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Harvard Business Review on Business and the Environment
Brings professionals the information they need to stay competitive. Defining the relationship between business and the environment has become essential. This book discusses management thinking on the role of the environment in business, and offers a perspective that helps outline the critical environmental issues an organization may face.
- GenresBusiness
251 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
46 people want to read
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Harvard Business Publishing
321 books797 followersHarvard Business Publishing (HBP) is a publisher founded in 1994 as a not-for-profit, independent corporation and an affiliate of Harvard Business School (distinct from Harvard University Press), with a focus on improving business management practices. The company offers articles, books, case studies, simulations, videos, learning programs, and digital tools to organizations and subscribers.
HBP consists of three market units: Education, Corporate Learning, and Harvard Business Review Group. Their offering consists of print and digital media (Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review Press books, Harvard Business School cases), events, digital learning (Harvard ManageMentor, HMM Spark), blended learning, and campus experiences.
HBP consists of three market units: Education, Corporate Learning, and Harvard Business Review Group. Their offering consists of print and digital media (Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Review Press books, Harvard Business School cases), events, digital learning (Harvard ManageMentor, HMM Spark), blended learning, and campus experiences.
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April 25, 2023When the last tree dies, the last man dies. This will remain one of the effortless yet important adages an adult
can possibly pass on to a child as a way to engrain in him the responsibility to take good care of his environment
as it does vice versa. Man and nature have been created in such ways that the dependability on each other plays
significance roles in the sustenance of each other. However, some activities of the former since the industrial era
seems to pose some humourless threats to the survival of human now and beyond. This crisis erupts a rather
interesting rhetoric, “are we destroying the future generation’s ability to meet their needs in the pursuit of meeting
ours?”
In our pursuit to make the world a better place to live, it is equally important to note also that for every fossil fuel
burnt, for every chemical reaction to create what we so desire, there is a release of excess carbons into the
atmosphere which in diverse ways impact the very environment which man depends on. Industrialisation can be
accredited as the major contributor of pollution and climate changes all around the world today. Rise in sea
levels caused by the increase in melting rate of ice in the cold regions, wildfires and droughts caused by
increases in the earth’s temperature, and the slight deviations in seasonal norms (such as experiencing torrential
rains in periods of dry seasons) according to science are the manifestations of the unregulated release of
hazardous carbons into the atmosphere beyond the natural intake of the environment.
What do we do then?
It is of an obligation, now not a social responsibility for businesses to respond to the drums being beaten by
ecologists, scientist, activists, and analysts of the climate data to as a matter of urgency, drastically reduce the
amount of harmful waste produced and released into the environment if we want to live for the next two or three
decades or under lesser severe environmental conditions nothing like we see today. But highly recommended
we adopt more environmentally friendly (greener) ways of producing same or similar items.
It is not enough to reduce the amount of waste pumped into our environment; the damage has to be reversed.
The tree planting programme initiated by the government of Ghana to plant as many trees as possible as a way
to reduce the sap up the carbon content in the atmosphere, is one the cost-effective methods of healing our
environment. However, a proper regulation to monitor and control the amount of waste from manufacturing
companies into our water bodies and into the atmosphere would be an excellent and proactive approach to
curbing the damage we are doing to our environment. Also, in the government’s response to attaining
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 by 2030, it has initiated some robust initiatives through donor funds to
mitigate the health and environmental hazards caused by burning fuel. By this the government purports to
embark on an operation “operation 3 million” cookstoves to be distributed nationwide. This a laudable idea that
deserves recommendation, however, it should be considered that emissions are not caused by cookstoves but
by the type of fuels being used and that should be the central drive of the programme.
Firms and corporations have major and critical roles to play when it comes to mending the inter-dependence
relationship between businesses and the environment. As said earlier, it is now a matter of urgency to drastically
reduce waste and adopt more greener alternatives in production. Firms like ECL which has grown an appetite for
storing files and documents in hard formats despite numerous recommendations to adopt more digital formats
should now adopt as their greener system of production cut down on dealing in papers since more paper only
results in more trees being cut. Also, to reduce the amount of harmful carbons such as Chlorofluorocarbons in
the atmosphere, firms should adopt the consciousness of disposing off electrical gadgets that have exhausted
their environmentally useful lives.
