The Power and the Promise of Ecological Feminism" by Karen Warren argues that "the promise and power of ecological feminism is that it provides a distinctive framework both for reconceiving feminism and for developing an environmental ethic which takes seriously connections between the domination of women and the domination of nature." (Warren) The book begins by explaining oppressive patriarchal conceptual frameworks and the effect that they have on the dominance of nature and women
It can take many forms, depending on the nature and robustness of the conditions (eco-villages, cities, reappraisals of economic sectors, work practices, etc.) -- all with the idea of using new technologies to adjust with the environment instead of against it (Adams, 2006)
Some also view the social responsibility of business as that of creating profits for stakeholders, which in turn, trickles down into various other aspects of the local, regional and national community. The more people employed, for instance, the healthier the economic outlook for a particular economic situation (Friedman, 1970)
The framework of Gladwell's paradigm comes from the manner in which epidemics seem to "explode" -- almost a chaos theory of the way social epidemics evolve. Gladwell discusses three rules that he states are necessary in creating a tipping point or epidemic: the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and The Power of Context (Gladwell, 2002)
This also led to huge industrial, technological and scientific changes that continues to the present. For instance, from 1750 to 1850 the global population doubled from a relatively sustainable 500 million to over 1 billion people (Goudie, 2005) Concerns about the environmental and social impacts of industry were expressed by some Enlightenment political economists and through the Romantic movement of the 1800s
Instead, a sustainable template would develop resources appropriately and teach the populations to conserve or utilize the available resource base for adjusted needs. Modern societies, therefore, need to manage economic, social and natural capital in order to survive, thus: Consumption of Renewable Resources State of the Environment Sustainability More than Nature's ability to replenish Environmental Degradation Not Sustainable Equal to Nature's ability to replenish Environmental Equilibrium Steady State Economy Less than Nature's ability to replenish Environmental Renewal Environmentally Sustainable (Hart, 2007) One of the practical aspects of modern sustainability, Green Building is also known as green construction or sustainable building
In turn, this complexity is driven by an increasing understanding of sustainability, going "green," and bringing ethical and moral philosophy into the business community. British Telecom, for instance, noted in 2007 that it had reduced its carbon footprint by 60% since 1996, setting itself a target of 80% reductions by 2016 (Hawser, 2007)
There is real power in being able to look outside the black and white into the world of the grey -- but it changes one's perspective of everything. Once one goes down that road, there is no turning back (Horibe, 2001)
" In fact, it is this divergence between the developed and developing worlds that tend to cause the most consternation with CSR -- the developed world has already had three centuries of industrialization to arrive at their current position, yet wishes the developing world to follow not their rules, but the global explitives placed upon immigrant populations. This tends to cause cognitive dysfunction between the first and third worlds (Horrigan, 2010)
Nevertheless, the manner in which CSR is affected by Internet Research, advertising, and as a fundamental privacy issue is huge. From an ethical point-of-view, then, one must ask how the Internet and subsequent technologies must be used in order to keep in line with the basic principle of CSR (Jonker & De Witte (eds
For much of the world, though, ecological economics now seeks to close the gap between ecology and more traditional economics. This, however, requires societies in all parts of the world to commit to recycling, lessening of their carbon footprints and, at the very least, more attention and investment in green energy and building processes (Kay, 2002)
CSR interacts dimensionally with convergent levels of the environment; physical, social, consumer, and employees, really -- all stakeholders in the organization's milieu. It is most certainly not country or region specific, although there is some strife between the developed and developing world over the issue since the developing world believes it is unfair to hold them to the same standards when the developed world has had hundreds of years after industrialization to prepare, make errors, and atone (Koestoer 2008)
The basis of CSR is doing what is right -- in the public interest while still maintaining corporate growth and profitability. In a way, this harkens back to the Social Contract theories of Rousseau and Locke -- if one does what is right for the individual, then society, one will profit as an organization (Kotler and Lee, 2005)
Third, the benefits and costs include those that happen now and those that happen in the future; future benefits and costs must be discounted to present value. Fourth, to be considered ethical, it is not enough that the action does more good than harm; the action must do the most good and the least harm to be judged ethical (MacIntyre, 2006)
It would not make sense to trade abroad if there were no advantages -- be that tax incentives, greater profits, less regulation, different prices for workers, etc. Companies do need to keep in mind that customs and laws are different in each different company, but remain staunch in their desire to relocate in areas where the labor is inexpensive and laws are less restrictive (Mayfield, 2003)
In addition, new work structures, increased automation where appropriate, statistical quality control training and implementation on a regular basis are all part of the new capitalist equation. However, if the basic attitude about Capitalism 101 -- the delivery of high quality goods and services for profit -- is not met, all will be for naught (McCraw, 1998; Lovins, Lovins and Hawkin, 2007)
Proponents to the idea argue that corporations make far more in long-term proift by operating within a global CSR perspective, allowing for stakeholders to believe that any number of moral and ethical principles are part of the business operation. Too, this idea is tied to the development of business ethics which became particularly visible in the post-1980 world of increased attention to sustainability and the greening of the planet (Pennings, et
. A surge in the human enterprise that has emphatically stamped humanity as a global geophysical force" (Robin, 2008)
This, of course, is an ideal, and it may take years or even decades to reach that ideal. This author's point, though, is to move towards this in incremental steps but with a broad, overall vision that includes sustainability as its final goal (Townsend, 2006)
For example, one of the first major "paradigm shifts" occurred in 1973 and 1979 with the global energy crisis based on an overdependence on oil. A political and cultural schism developed; the richer, developed countries now wanted to regulate growth and environmental issues while the developing world, largely due to population dissatisfaction, needed to rapidly modernize, at whatever environmental cost (Turner, 2008)