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CSR

As intresting yet tough question came up this week, corporate social responsibility, should corporate bodies be responsible for social and enviromental issues associated with it and if so to what degree of responsibility. The definition of CSR according to the European Commission is “A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis.’ Companies that appear to be socially responsible by promulgating environment saving or environmental sustainability and, at the same time, being allegedly tangled in an illegal socially irresponsible activity is a tremendous message to send out to the stakeholders including consumers and investors. The effect of such CSR scandals is that credibility and the reputation of the company are undoubtedly badly damaged. There is an old saying that any publicity is good publicity. However, in the world of business, bad publicity is bad publicity, and can cost a company up to millions of dollars, with nothing to speak for goodwill. Corporate social responsibility articles in the news are often quick to fault wrong-doers.

An obvious example of bad publicity from bad corporate social responsibility at play and the effect that bad social responsibility has on a company, is Enron, the Texan energy that not only brought itself down but also one of the largest accounting firms at that time, Arthur Andersen. Enron was a darling of corporate philanthropy and gave millions in charity donations to charity organizations and won several awards for its corporate social responsibility work, including a climate protection award from the EPA and a corporate conscience award from the Council on Economic Priorities. In 2001, Enron collapsed under massive debts after it was revealed that Jeffrey Skilling, who was jailed for 24 years, had orchestrated a giant fraud and a massive corporate ethics scandal.

Naturally, companies are on the wrong side of the law when they engage in socially irresponsible activities. They can pay heavily, literally, as an effect of engaging in such crimes. The Exxon Valdez tanker incident in Prince William Sound, off the coast of Alaska is one of the most memorable events in corporate social responsibility history. ExxonMobil paid dearly for the Valdez scandal – nearly $4.84 billion in cleanup costs, fines, punitive damages and interest for the flagrant bad CSR act in the Exxon Valdez ethics scandal that dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, damaging wildlife and the fishing industry.

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sustainable development project

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products and choice

Have you ever stopped to think about this strange world in which we find ourselves. throughout human history we have made many technological advances and often in major bursts that completely revolutionised the way people lived i.e. the agricultural and industrial revolutions. The rate at which advances occur has been increasing rapidly in the last few decades to the extent that the majority of products available now wouldn’t have been thought of in our grandparents generation in their youth. This explosion of products in recent times is highlighted by the modern supermarket, which has on average 50,000 products on display compared to 15,000 in 1980. Things really start escalating when you add in all the electrical goods available to consumers as well. This vast amount of goods available has many damaging effects on society.

The most obvious knock on effect from this is the large quantities of waste produced. We have all seen the effects of this when driving on most irish roads where rubbish is common place. This is an international problem which is only escalating along with increasing populations and number of goods available.
This is not 1 of those problems that can be ignored as much of the waste we dispose of is not dealt with properly and causes damages to animal and human environments alike. While the question of what to do with the waste does not have a perfect solution there are many ways in which we can reduce the problem. Much of the packaging used is for advertisement purposes rather than practical it could be reduced significantly if only profit margins where not so vital. Also the manner in which we deal with waste can be improved and has greatly in recent times. Recycling is becoming more and more pronounced as people become aware of the problems of waste.

Another issue that affects us all is much more psychological in nature. The numerous choices availible to us in every day to day activity have a severe knock on effect. There is a train of though that believes the more choice we have the unhappier we are and i agree strongly with this statement. Suppose for a moment you walked into a shop to buy an item of clothing, if this shop had only 1 choice in what you where looking for. After buying it it will have been the best option availible leaving you feeling happy with your choice. while on the other hand if there where 20 choices then in future you may be unsure if you made the best choice leaving you slightly unhappy at your choice. This logic can be applied to any modern consumer product which means we do not really benifit at all by having so much choice yet because the choice is there it becomes a big issue.

makes sense

energy and food

This weeks discussion on food raised some of the more fundamental problems associated with sustainable development. By connecting food production to energy usage, a somewhat frightening situation became apparent. Upon viewing a few figures comparing energy input to output in the production and distribution of the simple apple the unbalance became apparent. What shocked me personally was the sheer magnitude of the imbalance in the region of 3:1. While purely organic producers may have a lower energy input they also have a lower net yield of product in the end showing there is no ‘simple’ answer. We are faced with two serious interlinked problems, firstly the steady rise in global population in the last few decades is accelerating more than ever now, meaning more and more food is needed to keep people alive. On top of this global energy concerns are escalating meaning there may not be enough energy available at current rates for a much larger population in the decades to come. The main question which arises from this is who gets the food when supplies are limited?