Like Greta Thunberg, we owe it to ourselves as personal responsibilities to play out part in protecting what
nature has created to care care of us and that is what we owe each other. I know now perhaps more than before
the impact I can solely make to make my environment a better place to be and that is what I’ll be committed to.
can possibly pass on to a child as a way to engrain in him the responsibility to take good care of his environment
as it does vice versa. Man and nature have been created in such ways that the dependability on each other plays
significance roles in the sustenance of each other. However, some activities of the former since the industrial era
seems to pose some humourless threats to the survival of human now and beyond. This crisis erupts a rather
interesting rhetoric, “are we destroying the future generation’s ability to meet their needs in the pursuit of meeting
ours?”
In our pursuit to make the world a better place to live, it is equally important to note also that for every fossil fuel
burnt, for every chemical reaction to create what we so desire, there is a release of excess carbons into the
atmosphere which in diverse ways impact the very environment which man depends on. Industrialisation can be
accredited as the major contributor of pollution and climate changes all around the world today. Rise in sea
levels caused by the increase in melting rate of ice in the cold regions, wildfires and droughts caused by
increases in the earth’s temperature, and the slight deviations in seasonal norms (such as experiencing torrential
rains in periods of dry seasons) according to science are the manifestations of the unregulated release of
hazardous carbons into the atmosphere beyond the natural intake of the environment.
What do we do then?
It is of an obligation, now not a social responsibility for businesses to respond to the drums being beaten by
ecologists, scientist, activists, and analysts of the climate data to as a matter of urgency, drastically reduce the
amount of harmful waste produced and released into the environment if we want to live for the next two or three
decades or under lesser severe environmental conditions nothing like we see today. But highly recommended
we adopt more environmentally friendly (greener) ways of producing same or similar items.
It is not enough to reduce the amount of waste pumped into our environment; the damage has to be reversed.
The tree planting programme initiated by the government of Ghana to plant as many trees as possible as a way
to reduce the sap up the carbon content in the atmosphere, is one the cost-effective methods of healing our
environment. However, a proper regulation to monitor and control the amount of waste from manufacturing
companies into our water bodies and into the atmosphere would be an excellent and proactive approach to
curbing the damage we are doing to our environment. Also, in the government’s response to attaining
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 by 2030, it has initiated some robust initiatives through donor funds to
mitigate the health and environmental hazards caused by burning fuel. By this the government purports to
embark on an operation “operation 3 million” cookstoves to be distributed nationwide. This a laudable idea that
deserves recommendation, however, it should be considered that emissions are not caused by cookstoves but
by the type of fuels being used and that should be the central drive of the programme.
Firms and corporations have major and critical roles to play when it comes to mending the inter-dependence
relationship between businesses and the environment. As said earlier, it is now a matter of urgency to drastically
reduce waste and adopt more greener alternatives in production. Firms like ECL which has grown an appetite for
storing files and documents in hard formats despite numerous recommendations to adopt more digital formats
should now adopt as their greener system of production cut down on dealing in papers since more paper only
results in more trees being cut. Also, to reduce the amount of harmful carbons such as Chlorofluorocarbons in
the atmosphere, firms should adopt the consciousness of disposing off electrical gadgets that have exhausted
their environmentally useful lives.
Like Greta Thunberg, we owe it to ourselves as personal responsibilities to play out part in protecting what
nature has created to care care of us and that is what we owe each other. I know now perhaps more than before
the impact I can solely make to make my environment a better place to be and that is what I’ll be committed to.
February 14, 2008
This book provides some very interesting essays, interviews, and case studies. Unfortunately, it is just veering on being out of date. Still it is worth a read. The interview with Robert Shapiro the CEO of Monsanto is particularly informative. Monsanto has received criticism for some of its sustainable practices that may not be so sustainable. It is interesting to read Monsanto's perspective.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews