Assignment 2 – MGT305 – Business Ethics & Social Responsibility – April 12th 2019

Contents
I. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 2
II. The dimensions of resource depletion and the ethics of conserving depletable resources ....... 2
III. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 7
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................. 9

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 Assignment 2 – MGT305 – Business Ethics & Social Responsibility – April 12th 2019

I. Introduction
Modern industry is a double-edged sword that creates unparalleled prosperity for us but
also creates threats to environmental pollution and resource depletion. Promoting the
industrialization of the world, the global economy has doubled in size since 1950. In the ten
years since 1985-1995 the world economy has grown more since the beginning of civilization
until 1950. The problem of population explosion has led to a spike in demand for natural
resources and cause such phenomena: forest narrowed, soil erosion, some species disappear,
global warming, etc.

A human society is facing exhausting resources between the process of waste

accumulation and the deteriorating environment. Today the Earth is running out of resources.
Fossil fuels are an example: once consumed, they cannot be recycled or reused. Other depletable
resources may take a long time to regenerate. They include whole ecosystems like tropical
rainforests, along with their biodiversity; topsoil; and growing old forests. Pollution of resources
that they cannot use is also a kind of exhaustion, so we can treat clean water and clean air as
depletable resources. Finally, we can deplete resources that are not really destroyed, like metals,
by turning them into products.

II. The dimensions of resource depletion and the ethics of conserving

depletable resources
Shortage of resources involves the consumption of finite or scarce resources. Pollution
involves unwanted environmental pollution by the production or use of goods, since air, water or
soil pollution reduces their beneficial qualities, pollution can be seen as “a kind of resource
exhaustion”.

• Depletion of Species and Habitats

The main cause of species extinction is pollution and deforestation. It is estimated that
between 15 and 20% of species on earth are at risk of extinction in the near future. Due to
changes in animal living conditions due to overexploitation of resources and habitat degradation,

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 Assignment 2 – MGT305 – Business Ethics & Social Responsibility – April 12th 2019

some species may become extinct. Actions such as overfishing and similar pollution have led to
a drastic reduction in the number of marine species such as tuna.

Deforestation is cutting or burning trees and trees in forested areas. Due to deforestation,
currently about half of the forest that once covered the Earth has been destroyed. It happens for
many different reasons, and it has some negative impacts on the atmosphere and quality of soil in
and around the forest. As the population of developing regions, especially near the tropical
rainforest increased, the demand for land for cultivation is becoming increasingly important.

Due to extensive deforestation, it has created a number of significant impacts on the

environment, including carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, changing water cycles, increasing soil
erosion and reducing biodiversity. Deforestation is often cited as a contribution to global
warming. Because trees & plants remove carbon dioxide and oxygen into the atmosphere,
reducing forests contributes about 12% of man-made carbon dioxide emissions. One of the most
pressing problems that deforestation creates is soil erosion. Cutting trees causes a higher erosion
rate, increasing the risk of landslides, which is a direct threat to many people living near
deforested areas. It is estimated that 80% of the world's biodiversity is known in tropical
rainforests and the destruction of these tropical forests is accelerating extinction at an alarming
rate.

Programs to check against deforestation such as REDD (Reducing emissions from

deforestation and forest degradation) created by the World Bank and the United Nations are
initiatives that can help reduce the depletion of natural resources. Initiatives can also play a role
in encouraging the public to conserve forests as this is the habitat and protection of some unique
animals and plants in the world. Sustainable programs aimed at educating people about the
importance of conservation of natural resources should also be issued as a way to focus on long-
term risks related to environmental degradation
.
• Depletion of Fossil Fuels
The most important fossil fuel is oil & natural gas & coal. These carbonate fuels provide
energy to keep power plants, trains, and home furnaces and cars running.

