functional, and cost effective facility.

The manager is also able to develop efficient standards for equipment, workstations special facilities and offices. The overall cost of procurement is reduced (Atkin and Brooks, 2009). Environmental sustainability is one of the trends that are gaining popularity in facilities management in the hospitality industry.

There have been growing concerns over the protection of the environment and now most customers prefer hospitality facilities that are environmentally sustainable. People in the hospitality industry have become more aware about the impacts that the development and operation of hotels can have on the environment. Several factors have led to the adoption of sustainability, including investors’ changes in attitudes towards the environment, the need to cut on operating costs and strict regulations on development and operation of facilities, among others (Chen, 2011).

The concept of environmental sustainability began in the 1950s when some hotels in places such as U.S. Virgin Islands on Maho Bay and Caneel Bay Camps decided to enhance the experience of their guests by using natural elements in the resorts. In the 1960s and 1970s, increased awareness of how human health was affected by pollution and increase in environmental disasters led to the initiation of modern environmental sustainability efforts.

Moreover, the hospitality industry started focusing on strategies of conserving energy after the energy crisis that occurred between 1973 and 1974. The United Nations introduced the concept of sustainable development with the aim of conserving the natural resources for our use and also for future generations. The Earth Summit also encouraged environmental sustainability in the 1990s through initiatives like environmental certification programs for the hospitality industry and green building.

As from 2000, there were increased sustainability efforts in the hospitality industry. Hoteliers embraced environmental sustainability as a corporate social responsibility and partnered with environmental organizations. Hoteliers further increased their sustainability efforts in their operations and equipment after the 2008 financial meltdown in order to reduce costs (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).

I chose a global perspective because the issue of environmental degradation is affecting the whole world. Problems like global warming are a threat to the existence of the entire human race. Therefore, hospitality facilities all over the world should adopt sustainable practices in order to reduce the carbon footprint in the atmosphere. Every person is responsible for promoting sustainability in order to preserve the natural resources both for ourselves and for future generations.

Some of the hotels that have adopted environmental sustainability include The Proximity Hotel and Marriott international. The Proximity Hotel received Platinum, the highest LEED certification, in 2008. This hotel was constructed using sustainable materials, some of which were locally sourced while others were recycled. This helped in avoiding a lot of waste from being produced and dumped in landfills. The hotel also has windows that are energy-efficient and during the day, it utilizes the sunlight for lighting.

The hotel also uses solar panels as a source of energy for heating water. The building has also adopted efficient plumbing fixtures to save water including Cimarron Kohler toilets, faucets, and Kohler showerheads. The hotel also reduces the contamination of indoor air through the use of organic carpets and paints in the guestrooms. The Proximity Hotel acquired the facilities locally, including furniture, staircases and artwork (Steiner, 2012).

The Marriott International is another hotel that has shifted towards environmental sustainability. It has over 3000 hotels worldwide and is adopting environmentally sustainable strategies in all its branches. It uses recycled materials to make keycards, paper products and pillows that are environmental friendly.

The hotel aims to achieve the LEED certification by attaining sustainable construction standards, reducing the usage of water and fuel, using solar power, mobilizing the employees and guests to adopt sustainability and helping in rainforests preservation. This will reduce their carbon footprint. The hotel also plans to offer coreless toilet paper to the guests to help preserve trees and water. In 2010, Marriott International unveiled a prototype to help it in building sustainable hotels (Wauters, 2010).

Companies in the hospitality industry that aim to achieve environmental sustainability face several challenges. Firstly, they experience the challenge of introducing change to the organization. Introducing sustainability takes a lot of time and effort and it is challenging to convince the workforce that change is necessary. People are used to a certain way of doing things and introducing change is not easy.

If the management is unsupportive, introducing sustainability can be difficult to achieve. Another challenge is the perception that introducing sustainability is an expensive venture. Many people are not aware that the long-term economic gains will be higher than the investment costs. Ignorance is another challenge facing the adoption of sustainable practices in the hospitality industry. Many hospitality managers have little environmental awareness and therefore, they have no motivation to adopt sustainability (Dambyte, 2011).

Adopting sustainable practices in the hospitality industry presents several opportunities. Firstly, the facilities are able to achieve reduced costs in energy use, water use, and waste management. In addition, sustainable practices lead to improved guest experiences and this may help the hotel in attracting and retaining clients. Sustainable hospitality facilities also achieve sustainability certifications which show their commitment towards environmental preservation.

This can help in attracting investors. Sustainable trends in hospitality facilities management include, water and energy conservation, use of environmental friendly cleaning products and using sustainable building materials. Sustainable hospitality facilities can adopt several strategies.

They can start programs to reuse linen in the guest rooms. Hotels can also use LED light bulbs and turn down air conditioning and heating when the guests are not in the rooms. Lights should also be turned off in unoccupied rooms. The cleaners, paints, and sanitizers used should be nontoxic (Tiller, 2009).

Body

There are several drivers of change towards environmental sustainability in hospitality facilities management. These include cost reduction, improved customer experience, retention of employee, indicating a sense of corporate social responsibility, among others. Saving of costs is one of the main drivers of sustainable practices in the hospitality industry.

Sustainable practices lead to the conservation and efficiency of energy, water, and waste management. Hoteliers are investing in environmental technologies as an incentive to reduce operational costs. With the adoption of proper strategies that ensure performance and optimization of equipment and employees, the hospitality industry can be able to achieve reduced costs (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).

Another driver towards environmental sustainability is economic incentives. Various governments, organizations, and agencies have enacted economic incentives to encourage environmental sustainability in buildings. Such incentives include grants to support sustainable projects, insurance premium discounts, low interest loans, and tax credits, among others. In addition, the shift to environmental sustainability has been driven by increased environmental regulations.

There are various regulations governing hospitality operations such as waste management, handling of hazardous materials, and environmental safety and health. There are other legislations governing design and construction of hospitality facilities and operations. There are legislations focusing on emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere, among others. Therefore, hoteliers adopt sustainability in order to comply with legal and regulatory standards (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).

Another driver of change is improving the guest experience. Hoteliers are adopting sustainability in order to attract and retain guests by improving their experience. Use of some environmental technologies such as sustainable HVAC systems and devices for managing energy can improve the air quality and thermal comfort of the facility, resulting in a better guest experience. Employee retention is another driver of change towards sustainability.

Environmental sustainability helps in boosting employees’ satisfaction and morale and therefore, retaining them. Some professionals prefer to work in environment conscious companies. Organizations that encourage and uphold sustainable practices are more likely to attract and retain employees.

Other companies adopt sustainability because they want to demonstrate corporate social responsibility to the investors. Investors are looking for performance indicators of sustainability. This has led to the adoption of sustainability programs by many organizations (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).

Environmental sustainability is important in facilities management as it helps in saving costs through sustainable operations. The hospitality facilities management is mainly concerned with water, energy, and waste. Hotels use energy for various purposes including lighting, HVAC operations, cooking, space heating, refrigeration, water heating, ventilation, office equipment and other uses. Reducing the amount of energy used can be achieved through a process called commissioning.

Energy consumption can be minimized through reducing the plug load, closing the building envelope, and lighting retrofits. Moreover, energy can be preserved through enhanced equipment scheduling, efficient ventilation of the facility, avoiding concurrent heating and cooling and appropriate sensor calibration. The use of renewable sources of energy such as geothermal, solar, and wind can reduce the energy costs.

Water is also used in hotels laundry, food preparation, in the bathrooms and in other maintenance operations. Hotels conserve water through use of rain or recycled water, reusing of towels and linen, treatment of grey and black water, improvement of plumbing and HVAC systems and fixture retrofits. Hotels also generate waste including food wastes, construction wastes, waste from equipment, appliances and consumables, and harmful materials such as cleaning detergents.

In order to reduce the costs of transportation and processing of wastes, hotels adopt strategies to recycle, reuse, and reduce wastes. The wastes are processed and converted to alternative sources of energy which are then sold to hotels at low costs. Facility management in the hospitality industry also focuses on training programs for staff to increase their satisfaction and performance, sustainable procurement and the quality of indoor environment including air quality (Tiller, 2009).

