Environmental ethics refers to a particular discipline of philosophy that deals with the moral values and principles of human beings to the moral values & status of the environment and another non-human factor. In other words, environmental ethics is concerned with the relationship between human beings and the environment & the way ethics play a crucial role in the same. Environmental ethics is a part of applied philosophy and believes that human beings are a vital part of the society including animals, plants and other living creatures. Thus, it is the responsibility of human beings to ensure environmental sustainability.

Role of Key Stakeholders

Here, it is important to note that engineers, corporations, government and the local community each have respective role to play towards environmental ethics. These are discussed below:

Engineers:

Engineers are mainly responsible for identifying scopes and developing innovative ideas that could help in environmental sustainability. For example, an engineering company approached Transfield, a leading construction in Australia with a proposal to develop an alternative car tunnel for crossing the Sydney harbor. The Sydney harbor bridge experiences huge traffic congestion and that the tunnel would offer an alternative route between City Business District and North Sydney. Later on, Transfield joined Kumagai Gumi, a Japanese firm to develop the tunnel. Considerable support was also received from the Australian government in this regard. The tunnel is not only useful in reducing congestion but also helps in lowering both air and noise pollution at the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Thus, engineers need to keep environmental interest above the personal interests.

Corporations:

Corporations operate for making profit. However, the functioning of corporations have several harmful impacts on the local environment. It is the responsibility of the corporations to consider environmental ethics as a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and act in a responsible manner to ensure environmental sustainability. For example, Tesco, one of the leading retailers in the UK adopts various practices to protect the environment. The company has a practice to clearly mention the level of carbon footprints on every package of its products to make customers aware of the same. Tesco also has a set of standard code of business for its suppliers and the suppliers are mandatorily required to adhere to same. The code of conduct ensures that the materials used by the suppliers are environmental friendly. Similarly, Tesco reveals its initiatives towards environmental sustainability in its annual reports and that the company has a unique waste management system to dispose its industrial waste.

Government:

Environmental laws are usually developed, modified and implemented by the government. It would not be inappropriate to state that environmental laws play a crucial role in making corporations and people responsible towards the environment. Government is a statutory body and has the power to take legal actions against any corporation found to be acting in an irresponsible way towards the environment. For example, government can impose various fines, penalties and cancelling of licenses to prevent corporations & people from acting in a way that harms the environment. On the other hand, mere focus on environmental laws might not help rather the government can introduce various subsidies & exemptions for corporations showing high responsibility and concern towards the environment. Thus, government plays a crucial role in maintaining environmental ethics.

Local community:

Local community refers to the group of people residing in a society within a particular area. The people have both interest and power towards environmental sustainability. The industrial wastes generated through operations of a company affects the lives of the local people. Thus, the interest and power of the local people in respect of environmental sustainability are always high. In fact, local community can also play a crucial role in maintaining environmental sustainability. For example, the Indian government under the leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi has initiated a campaign named as “Swach Bharat” meaning a “Clean India”. As a part of the campaign, local community are encouraged to keep the roads, streets and other areas clean for the benefit of themselves and others. On the other hand, a local community in the Brisbane of Australia had protested against the huge volume of industrial waste that was generated by a local textile manufacturing concern and took the case to the court. Later on, the company was made bound to resort to advanced techniques to deal with industrial waste. Here, it is important to understand that local community plays a pivotal role in environmental ethics. In fact, people need to take the responsibility of their own behavior first and impact of the same on the environment.