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 Assignment 2 – MGT305 – Business Ethics & Social Responsibility – April 12th 2019

But these non-renewable underground energy sources are being depleted. Of the three
types of fossil fuels, oil is the most important source. Today, the world consumes 85.2 million
barrels of oil a day. By 2020, this amount is expected to increase by 60 percent. In contrast, coal
is a rich fossil fuel and more widely distributed. Like oil, coal burning is also increasing. Since
1950, coal consumption has more than doubled. With current consumption, the coal supply is
expected to last 200 years or more.

We can solve the exhaustion of fossil fuels in two main ways. The first is to fully
research technological solutions that can reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed to provide a
certain amount of material or energy. Or use alternative energy technologies that do not rely on
fossil fuels (including solar heat, solar power, wind power, tidal energy, nuclear energy, etc.).
Although there are many potential environmental consequences from any energy source, it is
possible to model alternatives and determine which direction causes the least harm to the
environment.

• Depletion of Minerals
Minerals are needed to provide food, clothing and housing. A study by the US Geological
Survey (USGS) found a significant long-term trend in the 20th century for non-renewable
resources such as minerals to provide a greater proportion of raw materials for the non-fuel and
non-food industries, an example is the consumption of many crushed stones, sand and gravel
used in construction. There has been an increase in the extraction of minerals such as
phosphorus, gasoline, copper and zinc among others to maintain seven billion people on earth.
Research by the Global Phosphorus Research Institute, for example, shows that the earth can run
out of phosphorus - an essential element for plant growth, in the next 50 to 100 years. Studies by
the US Geological Survey also show that there is an increase in the consumption of non-
renewable resources of natural minerals and construction materials such as copper, sand, gravel
and stone.

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 Assignment 2 – MGT305 – Business Ethics & Social Responsibility – April 12th 2019

Conservation refers to the saving or distribution of natural resources for subsequent uses.
With a high population density worldwide, it is difficult to prevent people from depleting
resources. Most of us tend to ignore the rational use of our resources and how we should
preserve it for future generations. Children also have the right to limited resources, so it is the
right thing to take responsibility for them.

Resource exhaustion occurs when all natural resources in an area, both renewable and
non-renewable, are exhausted. People are currently using resources much faster than they can be
added. A good example of resource depletion is the increasing use of petroleum, which is a
limited resource that takes millions of years to create. At the rate at which we are running out of
fuel, we can face exhaustion in the next five generations. With an increasing population and land
degradation, we are also facing the situation that Earth can no longer feed a large number of
people on the planet.

If we are not responsible for preserving our resources then future generations will suffer.
We should encourage others to become innovators to promote sustainable development. We
should expand the idea of how resources should be used more and be preserved at the same time.
The exhaustion of most scarce resources lies in future fears and the effects of their exhaustion
will be felt primarily by posterity and not by the current generation. A concern about resource
exhaustion is primarily a concern for future generations and for the benefits that will be available
to them. Conservation is more applied to resource issues than pollution reduction.

In destroying or consuming exhausted resources, we are limiting the way our children
live. By living in an unsustainable society, we basically decide that our desires today go far
beyond the needs of future generations. This is obviously unethical. On the other hand: a person
who decides to consume less will not make much difference: instead, we have to make choices
that contribute to lower energy consumption in the long term.

John Rawls argues that although it is unfair to impose heavy burdens on future
generations for the benefit of the future, it is also unfair for the present generation to protect the
future. We should wonder what we can expect reasonably they might want and, put themselves