Environmental sustainability has numerous benefits to the hospitality and tourism industry. It helps in cutting costs in energy and water use and waste management. Sustainable practices lead to reduced operation costs because there is a reduction in energy and water use and effective waste management through recycling. It also helps to improve the customers’ experience and therefore leads to attraction and retention of guests.

Sustainable practices also enhance employee satisfaction and retention. Adopting sustainability also helps in boosting the company image and attracting investors. It also enables the company to get grants from governments and other organizations. Companies that adopt sustainability will not have legal problems as they will be in compliance with the environmental regulations (Sloan, Chen and Legrand, 2009).

In order for the hospitality industry to successfully implement sustainability, some needs have to be met. Firstly, they will need finances. Many hotels cite lack of finances as the main reason why they are unable to implement sustainable practices. There are many sustainable technologies in the market today and the hospitality owners will need the investigation and validation of these technologies in order to choose the most appropriate and cost-effective for the hospitality industry.

The hospitality owners also need verification of the financial benefits of the sustainable technologies so that they can be able to make proper investment decisions. The hospitality owners also need the processes of procurement and implementation of sustainable projects to be streamlined to make them easier and less time-consuming.

This will encourage more hospitality owners to adopt sustainability. After the implementation of sustainable practices, there is a need to conduct proper training of the staff in order to ensure that they adopt effective operational practices. Failure to train staff will lead to inefficient implementation of the sustainable practices (Goldstein and Primlani, 2012).

As future tourism managers, knowledge about environmental sustainability will enable them to make sustainable decisions and strategically manage tourism resorts and institutions. The tourism managers will be able to prevent environmental degradation while providing a good experience to the tourists through sustainable practices. They will be able to instill sustainable practices in their employees and enlighten them on the benefits of sustainability.

Future tourism managers who will be enlightened in environmental sustainability will be able to contribute towards a more sustainable environment through implementing practices that will reduce the carbon footprint in the environment. They will ensure that all the facilities in the tourism resorts are environmental friendly. The tourism managers will also be able to explain to the guests the reasons for adopting sustainability, for instance, through reusing towels.

They will also be able to cut costs in the facilities that they will be running through adopting sustainable cost-effective alternatives. They will be able to oversee the construction of sustainable hospitality facilities to cut on both the cost and carbon footprint. Moreover, they will be able to attract and retain clients in the hospitality facilities because of adopting environmental friendly practices.

The manager will also be able to improve the image of the organization through sustainable practices and achievement of sustainability certifications like the LEED. The manager will facilitate the implementation of sustainable practices in the hospitality facility and this will improve the morale, satisfaction, and retention of employees. The tourism manager will also be able to assess current trends, goals, and strategies in sustainability in order to achieve enhanced harmonization of sustainable efforts in the facility (Gossling, Hall and Weaver, 2009).

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is evident that environmental sustainability is a growing trend in the hospitality industry that cannot be ignored. Many hospitality companies are adopting sustainability to reduce operational costs, improve the customer experience, comply with environmental regulations, retain employees, attract investors, and reduce their carbon footprint. They are constructing sustainable buildings and adopting practices in water and energy use and waste management.

Therefore, knowledge in environmental sustainability is indispensable to future tourism managers as they will be able to implement sustainable practices in the hospitality facilities that they will be running. The hospitality industry uses a significant amount of natural resources.

Therefore, adoption of sustainable practices will lead to conservation of natural resources like water and energy and reduced environmental pollution through waste recycling. Consequently, we will live in a more sustainable environment with enough resources for our use and for the survival of future generations.

Reference List

Atkin, B. and Brooks, A. (2009).Total Facilities Management. UK: John Wiley and Sons.

Blackman, R. and Carter, I. (2009). Environmental Sustainability. USA: Tearfund.

Dambyte, R. (2011). Limitations and Incentives for Sustainable Tourism Development. Web.

Chen, J. S. (2011). Advances in Hospitality and Leisure. USA: Emerald Group Publishing.

Goldstein, K. A. and Primlani, R. V. (2012). Current Trends and Opportunities in Hotel Sustainability. Web.

Gossling, S., Hall, C. M. and Weaver, D. B. (2009). Sustainable Tourism Futures: Perspectives on Systems, Restructuring and Innovations. USA: Taylor & Francis.

Sloan, P., Chen, J. S. and Legrand, W. (2009). Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry: Principles of Sustainable Operations. New York: Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier.

Steiner, L. (2012). The Greening of Hotels. Web.

Tiller, D. (2009). Environmental Sustainability in the Hotel Industry. Web.

Wauters, R. (2010). Marriott Unveils Green Hotel Prototype. Web.

Abstract

The paper looks into the stakeholders and the reasons behind the trend of adopting green operations. It also examines the limits of environmental management in business. The study revealed that people get into green business practices for cost savings, to build innovative cultures, increase shareholder value, attract and maintain customers and to enhance employee retention or satisfaction.

Some businesses have chosen not to pursue solid environmental strategies, and have selected for green washing. However, this dishonest approach could harm them in the long and short run. It was also found that green strategies will become more imperative for businesses in the future. Firms will become more proactive and governments more carefully observant.

Introduction

Environmental sustainability has gradually entered the ordinary business environment. Organisations are finding new and creating ways of going green. Furthermore, a number of them now know that the there is a business case for environmental management. All organisations have certain responsibilities due to the fact that they have many stakeholders which have an interest in their operations.

Even the most basic organisation will have more than just the owner as a stakeholder. The larger the organisation, the greater the number of stakeholders that it has, the more complex will be the decision-making process (Huff, 1982), This is due to the fact that decisions need to bear in mind various influences and pressures affecting many stakeholders (Gioia & Chittipeddi, 1991).

These issues become more complex because some stakeholders may have different demands and expectations from the organisation. As the world becomes more environmentally conscious, the demands of stakeholders are more emphasised on ensuring environmental sustainability (Orlitzky, Siege & Waldman, 2011).

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to determine who are stakeholders and what is their reaction to environmental sustainability and why many businesses are going green. It essential to determine the motives and goals behind the strategy in order establish whether this is a reasonable approach. Additionally the report will clarify the wrong and right approaches to environmental management through an analysis of its effects.

Scope

With reference to the above purpose, the scope of the report will be around the stakeholders as well as the reasons behind managerial consideration of stakeholders’ views, the monetary and non monetary incentives for going green, and the effects of green washing on environmental sustainability. Aspects that do not relate to business outcomes will not be covered in the report.

Literature review

Why managerial decisions are affected by many stakeholders

Businesses do not operate in isolation; they belong to communities that could be local or global. Consequently, their activities and decisions have a direct impact on their direct partners as well as isolated contacts. Therefore, flexibility is imperative in ensuring that the voices of all stakeholders are incorporated into a company’s business practices.

If expectations about a certain aspect of business change, then managers ought to change with it. Policy makers, buyers, shareholders and non-governmental organisations may raise concerns about the importance of a certain issue, such as globalisation. It is the right of the concerned institution to ensure that it listens to these players or else its short term and long term prospects for continuing in business may diminish (Sommer 2012).

Each organization has a number of stakeholders and those organization are affected by their stakeholders such as employees, customers, consumers, advertisers, investor, suppliers, creditors and government, taxation authorities (see Exhibit 1).

Each one of those stakeholders have different interests due to their different purposes towards an organization. Orlitzky,Siegel and Waldman(2011) provided an example “multinational firms are increasingly pressured by numerous stakeholders to engage in social and environmental responsibility” (p. 6).

A manager’s key responsibility is to his shareholders, as he is obligated to make decisions that will increase shareholder returns. In the past, corporate social responsibility and environmental management were regarded as ethical initiatives. They were seen as strategies that gave businesses a humane side, but were not directly linked to the bottom line.

However, in recent times, many administrators have realised that there are positive business gains to be made when pursuing such initiatives. If a manager has the opportunity to increase both long term and short term prospects for staying in business, then he ought to seize those opportunities seriously (Carroll & Buchholtz 2012).

Growing trend among organisations to be green

Numerous organisations are going green owing to the cost savings that come from the practice. Gone are the days when stakeholders regarded such strategies as little more than benevolent work. Now, companies have realised the monetary benefits of environment sustainability. Cost savings root from the use of fewer raw materials or resources as green policies advocate for minimisation of waste.

