Companies that are moving toward sustainability will
have the upper hand in the future. Twenty-five years ago, the average
businessperson did not need to think too much about the environment.
Although there was concern over clean air and water, safe food, and
an intact ozone layer, people didn't summon the words "the environment" as
their filter for scrutinizing everything from the food they consumed
to the jobs they took.
...Environmental quality does behave like a luxury good…protect
our planet after all it is a precious commodity.
All that has changed, partly due to alarming disasters such as the
Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak
in Bhopal, India, that killed 4,000 people. Also, people are more
attuned to the knowledge that geopolitical strife is influenced by
environmental issues, such as how American dependence on Persian
Gulf oil colors its behavior in that volatile region. It is
only in recent years that more and more people in the wealthiest
nations have come around to the belief, now firmly lodged in public
consciousness, that high environmental standards are not just desirable
but their birthright.
Pollution is not a new phenomenon in human existence, nor is fear
of overwhelming population growth and depletion of natural resources.
People in the United States are more concerned about the environment
is that incomes are higher. "Although people who think
of themselves as environmentalists tend not to like it hear it characterized
in this way, environmental quality does behave like a luxury good. The
debate on whether or how business should react has been "polarized
and dominated by views from the extremes of the ideological spectrum," On
the one hand it pays to be green; it is in a company's best interests
to be environmentally proactive.
Young people are increasingly worried about the environment they
want to work at companies whose values are similar to their own… It
is our youth that will help our change the global warming with strong
environmental impact… if we all position our companies in
paving examples by lowering our carbon emissions, manufacturing high
quality products practice daily routines of reusable products along
with employing within our own country… how can we fail?