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in their shoes, leaving what we want them to leave us. In short, justice requires us to give back to
our children a world in a situation not worse than we have received. Some users argue that the
morality needed to reduce future consequences is based on uncertainty and their distance to the
future. Therefore, we are obviously obliged not to perform actions that are almost certainly
harmful to the development of tomorrow. However, since we can be less certain that the effects
of our actions will go to distant generations, our responsibility for them is somewhat reduced.
However, we cannot rely on market mechanisms to ensure adequate conservation for future
generations. The demand of future generations is greatly reduced by markets where they hardly
affect prices.
Six reasons conspire to bring this about:
➢ Multiple accesses: If a number of separate extractors can use one resource, shared access
will always result in resources being exhausted too quickly. Just like some people have
milk straws, each of their own preferences takes it out as quickly as possible.
➢ Time and nearsighted preferences: Companies often have short periods of time under the
stress of commercial competition. This may represent the legitimate interests of future
generations.
➢ Incomplete forecasting: Existing users may simply not foresee future development. This
may reflect a lack of adequate research interest and the ability to recognize future
changes.
➢ Special effects: Specific taxes and other incentive devices may encourage resource use
too quickly.
➢ External impact: There are important external impacts in the use of multiple resources, so
that private users ignore large levels of pollution and other external costs.
➢ Distribution: Finally, private market decisions are based on the existing distribution of
wealth and income. When users use their dollar voting resources, market demand will
reflect more strongly the interests and interests of the rich.

Many observers believe that conservation measures are missing what is needed. Some
even maintain that future generations will have a much lower quality of life than ours.
Industrialized countries will need to shift from growth-oriented technologies to more labor-
intensive technologies. In fact, our entire economic system may have to abandon its goal of

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 Assignment 2 – MGT305 – Business Ethics & Social Responsibility – April 12th 2019

increasing production steadily: continuous economic growth promises to reduce the quality of
life for future generations. This is because demand for depleted resources will continue to
increase until the resource is simply depleted. After that, the standard of living will fall sharply.

At the present time, the United States consumes more energy than any other country
outside of China and per capita consumes five times more energy than China, despite a much
smaller population. The fact that America consumes too much energy means that developing
countries may in fact never be able to achieve the level of development of other industrial
countries. If energy consumption continues to increase, energy costs may prevent developing
countries from industrializing in the future. In other words, our choices can now affect other
countries for generations and people in those countries may never be able to achieve the same
standard of living as in industrialized modern countries.

When our energy supply decreases, other ethical concerns are raised. Some people
seriously question whether high consumption countries like us can be used for our own purposes
for the world's irreplaceable resources that other countries are too weak or Save to use
themselves. In 1999, gasoline prices were the lowest in more than two decades, with large
reserves of oil stored by governments and corporations. Many other commodity prices are also
very low. Today's facts are very different from the warnings issued in the early 1970s on a
worldwide environmental crisis and resource shortage.

III. Conclusion
Most people are not interested in what happens next, as long as they benefit from a
certain resource. Most companies will not hesitate to earn the best profits from those resources
regardless of the damage that can be caused to our planet and to future generations. Most of us
are selfish and self-centered, the way we don't care about what others can feel or think from our
actions. For too many communities, the cost of resource depletion is much greater than the
benefit. Accumulated damage daily recklessly will hurt our environment where future
generations do not know how they will survive when experiencing the worst from exhausting

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 Assignment 2 – MGT305 – Business Ethics & Social Responsibility – April 12th 2019

resources. It causes tragic civil war between nations, leading to higher crime rates, facilitating
the spread of disease and threatening indigenous cultures. All cannot help the local community
escape poverty. Each of us has a responsibility to contribute to the needs of a successful
community. As an individual, we can support people's lives by doing simple things to maintain
our resources. Together we can save lives and prevent that emptiness in our planet.

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Bibliography
Adrian. (2015, October 7). The Ethics of Conserving Depletable Resources. Retrieved April 12, 2019,
from Adrian's Journal: http://adriandelfin.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-ethics-of-conserving-
depletable.html

Fossil fuel depletion. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2019, from Sustainable Minds:
https://app.sustainableminds.com/learning-center/methodology/fossil-fuel-depletion

Resource depletion. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2019, from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_depletion

Rinkesh. (n.d.). What is Depletion of Natural Resources? Retrieved April 12, 2019, from Conserve
Energy Future: https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-depletion-
natural-resources.php

Swartz, S., & Oster, S. (2010, July 2018). China Tops U.S. in Energy Use. Retrieved April 12, 2019, from
The Wall Street Journal:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703720504575376712353150310