Several green organisations often reduce the energy they consume and spend less of water. Furthermore, a number of them may get their raw materials from close suppliers, which saves fuel.

Additionally, savings come from the reduction in operational costs as only the most necessary processes in a firm are maintained. Numerous mid-level and large enterprises have reported cost savings of millions of dollars annually. However, initial investments must be made in order to realise these benefits (Willis 2009).

Many organisations are incurring numerous losses due to fines that come from environmental mismanagement. The Australian government has strong environmental conservation laws that can attract heavy penalties if broken. Depending on the seriousness of the offense, they may even lead to closure of the business.

Aside from that, wasteful ways of doing business always lead to unnecessary expenditure or procedures (Damall et. al. 2006). For example, a company that responsibly handles its waste will not have to spend a lot on disposal fees or licenses required to discharge certain amounts of sewer water. A case in point is Inercell, which is a bleaching product manufacturer in Poland.

It went green by buying water reducing and pollution reducing equipment. Within the next 7 years, the organisation realised annual water reductions of 7%. Additionally, the COD (chemical oxygen demand) of the sewer water from the manufacturing plant reduced by 70% in this period of time. The organisation also enjoyed an 87% reduction in the amount of hydrogen sulphide in its waste.

Because of this initiative, the plant no longer had to pay external partners a lot of money to handle their sewer water (Sustainability and IFC 2002). The organisation reduced waste discharge fees by 300%. The general savings enjoyed by the organisation within a five-year period were $ 12 million. Therefore, going green can lead to savings in this way.

Other large organisations like Xerox have saved about 18 million dollars worth of expenditure owing to a 21% reduction in energy use. A firm like British Petroleum has reduced its emission expenses by about 650 million dollars between 2001 and 2010. P&G saves about $380, 000 annually from the recovery of waste water and lighting savings.

Dell also saved 3 million dollars within a period of 3 years due to energy savings while Herman Miller enjoyed a 32% return on green investment. Shown below is a summary of energy consumption changes in buildings over time.

Source: Jawls (2010)

Environmental sustainability also assists businesses in attraction of new buyers or maintenance of their clients. A number of consumers have become increasingly conscious about their environment. Some are willing to pay more for green products or can select a green item if it costs the same as a non-green one. Therefore, businesses that want to draw into new markets or attract a wide range of clients should try green alternatives.

Several western markets are becoming saturated; consequently, successful organisations ought to hold on to their respective consumers. One way of achieving this objective is though green business practices. Companies with a strong environmental reputation often have a loyal customer base because this decision strongly affects buying decisions.

It should be noted that perceptions among consumers concerning the environment depends on their age. The group of individuals who are between the ages of 11 and 33 (the Millenials) have been found to be more environmentally conscious than any other age group. 83% of these members will trust a business more if it is green, according to a research by Cone. Inc.

Additionally, the latter study also indicated that 69% of these consumers think about environmental commitment when buying products (Jawls 2010). Therefore, organisations that focus on green strategies will have a much higher chance of succeeding in the market than those who do not.

Green buyers simply want to take their business to environmentally responsible firms. Shown below is a summary of the case for environmental sustainability as seen through various supporters

Jawls (2010) carried out a case study on how companies realise cost savings and found the following

A case in point was that of an Indian textile maker known as Century and Textiles Industries. The organisation had international markets in various parts of Europe, such as the UK and Germany. At the time, a German-based client called Eco-Tex demanded that Century Textiles use environmental dyestuffs. This requirement was in accordance with green standards developed in Europe.

The Indian company complied with its customers’ demand even though it had to spend slightly more money in the short term. However, the changes caused the plant to increase its prices by 10%. Sales volumes increased by the same level (Sustainability and IFC 2002).

Century Textiles was able to draw into a previously ignored market in the UK and US. It was the first Textile Company to ever have such strict environmental laws and this led to their success. The brand differentiated itself from its competitors through green strategies.

Small organisations that sell their commodities to local economies may find that they are able to increase customer loyalty within such groups. If a company pursues a base of green strategy, then chances are that it may choose to source its commodities from the local community and get its employees from the same location and even develop the local economy.

This is good public relations for the organisation as it integrates into the fabric of its community. Such efforts may translate into higher revenue flows for concerned organisations because when they empower a community, then the community’s spending power also increases for the benefit of the green company (Sustainability and IFC 2002).

Companies also use green strategies in order to get and maintain the right employees. Employees often look out for companies that are firmly committed to the environment or who at least consider this as part of their portfolio. Jawls (2010) explains that 40% of all the MBA graduates said that they regarded environmental sustainability as a vital part of their job-hunting strategies.

Furthermore, those employees who already belong to an organisation have higher chances of being productive if their employers have a green policy. Many of these employees have great satisfaction and will be characterised by low turnover. Part of the reason for these high rates of success is the high level of engagement by the employees.

Most of them will be highly motivated and will also feel like their contribution to the company matters. A Globescan report indicated that 83% of the employees interviewed were motivated by the pursuance of a corporate social responsibility model.

Organisations must frequently look for new fields in order to keeping growing. Environmental sustainability is one of the field for this continued growth. For instance, a company that revises its energy use for green objectives is likely to minimise its costs of operation and overall bottom line. Continually, pursuing such a strategy can lead to greater profit margins and thus higher company growth.

Sometimes certain companies literally benefit from reduction of their environmental impact as this preserves the raw materials. For instance, a manufacturer that uses fewer amounts of a rare material will have more to use in the future and can thus continue to stay in business (Dyllick & Hockerts 2002).

Several companies are going green because it helps them innovate. Businesses that pursue environmentally sustainable strategies often focus on making their operations improve. Many of them use weak approaches to modify and alter their processes, people or products. Such firms develop an ability to look at things differently and respect their leaders.

They also engage employees because such individuals are often looking for ways of improving their current systems. Sometimes these innovations may not just revolve around green products; they may also initiate improvements in genial business. Organisations can then get an opportunity to offer exceptional customer solutions, and thus meet their demand in the future (Elkington 2007).

Going green also promotes a firm’s shareholder value as well as its profitability. Profit increments of 25-30% have been reported by several companies that have stuck to their green strategies.

Most financial success roots from the attraction of productive employees, reductions in operating costs and having a culture of improvement at all times. Certain businesses view environmental management as a new revenue stream. In this regard, they may turn their waste into commercial by-products (Sharma et. al. 2010).

Green washing and its effects on sustainability

Several organisations have learnt about the benefits of going green, although some of them are not willing to invest in the capital required to fully realise these advantages. As a result, many of them have decided to use green-washing as a shortcut to getting the business rewards of environmental management.

These organisations often engage in environmental reporting or marketing, where any slight green initiative is advertised to the public. They also sponsor events or distribute educational material in the name of promoting green living. Some organisations take it to the extreme by promoting themselves as environmentally-friendly organisations when evidence indicates otherwise.

The main objective of green-washing is to create an impression that a company is dedicated to environmental sustainability in order to get positive responses from consumers or other stakeholders even when this is not true. (Kewalramani & Sobelsohn 2012)

The above strategy may seem beneficial to an organisation in the short term, but it is not good or harmful to the process of environmental sustainability. Any company that does green-washing is misleading or dishonest with the public.

It is conducting business unethically and making people believe that their version of environmental sustainability is actual and true. This is dishonest, and it destroys the main principles of business success (Davis 1992).

These green washing organisations may also face immediate financial loss if discovered by the public. One way of losing market share would be through diminished exposure and reduced consumer confidence. People would associate the brand with a lie and thus question others aspects of the company’s products. Alternatively, some businesses may face litigations from angry or frustrated consumers.

They may have to pay a lot of legal fees and compensation for making these false claims. A case in point was a plastics bottle manufacture called Enso Plastics in California, USA. The complainant – Kamal Harris – filed a suit against the bottling company because the firm claimed that its bottles were biodegradable.

The customer found out that they were not so he sued them for violating the country’s laws on false marketing (Kewalramani & Sobelsohn 2012). The plastic manufacturer had to pay the complainant party a lot of money and also had to deal with a bad publicity.

