Unit 20 LO4: understanding ethical concerns that face a community
An ethical concern is one which requires firms and individuals to choose between alternatives based on morality and integrity, businesses have to face many ethical concerns such as environmental concerns, production concerns, employment concerns such as job insecurity and whistleblowing. These factors need to be taken into account during the production process as resources are used and pollution is created. The several types of pollution are air pollution, sound pollution, water pollution etc.
An environmental concern that may face a company is the growth of their carbon footprint. Their carbon footprint is the amount of pollution that the company produces that affects the world and the company’s prestige. With the companies prestige being affected they can experience growing attacks from the public and media speculation and investigations would most likely increase. Also with the growth of their footprint it could lead to less government funding if any is given in the first place. Also if a business uses too much of a product there may not be enough of it for future generations to use too help tackle the growing problems of climate change and the excessive amount of pollution generated. There are several different types of pollution that can affect a company such as air pollution, water pollution and light pollution.
Air pollution is defined as any contamination of the atmosphere that disturbs the normal behaviour of the air. This can be in the form of excessive gases such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide or other vapours being released into the air. These vapours cannot be removed from the air and the most harmful common types of gases that affect the air are carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Air pollution does not just come from excess gases being released into the air; it comes in other forms such as vehicle or manufacturing exhaust fumes, forest fires and the smoke that is released, volcanic eruptions for the same reason, dry soil erosion as soil particles can create dust storms and other natural sources. As well as this building construction or demolition can also help pollute the air. Depending on the concentration of air pollutants, several effects can be noticed. The most obvious is smog. This can cause other factors such as heavier rain acidity, inadequate oxygen levels and crop depletion as well as health worries such as an increase in asthma. Air pollution is also considered to be the number one cause for air pollution and the constant threat to the o-zone layer.
Another type of pollution is water pollution. Water pollution is the act of contaminating any body of water. This can happen in many ways, the first being from chemical, particle or bacteria matter that degrades the waters quality and purity. Water pollution can occur in the ocean, rivers, lakes and underground reservations and as water sources link together the flow of pollution increases and spreads. The causes of water pollution are not just from chemical waste, they are also from increased sediment form soil erosion, improper waste disposal and littering of bodies of water, leaching of soil pollution into water supplies and organic material decay in water supplies and other material being disposed in water supplies in water such as metal and wood which can cause harm to the natural habitants of the water which can lead to pollution from decay. The effects of water pollution include decreasing the quantity of drinking water available, lowering water supplies for crop irrigation and impacting fish and wildlife populations (this can lead to pollution from decay) that require water of certain purity for survival. This then leads to a decrease in the number of several different types of fish and other animals and leads to environmental worry from pressure groups and other organisations.
A third type of pollution would be light pollution. Light pollution is the over illumination of