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9 - Business and the World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2022

Kevin Gibson
Affiliation:
Marquette University, Wisconsin
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Summary

Business impacts the world we live in by affecting our environment, living creatures, and our heritage. Often these costs are externalized onto remote populations or future generations. This chapter begins with an emblematic case about rare earth minerals that are vital to modern technology but which, despite “green” initiatives, are also difficult to refine or recycle, and therefore create pollution. The term “sustainability” is closely analyzed, as it conflates the senses of “maintaining our current production and consumption levels” with “maintaining resources in the face of rising prosperity and consequent depletion,” each with widely divergent implications. Arguments promoting intrinsic value of the biosphere are assessed, as are conservation claims about the broad “web of being” and potential climate change. Monetization, the technique that asks hypothetical questions to assess environmental preferences, is presented and critiqued. Triple bottom line accounting is outlined, and the amount of waste we produce is also discussed. The final case looks at the potential effects of large-scale industrial farming and its implications for the environment and the global food chain.

Type
Chapter
Information
Ethics and Business
An Introduction
, pp. 245 - 280
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Business and the World
  • Kevin Gibson, Marquette University, Wisconsin
  • Book: Ethics and Business
  • Online publication: 22 December 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009099127.010
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  • Business and the World
  • Kevin Gibson, Marquette University, Wisconsin
  • Book: Ethics and Business
  • Online publication: 22 December 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009099127.010
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Business and the World
  • Kevin Gibson, Marquette University, Wisconsin
  • Book: Ethics and Business
  • Online publication: 22 December 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009099127.010
Available formats
×