If green-washing continues randomly, then chances are that it will create self-satisfaction among regulators as well as consumers. Companies will get away with their unethical practices and their competitors will also join them. This will create a situation where major industries base their practices on magic.

Most of these actions will cause severe effects on the environment as the objectives of sustainability will not be realised. More resources will keep being used and future generations will struggle to meet unbearable living conditions (Elkington 2007).

Green washing may also lead to a general doubt for all environmental initiatives. If going green will simply be regarded as an avenue for self congratulations, then consumers will grow cold towards the whole initiative (Davis 1992).

Many of them will write off any environmental campaign as false and misleading even when this is not true. Therefore, legal organisations will not get an opportunity to inform consumers about their green efforts (Davis 1992).

Discussion

Expected future developments in environmental sustainability

In the future, it is likely that businesses will move away from green washing and publicity to more solid strategies of sustainability. It will no longer be enough to tell customers about what one is doing, but one will need to walk the talk. Consumers are likely to become more cautious about dishonest businesses, so those who insist on misleading them will be outcompeted by the genuine ones (Milne et. al. 2010).

Some companies still think of environmental sustainability in the reactive sense. In other words, they depend on their clients to make it easy for the way for sustainable practices. Most of them wait for consumers to demand green practices prior to adoption of the strategy. In the future, it is likely that businesses will take on a more proactive role in environmental management.

Companies will appreciate the quantifiable and unquantifiable benefits of going green in their businesses. Therefore, many of them will lead from the beginning. They may create new standards for green technology. Alternatively, a number of them may use green strategies to create by-products that may make them money (Sustainability and IFC 2002).

It is likely that green intermediaries will have a huge demand in the future. Many of them will provide the information and expertise needed to be environmentally sustainable. Additionally, companies that provide environmental consultation services or sell green products are likely to have a lot of demand.

For instance, architects that design green buildings or electronic manufacturers that have energy saving light bulbs will be in great demand. In fact, there will be a time when wasteful products will lose market share or even be pushed out of the market by green alternatives (Gray & Bebbington 2000).

The government is likely to play a larger role in green strategies. It will probably create more elaborate or clear standards about environmental responsibility for businesses (Gray & Bebbington 2000). Therefore, individuals will not have an excuse to flout these laws.

Additionally, consumers may also expose those who try to break these rules through green-washing and other negative approaches. In the future, it is likely that businesses will treat environmental regulations in the same way that they treat other legal aspects of conducting business (Kewalramani & Sobelsohn 2012).

Conclusion

This report should have shown and explained that the reasons why there has been a growing trend of organization becoming more “green” in operating in a way that is environmentally sustainable has been in large part due to the environmental movement which has not only taken on a fashionable role in society, but also had a significant impact on sensitising and educating individuals to environmental issues.

Companies are adopting green strategies because it protects them from unnecessary expenditure and facilitates cost savings. In addition, it increases shareholder value, enhances employee productivity, creates an innovative culture and attracts new clients.

These benefits are enough of an incentive to warrant consideration of environmental sustainability. However, companies must avoid practicing their environmentally harmful practices by green-washing as this will backfire on them.

References

Carroll, A & Buchholtz, A 2012, Business and society: Ethics and stakeholder management, South Western Cengage learning, Ohio.

Damall, N, Jolley, J & Handfield, R 2006, ‘Environmental management systems and green supply chain management: complements for sustainability? Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 17 no. 1, pp. 30-45.

Davis, J 1992, ‘Ethics and environmental marketing,’ Journal of Business Ethics, vol.11 no. 2, pp. 81-97.

Dyllick, T & Hockerts, K 2002, ‘Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability’, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 11 no. 2, pp. 130-141.

Elkington, J 2007, ‘Partnerships from cannibals with forks: the triple bottom line of 21^st C business’, Environmental Quality Management, vol. 8 no. 1, pp-51.

Gioia, DA& Chittipeddi, K (1991). “Sensemaking and Sensegiving in Strategic Change Initiation”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 12, iss. 6, pp. 433 – 448.

Gray, R & Bebbington, J 2000, ‘Environmental accounting, managerialism and sustainability: Is the planet safe in the hands of business and accounting’, Advances in Environmental Accounting & Management, vol. 1, pp. 1-44.

Jawls, K 2010, The business case for environmental sustainability. Web.

Huff, AS (1982). “Industry influence on strategy formulation”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 3, pp. 119 – 131.

Kewalramani, D &Sobelsohn, R 2012, Greenwashing: Deceptive business claims of ecofriendliness. Web.

Milne, M, Kearins, K & Walton, S 2010, ‘Creating adventures in wonderland: The journey metaphor and environmental sustainability’, Organisation Journal, vol. 13 no. 6, pp. 801-839.

Orlitzky, M, Siegel, DS & Waldman, DA (2011). “Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability”, Business & Society, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 6 – 27.

Sharma, A, Iyer, G, Mehrotra, A & Krishnan, R 2010, ‘Sustainability and business to business marketing: A framework and implications’, Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 39 no. 2, pp. 330-341.

Sommer, A 2012, ‘Environmental sustainability in business’, Sustainable Production, Life Cycle Engineering and Management, pp. 23-47.

Sustainability and IFC 2002, Developing value: the business case for sustainability in emerging markets. Web.

Willis, B 2009, The business case for environmental sustainability. Web.

The book Sustainability 101: A toolkit for your business is a manual that has close to one hundred suggestions for businesses that want to go green. It indeed provides businesses with means through which they can begin their journey towards environmental conservation and sustainability. The manual addresses issues such as the efficient use of energy, transportation, efficient waste management practices, the role of businesses in community service and the best strategies to ensure environmental sustainability. The issue of Green meetings has been addressed in a separate chapter which discusses in detail the role that Green meetings play in environmental conservation.

The article Green meetings: Hosting environmentally friendly events is a scholarly article published in the Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing. This article talks about how Green meetings and events can make positive environmental contributions, save money for the organizations and enhance community philanthropic activities. The article makes use of the water bottles to demonstrate how Green meetings can achieve the above stated goals. The author argues that since water bottles are plastic in nature, they normally take many years to decompose and therefore Green meetings should avoid using them and instead should use water pitchers and cups.

Meet and Go Green is a paper written by the Director of Conferences for the National Recreation and Park Association. The author argues that Green meetings can have positive environmental impact by engaging in certain practices from the beginning to the end of the Green meetings and events. Such practices include recycling and composting to reduce the amount of waste generated from the meetings, reducing the use of disposable items, reducing the consumption of energy, making use of goods that have post-consumer recycled matter and serving domestically produced foods (Everett, 2009, p.53).

Green meetings is a newspaper article authored by Cottee and published in The Times. This article begins by stating that meetings organized by businesses or organizations can either be environmentally friendly or wasteful. The decision lies in the planners of the meetings and events. Such decisions range from the kinds of foods that are served, the types of utensils and containers that are used and the methods used to collect the waste generated from such meetings. The author then proceeds to give a number of recommendations that can minimize the amount of waste generated.

Sustainable meetings report debuts is a report of the Meeting Strategies Worldwide, a green meeting management company based in Portland. The report is totally dedicated to green meetings’ policies, technologies and human interest. This report shows the trends of green meetings which have been on the increase in the recent past. The report also states that planners of green meetings have increased significantly owing partly to consumer awareness and partly to economic conditions. The persistent economic downturn has forced many businesses to adopt different policies and strategies which are sustainable in order to cut down on costs (Alderton, 2009, p.16).

The need for green meetings arose when people became aware of the adverse environmental conditions currently facing many countries throughout the globe. Changing climatic conditions and increased hunger, drought and floods have forced people to go green on particularly every issue including meetings. Green meetings are meetings, events or conventions in which negative environmental effects are minimized through various strategies from the beginning to the end of the meetings. Everett (2009, p.53) argues that, “it all starts in the planning stages and must continue through every step of the event – from site selection to cleanup.” Various strategies of achieving sustainability and minimizing environmental harm have been suggested by different sources.

