1. 2.5 Societal Environmental Ethics
Western societies have long acted as if the earth has:
Unlimited reserves of natural resources.
An unlimited ability to assimilate wastes.
A limitless ability to accommodate unchecked growth.
Until the last quarter of the 20th century, economic growth and resource exploitation were the dominant orientations toward the natural environment in industrialized societies.
Things have now started to change.

2. 2. 6 Corporate Environmental Ethics
Corporations are legal entities designed to operate at a profit.
Although a corporation’s primary purpose is to generate a financial return for its shareholders, this does not mean that a corporation has no ethical obligations to the public or to the environment.
Shareholders can demand that their directors run the corporation ethically.

3. Waste and Pollution
The cost of controlling waste can be very important in determining a company’s profit margin.
Ethics are involved when a corporation cuts corners in production quality or waste disposal to maximize profit without regard for public or environmental well-being.

4. 2.6 Corporate Environmental Ethics
Because stockholders expect a return on an investment, corporations can be drawn toward making decisions based on short-term profitability rather than long- term benefit to the environment or society.

5. Is There a Corporate Environmental Ethic?
Actions such as dumping waste in a river rather than installing a wastewater treatment facility or using expensive filters externalize the costs of doing business so that the public, rather than the corporation, pays those costs.
Greenwashing is a form of corporate misinformation where a company will present a green public image and publicize green initiatives that are false and misleading.

6. Is There a Corporate Environmental Ethic?
Corporations face real choices between using environmentally friendly or harmful production processes, and are facing more pressure to adopt more environmentally and socially responsible practices.
ISO 14000
CERES Principles
GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Guidelines

7. Green Business Concepts
It makes little sense to preserve the environment if preservation causes economic collapse.
Natural capitalism is the idea that businesses can both expand their profits and take good care of the environment.
The 3M Company is estimated to have saved up to $500 million over the last 20 years through its Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program.

8. Green Business Concepts
Industrial ecology links industrial production and environmental quality.
It models industrial production and biological production, forcing industry to account for where waste is going.
In nature, nothing is wasted or discarded; all materials ultimately get reused.
A pollutant is a resource out of place.
Good environmental practices are good economics.

9. Green Business Concepts
The triple bottom line has been referred to as the ethical criteria for business success.
It includes social, environmental, and financial concerns.
Profit
Planet
People