Environmental Biology
One of the most often-debated topics regarding sustainability is the relationship between economy and ecology. Traditional business philosophies often pit economic success against environmental goals, resulting in stalemates and perceived compromises. Essentially, the conventional wisdom was that environmental goals required financial sacrifice. Today, some business schools, such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, have embraced a business philosophy that no longer puts economic and environmental considerations at odds. Kenan-Flagler uses the term “Triple Bottom Line” to label this approach of environmental and economic sustainability as complementary goals.
Here is another business school that promotes this concept, and defines it in this article:
http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2011/spring/article2.html (Links to an external site.)
Although business philosophies have evolved, there is still considerable debate regarding whether prioritizing environmental goals is always good for the economy. After reviewing your knowledge of the laws of thermodynamics and the definition of sustainability, read the following landmark article on the topic:
Economics and Ecology: The Need for Detente in Conservation Ecology
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol2/iss1/art4/ (Links to an external site.)
In addition, there is a good argument that the problem is not really about opposing views, but rather an error in accounting. For example, it is extremely difficult to place a value on clean air, and if we could, on who’s balance sheet would it reside? Traditionally, for those items that are difficult to value, we have not placed any accounting value on them at all, causing us to ignore costs that truly are realized, and leading business to false accounting profits and unsustainable practices.
For this debate, you will be assigned one of the following two positions:
Position #1 – If your last name begins with A-H: Sound economic policy is not at odds with environmental policy. (What is good for the environment is good for the economy.) Title your post: Pro_ your name.
Your assignment is to make two posts on the Module Eight – Debate discussion forum as follows:
Make a post defending your assigned position, using sound science, data, and references from your reading, other assignments, or research. Your post must also address the problem of accounting for environmental costs and determining the value of environmental capital.
Maintaining the same position, post at least one rebuttal to a fellow student’s post. A rebuttal means that you take the opposite side of the argument, so if you are assigned the position that sound economic policy is not at odds with the environment, you will respond with a rebuttal to a classmate who was assigned the position that achieving environmental goals comes at the expense of the economy.
Grading
Your assignment will be graded based on the rubric for discussion assignments. This can be found in the Course Informationsection. For a top score, you will need to make a total of at least two posts, each of which incorporates terminology, examples, data, or concepts from other activities and reading.