Green meetings utilize the least amount of paper possible. This is achieved by the use of technological devices such as email to communicate with members rather than through brochures or banners. Communication is also done through the meetings’ website where all the details concerning the meeting are posted. In addition, members of green meetings do not use note pads to take down notes. Instead, they use their computers or they save the information in floppy disks and other storage devices. These strategies help to minimize the amount of paper used thereby help to conserve the environment by reducing the number of trees that have to be cut to produce the needed paper (Novacovici and Woofter, 2008, p.57).

Planners of Green meetings take precautions in the type of food served and the types of containers used to serve the food. Green meetings carry out careful logistics to ensure that the amount of food served is adequate enough for the members yet not excessive. This helps to minimize the quantity of left over foods and ultimately the amount of waste generated. Most importantly, the planners make sure that the utensils used to serve the food are recyclable rather than disposable. This means that once the utensils have been use, they can be cleaned and used for future meetings. Green meetings also avoid individually wrapped food as much as possible. This is because great amounts of papers are needed to wrap food for each member. This is not only harmful to the environment – through cutting of trees – but also generates large amounts of paper waste which cannot be recycled easily. Water is an important component of meetings. To ensure that the water used is environmentally friendly, planners of green meetings avoid serving water in plastic bottles which take many years to be recycled. Instead, members are advised to use water pitchers and coolers to keep the water cool and cups to drink water from. Each member uses one cup to take water. This reduces the number of cups used in a particular meeting and ultimately reduces the amount of water used to clean the cups (Cottee, 2007, p.16).

Energy is an important requirement for any meeting. Energy is used in the lighting process and to keep the electronic devices running such as computers and microphones. However, the amount of energy used in a meeting can be minimized. Green meetings minimize the amount of energy used in different ways. First, planners of Green meetings select and use only rooms that are not dark but which instead receive adequate day light. This eliminates the need to switch on the lights during the day which in turn saves energy. Second, members of Green meetings take precautions of leaving equipment turned off whenever they are not in use. The heating and air conditioning systems are also kept at a minimum to conserve energy (McDermott-Levy, 2008, p.389).

Green meetings cannot achieve their environmental conservation objectives without taking into consideration the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from vehicles. Planners of Green meetings ensure that the members of the meetings do not use their personal cars as much as possible (Cottee, 2007, p.16). This is done by ensuring that the venue of the meeting is close to the public transportation systems or it is a walking distance from the place where the members are residing. As a result, members can either walk to the meetings’ venue or alternatively use the public vehicles.

Green meetings are indeed environmentally friendly. They conserve the environment and reduce the amounts of waste generated. They use items that are easily recyclable and avoid those that have to be disposed of after use. They use adequate amounts of food thereby reducing waste. Paper use is kept to a minimum and technological devices are used instead. Green meetings are on the rise and it is hoped that such measures would greatly conserve the environment and reverse the damage that has already been caused (Alderton, 2009, p.16).

References

1. Alderton, M., 2009. Sustainable meetings report debuts. Successful Meetings, 58(2), 16.
2. Cottee, P., 2007. Green meetings (Final 1 Edition). The Times, p.16.
3. Everett, D., 2009. Meet and Go Green. Parks & Recreation, 44(5), 53-54.
4. McDermott-Levy, R., 2008. Green meetings: Hosting environmentally friendly events. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 39(9), 388-389.
5. Novacovici, A. and Woofter, J., 2008. Sustainability 101: A toolkit for your business. New York: Lulu.com.

Issues

Despite the fact that the tidal wave of environmental concern, which started in 1990s, seems to have died down in 2010s, the recent introduction of the sustainability principle into not only management of various natural environments, but also the field of business and economics, has provided the premises for an innovation approach in the company operation.

The latter presupposes that environmental sustainability should be integrated into the company’s principles in order to facilitate improvement in the organisational performance rates. In their article “Clarke:

Transformation for Environmental Sustainability,” Laszlo, McCabe, Aheam and Ghatde address the specified concept, outlining the key problems that a 21^st-century entrepreneurship traditionally has and identifying the methods, which the sustainability principle will allow for integrating into the corporate strategy in general and the strategy of Clarke’s company in particular.

Among the key issues faced by the latter, such problems as the problems with the transition to the triple-bottom line, the need to establish the business as a safe and harmless company and a change in the business model (Laszlo et al. 22–25) must be mentioned.

Alternative Solutions

According to what Laszlo et al. suggest, in order to meet the new requirements listed by EPA and, therefore, produce the goods that contain the so-called “green chemicals” (Laszlo et al. 22), it will be necessary to resort to the sustainability principle, which, in its turn, presupposes a range of rapid and impressive changes in the company’s organisation structure, performance and

Analysis of Solutions

The authors of the article provide several methods of addressing the lack of sustainability within the company. To be more accurate, they suggest that the company should switch to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach (Laszlo et al. 23).

Table 1: Pros and Cons

Recommendations

It is obvious that the organisation has gone a long way to becoming a more environmentally friendly company with a set of strong moral values.

Regardless of the fact that the firm had to sacrifice a range of potentially profitable resources for the sake of its new image, it still managed to come up with a viable strategy, which will help it last quite long, shining among its competitors, who are less environmentally aware and far not as safe as Clarke’s company.

At present, it can be recommended that the company should identify the avenues for cutting the losses for choosing an environmentally safer approach. As it has been stressed above, the costs for providing the staff with the transportation methods that are less polluting are very high, and a reconsideration of the company’s logistics may be the answer to making the company’s costs smaller.

To be more exact, a choice of different partners for carrying out transportation can be suggested; in addition, the current routes can be changed so that the consumption of petrol could be reduced a few notches.

Finally, the company’s policy should become the focus of its next promotion campaign. With the introduction of a new brand product into the market, the firm must come up with a promotion campaign that will help make the product more popular and memorable among the target audience.

It should be born in mind that the promotion campaign is going to be quite costly; therefore, modern media should be used as the key tools for making the product popular. With the integration of social networks and direct advertisement, the company is going to benefit from a shift towards sustainability greatly.

Works Cited

Laszlo, Chris, Katey McCabe, Eric Aheam and Indrajeet Ghatde. “Clarke: Transformation for Environmental Sustainability.” Leading Change. Ed. Will O’Brien. Worcester, MA: Clark University. 2014. 21–38. Print.

Introduction

The environment surrounds people; environment is defined as natural and artificial surroundings. The surroundings affects and are affected by human activities.

Taking people as the central point, any other thing that surrounds human kind is environment. People directly or indirectly depend on natural surroundings for their live hood. It is through exploitation of these resources that men get food, industrialisation raw materials, and medicine among others. In the efforts to satisfy human satiable needs, natural environment has been destroyed or damaged and in return, it affects the human life.

To reduce poverty, attain equality in resource distribution, and feed current generation without limiting future generation capability of feeding its population, a healthy planet is required. Other than economic effects of environmental damage, there are psychological and emotional effects of world’s gradual environmental damage (Sutton, 2007). This paper looks into various components of environmental sustainability.

Environmental sustainability

Millennium Goals recognised environmental sustainability as one of the major global social and economic responsibility of different states, firms and individuals.

It encompasses actions taken to ensure that limited natural resources are utilized in an appropriate and effective manner that current generation will meet its needs effectively without limiting the capability of future generation in meeting theirs. Resources are not equally distributed, however they are enough for the entire world population only if they are well managed and organised.

Despite this recognition of the need to protect the environment, forests, land, water, and fisheries are often over-exploited by few individuals who have influence and acts for self-interests.

On page 6, Sutton, is of the opinion that there is a great connection between environmental damage, industrialisation and urbanisation; he observes that human beings have altered the natural environment and resulted to living in unclean, polluted environment, on its hand, the environment have limited the benefits that human beings could have derived from it.

Factors that limit the attainment of environmental sustainability goal

The world is fast industrializing and urban centres are growing. Industrial processes and urban population emit pollutants to the environment decreasing environmental sanity. When wastes are not disposed correctly, they have negative effect on the environment. Industries produce green houses to the atmosphere, have solid wastes on the earth service and utilize raw materials from the environment for their production. When this is the case, then the environment is damaged.

