The Science of Sustainability
Completion requirements
Common sense tells us that air, water, food, and shelter are fundamental to the survival of humans and businesses. However, the pathway to healthily integrating the two remains a challenge. Read this chapter to explore the important interrelationships between the environment, society, and economics and their importance to sustainable business. What are the merits of both views of economics with limits versus no limits to growth? How do businesses and individuals threaten ecosystems and the environment? What roles can businesses play in addressing environmental challenges as well as the limitations?
2.3 Human Activity Impacts on Ecosystems
Exercises
- Find articles that link businesses with each type of the ecosystem-threatening activities discussed in this chapter. Discuss how the business activity either contributed to the threat or helped mitigate the threat.
- In class, role play the following scenario: A mining company has discovered a large deposit of oil in a pristine area of South America that features high biodiversity. A native village currently lives on the site of the discovery. Try to reach consensus on what should be done. Groups in the exercise include (1) the mining company who wants to extract the oil, (2) the native villagers who do not use oil currently, (3) the scientists researching the biodiversity of the area, and (4) the construction company in the closest city that would build the oil infrastructure if the mining company can move forward with the project and who would employ three hundred local workers.