During the week Con Trass brought up the topic of GM foods as a ‘silver bullet’ solution. personally I agree with this view, while it may look like an attractive, easy solution it has its perils. In our second week of lectures Peader Kirby raised the idea that since the time of hunter gatherers mans overall respect for nature has diminished. As a species we have gained more and more control over what the land produces and is used for. Thus far we have used farming techniques and chemicals to alter our food yields and quality, now with genetic modification man is effectively playing god. In a perfect world this would be a solution yet where there is an option to make money from it certain levels of mis-use are to be expected. The issue regarding modifying plants to produce certain chemicals for various uses came up and this is an important factor in Gm foods. As the technology advances, what is actually in our food becomes less and less clear. As an example, scientists in america have developed tomatos which naturally produce THC [the active ingredient in cannabis} in higer concertrations then the cannabis plant. Continueing on from this, extracts from any drug, poison or chemical it would seem could be inserted in our foods if the people in control of these GM foods saw fit. This alien thought that the foods we are do used to could contain drugs is a disturbing thought and while people will try to control this process, what solution is there when these GM plants cross pollinate to the extent that we wont know what our food contains anymore. GM foods should not be looked on as an answer, alternitive methods are needed.

Oil security

After hearing a bit about middle eastern energy reserves and energy security around the world i became interested in the topic. We live in a modern world with a high dependence on fossil fuels yet a generally low energy security in the western world. Take Ireland as an example, we import in the region of 90% of our energy needs with only a small fraction of our energy being produced my renewable sources. To clearly put things in perspective just think that the majority of the words oil is in a region of instability and conflict, the middle east, 63.3% of the worlds proven oil reserves in 2003 where located in the middle east, with 22.9% of worlds oil in Saudi arabia. As well as this the middle east had 40.8% of world gas in 2003 also. It is apparent from these figures that at any stage should the middle east boycott the rest of the world for oil or simply run out, it would have a negative knock on effect with world markets and oil supplies. Even without the possibility of an oil crash, it is only logical that a country have a means of back up power should the situation ever arise. In all our discussions on sustainability it seems apparent that the beginning of the answer would be for each country to attempt to produce its energy needs without other nations. While it is not a practical short-term solution i think it is the path that should be taken. As our energy returns from renewable sources increases the effects of an oil shortage can be lessened dramatically over time.

Global climate change

I found that prof. moles raised some very intresting points in our lectures last week. In his talks regarding climate change i picked up on the idea that our view on climate change is over negative to a certain extent. He made it apparent that climate change on itself is a perfectly natural transition over time on the earth. With so many factors affecting our climate it is easy to see how these changes come about. Changes in the earths distance from the sun due to shifts in the earths orbit intuitively means changes in global temperature however marginal. Another major global addition to natural climate change is volcanic eruptions, this large influx of ash, water vapour and dust into the atmosphere can also affect global climate.

The arguement then to mans invlovement is not that he is responsible for directly affecting global climate but rather is unnaturally accelerating it and changing the natural tendencies with the influx of ‘greenhouse gases’ and the loss of carbon sinks due to deforestation. Prof. moles discussion on the possible effects of mans involment in the issue is enough to chill the blood. the idea of runaway warming, a situation where one man made problem affecting global climate change can increase the effects of another cause is mind wreaking. that we could face an unstoppable chain reation which would lead to dramatic climate change on a global scale with little to no action availible to stem it is crazy. With this possibility out there i find it makes little sense trivial matters such as politics can stand in the path of action. As we release more CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, more heat energy from the sun is absorbed, leading to hinger average temperatures which in turn would melt more of the glaciers, then less energy is reflected back out and this vicious cirle keeps going taking in more factors as it goes.

While i believe action has to be taken i am not so naive to believe that it is going to happen in the immediate future. goverments are trying to sort out the mess in their talks but the information they has is not garenteed accurate . As prof. moles said there are many different methods of measuring the changes expected in climate yet we will not know for sure which is the right model until it happens. The story he told us regarding the controversy in the english university regarding false information being used my climate scientists to alter the results output has major implications. By creating uncertainty in peoples mind it diminishes the problem to an extent. How can people come up wit affirative action when time has to be spent verifiying if the information is true or if it has been tampered with. With such large amounts of wealth at stake in the energy sector this trail of misinformation will not stop here i believe. only trough co-operation, unity and truth can this global issue be tackled.

Change

Only one thing about our future is certain and that is there will have to be massive changes to our current ways of life. these changes could be brought about gradually if we all worked together but there are too many people in power who value their present happiness over the well being of others no matter who suffers. The world as we know it is headed for a collapse and this is not a new phenomenon to our species. Many ancient civalisations collapsed even though for their time they where tecnlogically advanced. Each past case was unique and different yet there where many overlapping reasons for there fall. i bring this up because in our modern world shows many of these signs of weakness, there is one major difference which makes the problem all the more serious. in the past these civalisations where isolated to the extent of human travel meaning when a society in say south america fell european societys where not affected. In todays world a collapse would devastate almost every country in the modern world. The problems we face are climate change which will cause dissruption in food supplies and in natural animal habitats. enviromental damage mainly from mans attempts to get as much from the land without though to the long lasting damage caused. these problems in hand with the severe overpopulation of the world and food shortages are obvious signs of a catastrophic collapse of the world as we know it. The problem can no longer be ignored and action must be taked. only by educating people to the scale of the problem will there be a way forward for us. Change is sorely needed