With increasing world population, and the need to meet its current needs, the world is over exploiting the available natural resources to a point that some have become exhausted. The exhaustion means that future generation will not be able to meet its needs from such resources. Some people are ignorant of the need to manage and conserve the environment. They misuse the available resources and do not see it their role to protect the environment.

Selfishness both for individuals and firms have resulted to damage and over exploitation of natural resources as people aim at meeting their own needs. The need to meet generational needs have resulted to a relaxation of some national and international rules where governments are not actively enforcing them (Sutton, 2007).

Initiatives to attain the goal of environmental sustainability

Scientific innovations, inventions and development have resulted to better means of doing things, aimed at ensuring there is minimal pollution to the environment. The globe is becoming a world village with improvement in transport and communication networks. Transport industry have been know as one of the industry that utilizes some of the worlds limited and exhaustible resources, fuel, then emits gasses that pollute the environment.

There have been collaborations among different countries calling for product improvement to such industries. Focus has also shifted to internal productions in a company where automation and recycling strategies have been embraced. To target different sectors and pollution, the international community is on the forefront to device mechanisms that will assist human beings to be sensitive to environmental damages. Such initiative was the Kyoto protocol on carbon emission.

Civil society, government and international bodies are targeting a transformation of human attitude and perception towards the environment to ensure that people appreciate the need to conserve the environment for their own good and the good of future generation. The enlightenment from the massive campaigns is yielding fruits as people are becoming more sensitive of how they are using the available resources.

One area that the public is impacting on is on attitude they hold for those companies that do not have eco-friendly processes and products. A tendency is emerging that consumer’s power is forcing companies that are less concerned with the environment to revive their processes and products. Many companies have embraced corporate social responsibilities, which are targeting environmental conservation. These programs include tree planting, recycling and environmental education programs (Sutton, 2007).

Conclusion

Humankind rely on natural environment directly or indirectly for their live-hood; to ensure that current generation meets its needs without limiting the degree at which future generation will meet theirs, effective conservation of the environment is necessary. Governments, international bodies, companies and individuals should join efforts to ensure minimal damage to the environment.

Reference

Sutton, P. (2007). The environment: a sociological introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Introduction

Environmental sustainability can be defined as acts of making amicable decisions towards business activities that will reduce the rate of environmental pollution. The process involves not only reducing the rate of waste product production but also coming up with amicable programs that will facilitate sustainability. For instance, many countries in the world experience a lot of water conservation challenges due to rapid population increases; these problems need to be solved.

How countries achieve environmental stability

Many developed countries such as the U.S.A have some water conservation programs that play significant roles in reducing the rate of water consumption. Some of the programs that have contributed positively towards water conservation in the U.S.A are related to those implemented in the AUS. For instance, both the U.S.A and the AUS advocate use of low-flush toilets, low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators, gray water, and the practice of landscape irrigation (EPA, 2012). The U.S.A recommends for installation of plumbing equipment that uses less water.

Egypt is one of the renowned countries in Africa that has advanced greatly in terms of agriculture. Like the AUS, Egypt uses groundwater and harvested rainfall water for irrigation. Although Egypt reuses almost all of its wastewater, its water conservation programs differ greatly from those practiced by the AUS and U.S.A. Egypt also lacks enough financial resources for the installation of facilities such as faucet aerators and flush toilets in diverse localities. Additionally, Egyptian people lack enough knowledge concerning water management, thus they incur a lot of challenges about water conservation (Omar, 2003).

How does AUS achieve environmental stability

The American University of Sharjah is one of the renowned universities in the world that has greatly taken part in the conservation of the environment. It is the only university that has managed to reduce the rate of energy consumption by 12%, water utilization by 39%, and carbon dioxide emission by 13% within a very short period. It started its conservation programs in late 2010. The success of AUS in the conservation of the environment was based on the conservation measures in the university setting.

The AUS has many programs that help greatly in reducing the amount of water consumed within the campus. For instance, most of the washrooms within the AUS campus are installed with manual taps and mechanical taps to reduce the amount of water loss. To further regulate the loss of water, the AUS administration also repaired water leaking systems within the campus.

Most of the counties in the Middle East depend on agriculture activities. However, due to low water, almost all of them import food from other nations. Despite water challenges incurred in the Middle East, AUS has advanced greatly in terms of agriculture. AUS depends on not only underground water, but also harvested rainwater for irrigation. In addition, AUS avoids misplaced priorities; it rarely put its fountains on. In addition to this act aiding in reducing the amount of electric energy used by the university, it also plays a significant role in minimizing the rate of water wastage. AUS has also introduced the use of car machines in the washing of its floors; the use of car machines contributed significantly to the reduction of the amount of water consumed in the cleaning activities (AUS, 2012).

Conclusion

In conclusion, environmental sustainability plays a crucial role in making the human environment suitable for human survival. Environment management involves many activities such as the implementation of regulatory programs. The ASU like many other developed countries has installed many facilities such as low-flush toilets, low-flow showerheads, and faucet aerators that use less water. Egypt also has taken part greatly in the conservation of water for agricultural activities.

References

AUS. (2012). American University of Sharjah. Web.

EPA. (2012). How to Conserve Water and Use It Effectively. United States environmental Protection Agency. Web.

Omar, M. (2003). Wastewater Reuse in Egypt: Opportunities and Challenges. Web.

Student Action Plan

Ecological integrity also referred to as Ecological health or ecological damage encompasses the signs of an ecosystem’s awaiting loss of holding capacity, its ability to perform nature’s roles, or pending ecocide, due to cumulative causes such as pollution. To have a clear picture of ecological integrity we need to understand what nature and the environment. Nature can be generally regarded as equal to the natural world, physical world, or material world, and it can be compared to the intrinsic characteristics that plants, animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. Environment refers to the surrounding of an object.

Therefore, the natural environment composes of all living and non-living things that occur naturally on Earth. It encompasses all the physical, biological factors, and chemical interactions that affect an organism and its surroundings. Human activities have led to several environmental changes, which encourage the growth of some species, ecosystems, and ecological processes, whereas causing severe damage to others. Nevertheless, “the challenge for the concept of ecological integrity is to provide a means of distinguishing between responses that represent improvements in the quality of ecosystems, and those that are related to degradations” (Anon 2252).

In this respect, the mission statement will be to enhance a sustainable natural environment through proper use of natural resources by reducing personal environmental degradation and practicing healthy environmental activities, and encouraging the general population to conserve the natural environment.

At home, I try to ensure the proper use of natural resources for sustainability. Generally, I use the resources available in various ways. First, I always ensure there is no water wastage by ensuring all taps are closed after use. Secondly, I always use natural gas for cooking instead of wood. After cooking some food is left after serving; to preserve it for future consumption I refrigerate it and heat it for warming using a microwave.

To save on power, I Switch off lights and electrical appliances when not in use and mostly buy appliances that are energy-saving and have good control systems. Also, during sunny days, I enjoy sunbathing and using less or no lighting in the home. When going shopping, I use durable and reusable shopping bags, as well as using materials such as out-of-date newspapers and magazines for wrapping items or giving them to recycling companies. Also, I Collect plastics and scrap metals that are later resold. Moreover, I always ensure that the furniture and other wood items in the house are well polished, preserved, and are properly used.

Personal daily water use includes activities such as cleaning, cooking, bathing, and drinking. For leisure at home, I have a rabbit-rearing project and an organic garden. Also, I always keep a check to ensure family vehicles are well serviced and maintained in good working conditions and always ensure that the home and its compound are clean by keeping the refuse in dustbins, maintaining lawns, and dusting/cleaning the floors.

Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion and contamination of resources such as air, water, and soil, which leads to the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. By personal use of resources at home, I contribute to the environment in various ways such as: firstly, conserving water through proper use of tapped water, thus eliminating chances of wastage, and in the process increasing water access in the neighborhoods (Gilbreath 5). Secondly, I live in a house with super windows, which is well insulated to reduce heating and cooling needs, thus conserving energy.

