Having trouble on it...but I'm tring my best.

When I first heard the word “sustainability”, I was frightened because I had no idea what the word meant. I chose the topic of “Sustainability in Business” for several reasons. First, my major will be General Business, so I might as well indulge in a topic that will benefit me in the long run. Business is such a broad topic, it seems like the opportunities are endless as to what a business really entails. In today’s world, business has become an important part of our life because it is now all around us.

Before I could come to an understanding of what a “sustainable business” is, I first had to come to an understanding of what sustainability means. So far I have come to this conclusion: sustainability is the idea of how long human ecological systems can be useful and prolonged for future generations to come. This does not necessarily mean that one has to go totally “green”, but just that one can find ways to help the environment by using alternatives for the resources we use in our day to day lives. Without even realizing it, we have all been exposed to the concept of sustainability in minimal ways since we were little, either at school or at home from our parents. I can definitely say this applies to me because I can remember the many times my mom scolded me not to leaving all the lights around the house on because it wastes energy, or being taught by my elementary teachers the meaning of recycling and why it is important not to leave the faucet on while brushing my teeth.

A business can be sustainable if it has adapted to the use of renewable resources such as energy, water, paper, ect. At the same time, a sustainable business must operate in a socially responsible workplace while still protecting the environment. Some examples include: facilities efficiencies (water, raw materials, etc), material and process improvements, supply chain efficiencies, products or services that are more efficient, recycling, telecommuting, and optimizing of any resource use. I never really thought about how environmentally-friendly you can transform your business to be. This is very useful information for me and others in hopes of one day creating a business of my own.

With the problems in society, such as global warming and high oil prices, more and more businesses have started to adopt principles of sustainability within their business. Even with that said, as I come to an understanding of the meaning of sustainability in business, I’ve come to realize that this is actually a topic that is not touched upon as much as it should in the business world. The main reason for this is simple: money. The main goal of a business is to make a profit while in competition with other business; therefore it is very easy for a company to ignore how they are extensively using resources instead of concentrating on how they can improve their use. Companies act as if there is no limit to their use of sources because they want to increase their sales. Many companies usurp resources such as land, forests, and fisheries, from those using them for subsistence production and they respond to purchasing power instead of need. When companies usurp resources, this means that they are using them without authority or legal right. This widens the inequalities between rich and poor. Many companies at times impose demeaning and repetitive tasks on their employees, which at times even leads to abusing the human rights of their employees and their communities. Many companies even use advertising and marketing to stimulate or create demand for new products that our society does not eventually need. This leads to a contribution to the consumer “rat-race” that seems to be all around us. Most companies even at times act collectively politically to reinforce the patterns of behavior that makes them a bigger part of the unsustainable development path we are on.

Not done...=/

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