Ethics Theory
and
Business Practice
9.3 Environmental Ethics – Part Three
Some Comprehensive Approaches to
Environmental Sustainability
aim
• to introduce the notion that developing a
more sustainable relationship with the
environment may demand a rethink of
prevailing social and economic structures
is sustainability achievable within
existing economic structures?
contrasting
shallow ecology
to
deep ecology
(Nӕss, 1973, 2010/2008)
shallow ecology
• primarily concerned with the health and
affluence of people in developed countries
• sees pollution and resource depletion as barriers
to achieving this objective
• environmental policies therefore focus on issues
such as recycling and developing alternative
energy sources
• so as to maintain the lifestyles to which those in
the developed world have become accustomed,
whilst minimizing environmental harm
deep ecology
• like shallow ecology, concerned about pollution
and resource depletion
• but proposes that these issues cannot be
addressed without altering the lifestyles that
shallow ecology seeks to preserve
• sees attitudes that pervade contemporary society
as inherently unsupportive of sustainability
• particularly those attitudes manifested in
prevailing economic structures
three particular features that hinder
sustainability
1. consumer culture
2. logic of domination
3. denial of proximity
1. consumer culture
production and consumption of goods:
• ensures that human needs are met
• also a key source of personal identity and social
status
• and a key indicator of national well-being
but
• the more we consume, the more resources we
use up, and the more waste we produce in
making stuff and disposing of the stuff that we no
longer want
shallow ecology encourages us to enhance the
efficiency of production and to dispose of the
associated waste in less-polluting ways
deep ecology encourages us to explore
alternative lifestyles and alternative value
systems that do not place so much emphasis on
the production and consumption of goods
business and consumer culture
• contemporary business is heavily implicated in
encouraging the consumption of products
• is this the way it has to be?
• or are there other ways of arranging economic
activity?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrTElMJGXTE
2. logic of domination
• to develop a more sustainable relationship with
nature, we should stop trying to dominate it
• instead, we should acknowledge our
interdependency with the natural environment
and establish respectful coexistence with it
• however, establishing a mutually respectful,
harmonious relationship with nature is hard
when we do not even live in mutually respectful
harmony with other humans
the logic of domination and human
relationships
• a hierarchical response to difference
• things cannot just be different; they have to be better
or worse
• which justifies the better dominating the worse
• for example:
– differences between men and women justifying
gender-based domination
– differences between personal characteristics justifying
socio-economic domination
– differences between cultures justifying domination in
international relations
• and the difference between humans and nature
justifying human domination of nature
unravelling the logic of
domination in human
relations
unravelling the logic of
domination in
environmental
relations
the logic of domination in business
• macho myths and metaphors
• metaphors that portray organizations in
political terms and which encourage
businesspeople and their stakeholders to
jostle for supremacy in hierarchical systems of
control
(Solomon, 1992; Morgan, 1998)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e52dOCxWXiw
unravelling the logic of
domination in business
relations
unravelling the
domination of the
environment by
business
3. denial of proximity
• the importance of proximity, or closeness, to
ethical sensitivity
• in human relations
• and in environmental relations
• the increasing geographic dispersal of businesses
• thus, corporate decision makers are denied
proximity to the environmental implications of
their decisions
www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/forests/ancientforest-destruction-video
some implications for business
businesses seem deeply implicated in the reproduction of
consumer culture
the desirability of exploring different ways of
arranging the provision of goods and services
hierarchical structures and the logic of domination seem
firmly entrenched in contemporary business
the merits of business structures and business
cultures that are not based around hierarchy and
domination, in which business stakeholders can
interact in a spirit of mutual cooperation
the business environment is increasingly dominated by vast,
global corporations, with whom local businesses compete
at a significant disadvantage
the advantages of political and economic measures
which might help local businesses to resist the
predatory avarice of global corporations
theory in practice
the hamburger connection
key points
• a sustainable relationship with the environment
seems to demand a radical rethink of some of the
priorities and practices of contemporary society
• this has particular resonance for business, which
is deeply implicated in the consumer culture, the
logic of domination, and the denial of proximity
that hold us back from developing a more
harmonious relationship with the natural world
• an environmentally responsive approach to
business therefore demands exploration of ways
of doing business in which these themes are not
so pervasive
references
Morgan, G. (1998) Images of Organization (The
Executive Edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Nӕss, A. (2010/2008) ‘The Shallow and the Deep
Ecology Movement’, in D.R. Keller (ed.),
Environmental Ethics: The Big Questions.
Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. pp. 230–35.
Nӕss, A. (1973) ‘The shallow and the deep, longrange ecology movement. A summary’, Inquiry,
16/1: 95–100.
Solomon, R.C. (1992) Ethics and Excellence:
Cooperation and Integrity in Business. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.