Indeed, sunlight makes the living space ambient, conserves energy, and improves productivity (Stein 171). Also, I take organic foods, which are generally healthier, sustainable, and save the cost of buying some of the foodstuffs at home (Mayer 4). Moreover, rabbit rearing provides manure for the organic garden, in addition to being a consumer for some kitchen leftovers or refuse as food. These rabbits also provide meat sometimes, as well as providing room for the coexistence of microorganisms, thus saving alternative sources of these resources. Through proper care and use of furniture, there is increased durability, thus saving the resources that could have been used to make furniture to replace the damaged ones.

By encouraging the reuse and recycling of materials, there is a reduced purpose to grow and extract raw materials, thus saving on energy used to produce the product or alternate product, as well as fuels used to distribute them (Gilbreath 5). Ensuring a clean home and personal environment through bathing and grooming greatly reduce disease infection, thereby ensuring a safer environment health-wise. Moreover, continued reliance on electrical gadgets for the sustenance of life contributes to their wastage when written off and they pollute soil due to their non-biodegradable nature, while coolants found in them are mostly chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which are greenhouse effect gases (Climate change Information Resources Para. 8).

There are various social issues regarding the personal use of natural resources including the effect of controlling oil prices, eradication of poverty, controlling carbon release to the atmosphere, and conserving the ecosystem through discouraging and reducing deforestation and soil erosion. In my use of natural resources, I am very conscious of the above-mentioned social issues; thus, I am very active in activities that are vital such as tree planting programs, debates, and awareness promotion activities.

To ensure the sustainability of goals, I plan to engage in long-term processes that enhance healthy ecosystems and environments to create a habitable place for both humans and other living creatures. This is achievable through an integrated learning and leadership process that can empower people in tackling ecological challenges and improving the natural environment. This is more of a life commitment by having a home that uses natural resources well, with low wastages, maintaining a better and safe environment for the family.

Works Cited

Anon. Ecological Integrity – Environmental Stress Is A Challenge To Ecological Integrity, Components Of Ecological Integrity, Indicators of Ecological Integrity. N.d. Web.

“Climate change Information Resources: What causes global climate change?” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2005. Web.

Gilbreath, Anthony. The Ultimate Guide to Greening your Home. NY: Caelus Consulting. 2010. Web.

Mcyer, Scotts. Organic Gardening, Vol. 54, No. 4. NY: Inc: Rodale. 2007. Web.

Stein, Matthew. When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing. 2008. Web.

The Amazon rainforests, which are also called the “lungs of the planet,” produce 20% of the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. This region includes vast territories that belong to several countries. Amazon rainforests have exceptional biological biodiversity since one in ten world-famous species lives in the Amazon rainforests, which makes this collection of living plants and animals the largest in the world. Moreover, these forests play a significant role in saving the planet from global warming. Nevertheless, there is a critical problem that needs immediate action since the area is constantly shrinking because of the Brazilian economy. Everything comes to the fact that now the Amazon rainforest needs salvation. The purpose of this research is to analyze the background of the problem, arguments from both sides of the debate, as well as to propose a beneficial solution.

Background

In the 1980s and 1990s, Amazon’s forest area began to decline gradually as farmers, miners, and loggers cleared land to grow crops, raise livestock, or sell timber. It was a way to make money in a region with high unemployment, enormous poverty, and a small state presence. Fortunately, during the 1980s, the environmental protection laws in Brazil started to appear and develop. Similar to legislation in other countries, the main idea of such initiatives was that those who threaten the environment should be held to account. During this time, licensing systems, fines, legal guidelines, and other tools have all been implemented and improved over the years.

Up until the beginning of the 21st century, Brazil became a prime example of how sustainable development can effectively coexist with economic growth. For example, Brazil was one of the first countries to implement a new approach to the protection of nature, such as the Amazon Fund. It is a mechanism that was created in 2008 in order to collect donations from the international community for forest conservation. According to researchers, “an 80% decline in deforestation from 2005 to 2014 coincided with 3.5% average annual economic growth and a 56% total increase in national agricultural production” (Unterstell 2019, para. 3). Such a result occurred since industries that for a long time caused deforestation have changed their methods of conducting business by implementing new policies and technology. Moreover, new legislation for controlling and punishing violators was also effective.

Nevertheless, the situation was about to change when the new President Bolsonaro took office. It is argued that because of him, the criminal activity under the name of land grabbing increased rapidly. In other words, criminal organizations took control over public land, and conduct their business operations by cutting forests and applying for government aid. Another reason that led to further deforestation is the governmental decision to put the safety of all National Parks in Brazil under the question. Therefore, the fate of a number of natural areas, including the Itatiaia National Park, the Ararinha Azul Wildlife Refuge, and the other 334 territories is yet to be decided (Unterstell 2019). The land is exploited by local businessmen by means of different illegal methods, including mining, exploding land, burning, and cutting trees; however, their practices also involved threatening indigenous communities. All these events indicate a drastic transformation of Brazil’s environmental policies, which led to the huge loss of the Amazon forest.

Why Is It Important?

There are a number of reasons why deforestation should be controlled. First of all, the tropical rainforests of the Amazon are the largest in the world. They produce oxygen not only for Latin America but for the entire planet. One of the most tragic ecological disasters on Earth is also associated with Amazonia; due to deforestation caused solely by human activities, more than 20% of Amazonian forests are irretrievably lost. The Amazonian forests serve as giant storage of carbon dioxide and affect the climate in the region and the entire planet. The death of trees because of cutting and fires contributes to the simultaneous spread of a huge amount of this gas, which leads to an increase in world temperature and a change in the global climate. Unfortunately, agricultural farms and enterprises negatively influence these territories. Their owners and workers destroy the unique flora and fauna and the habitat of Native American communities that have lived there for thousands of years.

This is a vast region of moist tropical evergreen broadleaf forests, located on a vast, almost flat and plain land covering almost the entire Amazon basin. The forest itself occupies covers the territory of nine states: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana. The main reason for deforestation is a local business; in recent years, the trees have been cut down for soybean cultivation, most of which is used for feeding cattle. The Brazilian economy has traditionally focused on the export of natural resources, including oil, grain, vegetables, fruits, and meat.

The constant Forest destruction inevitably leads to a decrease in the stability of the biosphere and an increase of floods, mudflows, water erosion, dust storms, devastating droughts, and dry winds. In addition, the irreversible process of desertification also accelerates, which can later make the land unusable. Researchers note that in case “if all the planned roads were built, at least 2.4 million hectares of Amazon forest would be cleared in the next 20 years” (Moloney 2020, para. 9). If this were to happen, Brazil would be considered as the country with the highest rates of deforestation, Violation of the ecological balance and deforestation causes damage not only to plants and animals but also to humans. About 300,000 Native Americans who remained in the Amazonian region of Brazil still coexist in this deteriorating environment. They are becoming more and more worried about lumberjacks, gold miners, and others, many of whom consider the Indigenous people to be a hindrance to business development.

At the same time, the Amazon rainforest is considered to be the largest ecosystem of its kind. In this place, a fifth of the freshwater reserves on Earth is concentrated. The forest plays a significant role in absorbing carbon dioxide and keeping the global temperature from rising. For this reason, preserving it seems to be an important task for policymakers. Therefore, many world leaders and environmentalists began to consider Amazon as a valuable World Heritage Site that is in need of diligent protection.

There are many activists that tried to stop deforestation. According to researchers, they have a number of various reasons, including protecting indigenous groups, preserving the forest’s unique biodiversity that has about “a tenth of the world’s plants and species, including many yet undiscovered” (Vanham 2018, para. 5). Moreover, scientists emphasize that the process of deforestation is close to the point of no return. The territory may soon turn into a dry savannah and lose a key role in climate regulation. About 20% of it has already been destroyed, and irreversible processes may begin after cutting down 25% of the forest area.

Nevertheless, the reason why people are reluctant to preserve the forest is simple since businessmen want to use more land for the farmers. Citizens of Brazil are especially unwilling to implement any measures since they consider the deforestation an unimportant problem. For this reason, Bolsonaro was elected as the President as he promised to change environmental laws in favor of business development.

