Poverty and Pollution

[Professor's Name]

Introduction

The most common value for a business is to keep the customer happy, the customer who is a human and gives the business monetary benefits. Keep the customer happy is the main goal of any business. The nature: animals or the entire ecosystem to say are ignored and therefore harmed. Different philosophers have different beliefs. While William Baxter believes that only humans should be considered and nothing else, Holmes III says that nature has its value and should be protected because humans are depended on it. Those who have a naturalistic ethic think that humans are obligated to guard the environment because every species have its own value and every each is important for the balance of nature. Each species has a unique role to play and it cannot be replaced with anything else.

The disposal of waste and usage of nature by businesses damages the environment. The ecosystem is disturbed due to this. Take the ecosystem of a pond as an example. The organisms living there in an intricate web of dependence and interdependence are affected. It does not end within the pond but it also affects the fishermen who make a living by catching fish. Sometimes the disposal of waste does not harm the ecosystem but too much waste is toxic. The entire system is affected. If the poisonous waste kills the plants in the pond, the fish are affected and similarly the fishermen who are the part of the third world country are affected because they lose their living. Therefore, business is not just about a deal between two parties, usually many other lives both humans and animals are affected because of this.

Taking the example of a company that dumps the waste in a pond to save $9000 each year but it ends up killing fish in the pond. The fishermen would lose $10,000 each year because they would lose their primary source of income. In this case the company has made an unethical decision by causing more harm to an already struggling family.

Ethical implications

Many environmental issues that are ethically wrong and relevant to business are discussed in Business Ethics written by William Shaw. He discusses issues related to Ecology, the problems which involve the abuse of environment, the orthodox business attitudes towards environment and environmental protection.

William Shaw discusses the importance of environmental issues the world is currently facing:

Chemicals used in pesticides harm birds and fish alike and it can cause different types of illness in children. Large quantity of pesticide is very harmful for adults but some levels are safe where adults are concerned. A study has shown that those pregnant women who are exposed to pesticides give birth to children with a lower IQ level.

The deterioration of crops and vegetation threatens human lie. A study was conducted in 2011 by EPA which showed that the Clean Air Act saved many lives (around 160,000). However, people still suffer from air pollution and are exposed to illness and some even ...