For business, throughout the history of industrial economies, business most often looked at environmental concerns as unwanted burdens and barriers to economic growth.
- However, there is some evidence that, at the start of the 21st Century, a new model of business is emerging.
Sustainable business and sustainable economic development seek to create new ways of doing business in which business success is measured in terms of economic, ethical and environmental sustainability.
- This is called 'the Triple Bottom Line Approach'.
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- Why should we act in ways that protect the natural environment from degradation?
- Why should businesses be concerned with, and value, the natural world?
=> Human Self-Interest
All human beings depend on the natural environment in order to survive, such as:
- clean water to drink and bathe
- healthy air for breathing
- an ozone layer to screen out solar radiation
- fertile soil and oceans to produce food
Two aspects of contemporary environmental realities highlight the importance of self-interested reasoning:
- some contemporary environmental issues have the potential to adversely affect the entire globe and change human life forever.
- the science of ecology and its understanding of the interrelatedness of natural systems have helped us understand the wide range of human dependence on ecosystems
Conservationists argue against the exploitation of natural resources as id they could provide an inexhaustible supply of material.
Business had good reasons for conserving natural resources, reasons that paralleled the rationale to conserve financial resource.
- The natural world. like capital, had the productive capacity to produce long-term income but only if managed and used prudently.
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Causes of Environmental Pollution:
- Consumer Affluence - increased wealth has led to increased spending, consumption and waste.
- Materialistic Cultural Values - values have evolved to emphasise consumption over conservation (a mentality that believe in 'bigger is better', 'me first', and 'a throwaway ethic').
- Urbanisation - concentration of people in cities increase pollution.
- Population Explosion - population growth means more industrialisation, product use, waste & pollution.
- New & Uncontrolled Technologies - technologies are produced by firms that prioritise profits, convenience and consumption over environment protection
- Industrial Activities - they have emphasise depletion of natural resources and destructive uses of the environment for economic reasons have caused significant environmental decay.
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> Atmospheric Issues -
=> AIR POLLUTION: stationary sources such as factories and power plants; mobile sources such as cars, trucks, planes, trains; natural sources such as windblown dust, volcanic eruption.
=> ACID RAIN: nitrous oxides and sulfur dioxides emitted from manufacturing facilities react with air and rain.
=> GLOBAL WARMING: when CO2 and other gases collect in Earth's atmosphere, they trap the sun's heat like a greenhouse and prevent Earth's surface from cooling.
> Water Issues -
=> WATER POLLUTION: results from the dumping of raw sewage and toxic chemicals into rivers and oceans, from oil and gasoline spills, and from the burial of industrial waste in the ground where they may filter into underground water sources.
=> WATER QUANTITY: poor weather conditions in conjunction with growing demand for water have outpaced nature's ability to replenish surface and underground water sources.
> Land Issues -
=> LAND POLLUTION: results from the dumping of residential and industrial wastes, strip mining, and poor forest conservation.
=> WASTE MANAGEMENT: how to dispose the waste in an environmentally responsible manner.
=> DEFORESTATION: forests are being destroyed to make way for farms/ranches and urban sprawl.
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There are five main forces for change within an organisation regarding the environmental protection:
- legislative and fiscal requirements
- advantages resulting form financial savings
- consumer attitudes
- public opinion
- enlightened management
Does the service industry cause major damage to the environment?
- in particular, the hospitality & tourism industry is an interesting case in that it exposes many of the conflicts which arise in implementing environmental policies.
- once the facility has been built, what will be the impact of the operation on the local and global environment?
- when we consider our customers, many of them seek to be pampered with lashings of hot water, high pressure of showers, freshly laundered linen, copious supplies of food & drink, the availability of pools, etc.
- whatever we can do to reduce the environmental impact of hotels can only be either with the consent of customers or in such a way that they do not suffer any perceived hardship.
What damage do the service businesses do to the environment?
- by the nature of the service industry, it does not cause gross environmental pollution nor consume vast amounts of non-renewable resources
- the industry is made up of a large number of small operations, each of which consumes relatively small amounts of energy, water, food, paper and the other resources --> however, the industry employs a large proportion or population and can have a major impact in developing awareness and good practice.
- if the impact of all these small individual operations is added together, the industry does have the significant effect on global resources.
- this is the dilemma as: how can we persuade companies involved in the service industry (many of them small and independent) to take environmental management seriously?
How does the service industry respond to the need of the environmental protection?
There is recognition that environmental issues will become much more prominent as a factor which influences consumers, regulators, pressure groups and destinations and that the service industry/businesses will need to show increasing concern for these issues.
This can be done by:
- developing clear policy and mission statements on the environment
- establishing targets which can be assessed, covering waste management, energy, emissions, hazardous material, water, noise, purchase of materials and transport
- disseminating environmental awareness throughout the company
- encouraging education and research into improving environmental programmes
- putting an emphasis on self-regulation but recognising the need for national & international regulations
What are the incentives for the service business?
- the financial saving (which may be achieved by developing environmental policies and procedures) should not be seen as the main incentive
- some environmental policies may increase costs which then must be passed on to the customers
- in a survey of US travellers, more than 75% of the sample said that they were environmentally minded consumers and they prefer to stay in a hotel that shows concern for the environment --> however, the majority were not willing to pay extra to fund green policies
What is happening in the service industry in protecting the environment?
- between the push of legislation and the pull of consumer pressure groups, compounded by the cost savings which can result from reducing waste, many companies are now taking environmental management seriously
- currently, environmental policy, strategy and implementation have been launched by many major service business enterprises
Key areas of environmental management in the service business:
> water management
> energy management
> material & waste management
> management of indoor environment (i.e. quality of air indoors, lighting, noise levels, etc.)
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