The Argument for Further Deforestation

Deforestation during the reign of Bolsonaro is not surprising; after all, it is the fulfillment of the campaign promises. He was the first president in the history of Brazil with obvious anti-environmental speeches. Then Bolsonaro promised that his government would focus on rebuilding the Brazilian economy. In particular, he wanted to consider ways to study the economic potential of the Amazon. Therefore, people strongly support President Bolsonaro’s policies regarding Amazon. His policies prioritize economic development rather than environmental protection. Moreover, Brazilians claim that fires and deforestation are necessary for small farmers and large ranches exporting beef and soybeans to do business. Furthermore, they consider the damage they do to the world’s largest rainforests is quite modest. In addition, local residents are outraged by outsiders that are trying to resolve this problem. The environmental activists are considered to be colonialists who, by such actions, are trying to decide how Brazilians should manage their own land.

Even though from the global perspective, the international cooperation for preserving the Amazon may seem well-meaning and genuine, it makes Brazil citizens worry about their national security. This opinion is also powered by the government propaganda that enforces the idea that wealthier foreigners want to strip Brazil of their power over the Amazon. For example, Bolsonaro and his allies claimed that “efforts to inhibit Amazonian deforestation masked more sinister geopolitical strategies, including a European plot to limit imports of cheap Brazilian agricultural goods” (Hecht 2020, p. 62). Such ideas only increase the resistance of the population and make them resist all the attempts to stop deforestation.

A researcher under the name of Frances Seymour also notes that it is highly possible that conserving the rainforest may have a negative impact. He explains it by pointing out that for the Brazilian economy, it generates more economic value while also taking many resources for saving it (Irfan 2019, para. 35). After all, since citizens are concerned with economic problems, which also create issues with the rise of criminal activities, preserving forests may seem like an unnecessary measure. Methods to save the environment often run contrary to economic development; however, this notion can be disputed. For example, the loss of natural resources can have a negative impact not only on the environment bit for the f=government as well, since it reduces a source of tax revenue.

Solution

Nevertheless, there is some hope that most Brazilians are in favor of preserving the Amazon rainforests. However, despite the fact that dozens of eco-activists and forest advocates are put at risk for stopping deforestation, Brazilians are more worried about economic stagnation and crime. They refuse to understand that protecting rainforests is a global principle. International pressure to preserve the forests can have unpleasant consequences and make the country even more resistant. It raises concerns among the populations that rich countries want the rainforests to remain intact in order to impede Brazil’s economic growth and appropriate its wealth.

Since Bolsonaro has already made it clear that no one but Brazil is concerned about the forests, international activists should be careful. Condemning the new government’s policies for businesses to preserve biodiversity may not be productive. Instead, environmentalists, including politicians who care about the environment, should work through European political institutions. For instance, Europeans can put severe pressure on Brazil in the form of a refusal to conduct trade with them until a compromise is reached. For example, beef or soybeans grown on illegally harvested lands should not be imported into Europe and other countries that have business with Brazil.

Furthermore, agriculture has long been the backbone of the Brazilian economy. For this reason, losing a huge part of the land seems like a loss for the business. The Brazilian economy mostly relies on selling different types of resources. However, this method of conducting business does not seem like a sustainable strategy since it relies on unrecoverable resources. Nevertheless, researchers believe that “consumers of agricultural products in global markets may be more likely to demand a product that is produced sustainably, putting pressure on producers to do their part” (Vanham 2018, para. 3). In other words, the global economy can make the satiation better by implementing rules that the Brazilian business would have to follow.

In order to help address the causes of deforestation and improve the livelihoods of the population, there are some measures that can be implemented. For example, the government should pay attention to the economic and social problems of regions affected by poverty. Another strategy is planting more trees in previously cut areas. However, the most important and effective method would be combating the most apparent injustice of Brazilian society, which is the real cause of human poverty and deforestation. Researchers believe that “economic and political pressure from other countries can certainly help build the case for preserving the rainforest, but the most meaningful measures to protect the Brazilian Amazon will have to come from Brazil’s leaders” (Irfan 2019, para. 16). The fact that in past Brazil managed to implement measures for saving the environment indicates that there is a high possibility that the new President may reverse the process.

In conclusion, it would appear that in order to prevent deforestation and stop it from becoming a big catastrophe for the entire world, it is necessary to create a whole range of strategies. They should obviously be aimed at restoring ecological balance and reviving extinct species of plants and animals. The most promising include increased productivity and rational use of the existing land. That would diminish the need to get rid of the trees for using new land. Moreover, sites, where the forest is still partially preserved, should be restored to their original condition. In addition, the number of areas under the protection of the state should also be expanded. Even though for the short-term, it may be harmful to small businesses that rely on agriculture; however, in the long run preserving the environment is the key to sustainable development.

Reference List

Hecht, S., 2020. ‘Why the Brazilian Amazon Burns’, Current History, 119 (814), pp. 60-65.

Irfan, U., 2019, Why it’s been so lucrative to destroy the Amazon rainforest, Web.

Moloney, A., 2020. Planned Amazon roads could harm economies not just forests, researchers warn. Web.

Vanham, P., 2018. What the Amazon rainforest tells us about globalization. Web.

Unterstell, N., Brazil Doesn’t Have to Choose Between the Environment and the Economy, Web.

Introduction

The general public and international societies have always argued that to achieve sustainable development, the economic activities that human beings engage in should be able to protect natural resources (Wright, 2007).

Customer-oriented Environmental Sustainability

In as much it is believed that controlling the global population size would certainly help in achieving environmental sustainability; however statistical analysis and projection show that the global population would have to increase and therefore this might not be sustainable. Thus changing the customer-oriented lifestyle in developed nations would be more sustainable. Environmental sustainability should aim at capturing environmental systems dynamics by building adaptive and resilient systems. It should aim at achieving pollution control by reducing environmental pollutants such as greenhouse gases and other gases which directly and indirectly affect human lives and the environment such as sulfides. Thus ensuring sustainable transportation and energy-related activities as well as ecological activities would better help achieve environmental sustainability. Customer-oriented environmental sustainability aims at achieving efficiency in environmental resource usage and thereby reducing waste and negative impacts of human activities on the environment through continuous innovation (Leighton Asia, 2010).

Adopting new and modern environmentally sustainable structures to achieve energy efficiency would better help achieve energy efficiency and hence environmental sustainability. The use of fossil fuels contributes more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and is, therefore, the major source of global climatic change. These greenhouse gases are absorbed into the ozone layer and therefore allow shortwave rays to enter the lower atmosphere and also maintain most of the reflected waves in the lower atmosphere and therefore increasing the global heat. This, therefore, implies that developing and adopting alternative more efficient technologies for energy sources such as wind energy and natural gas would therefore be more effective in achieving customer-oriented environmental sustainability. Building and adopting new transportation technologies would also help decrease greenhouse gas emissions and also improve the fuel economy. This would include building vehicles and aircraft which are environmentally friendly and also consume less fuel (Leighton Asia, 2010). Developing biofuels from feedstock production would also help reduce the overreliance on petroleum by consumers and hence help reduce the environmental impacts of the use of petroleum (Wright, 2007).

Customer-oriented environmental sustainability would also help evaluate the environmental impacts of activities, products as well as processes on the environment and human health. Evaluating the impacts of chemicals before they are made open to the consumers would help minimize the impacts of chemicals and industrial effluents on the environment and human health (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2010).

Customer-oriented environmental sustainability would also help develop land usage systems that are aimed at protecting the environment. Measures would be taken to reduce toxicity trash on the environment and hence protect the wildlife, agricultural land, and the water systems. Customer-oriented environmental sustainability would ensure that those in charge of providing services and products to consumers such as water services in societies aim at harvesting water from the watersheds while at the same putting in place measures that conserve the environment. It would also help develop and implement measures that conserve natural resources which are aimed at satisfying consumers such as wildlife and other scenic features (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2010).

Conclusion

There is a need for society to contemplate embracing public policy perceptions that advocate for sustainability by way of making sure that our present security, social needs, and economic issues do not weaken the base of our natural resources to preserve future generations. Thus we should decrease the industry’s use of natural resources and also reduce their negative impacts on our environment.

Reference List

Leighton Asia. (2010). Leighton Asia: Customer-oriented construction services. Web.

US Environmental Protection Agency. (2010). Susatainability. Web.

Wright, R. T. (2007). Environmental Science: Towards a sustainable future. Boston: Pearson Publishers.