In 2020 world will reach its oil peak and start declining. As oil production declines the world’s population’s carrying capacity will continue exceeding which will cause to more energy consumption and food sources will become possible energy sources for example corn being turned to ethanol. In this case giant corporations have the biggest responsibility. They should drop their ambition of making profit to raising awareness among citizens. Besides that they have encourage citizens to consume renewable energy sources and most importantly they have to change their capitalist vision.
Capitalism, an economical system that is based on making the most profit with least cost. It is the official term for being greedy and it also the main reason why there are environmental changes such as global warming. Oil companies who are competing for new reserves , technology companies that use minerals and automotive firms that produce SUV’s that consume a great amount of gasoline are just an example of capitalism and capitalist companies. Capitalism affects both ends of the supply-demand relationship. As suppliers produce merchandise of great quantity this affects the customer to get accustomed to a lifestyle of prosperity , consumption of energy sources and waste. As good as it sounds the side effects of such lifestyle has devastating effects on earth. Since the fundamentals of economics rely on capitalism a possible conversion to a different economical approach will cause an economical collapse worldwide. Giant corporations such as GM will lose their control over both national and international markets. This crisis would mostly bring chaos across the world but it give countries to reassembly. From the ashes of chaos a new order will mostly be born. The end of capitalism will be the arche of the human population. Future of the mankind could be like it was on the film “Mad Max” where violence will be the only choice to survive. The fact that end of capitalism is an impossible it is the shortcut to salvage what is left of earth.
Besides this hard to happen suggestion corporations do have realistic responsibilities. One of them is raising awareness among society. Many companies fulfill their CSR objectives by making large donations to charity or creating campaigns that help unfortunate children. This might seem enough to anybody it actually is not. Ethical objectives, does not really fit the requirements of SMART objectives. The outputs of the ethical objectives are immeasurable, so actually the businesses neglect ethical objectives because they usually have a negative effect on profits. In case of oil production companies such as BP or Shell cannot promote the fact that the oil supply of earth is decreasing and continuing consumption of oil will cause side effects or Mcdonald’s cannot state that consuming fast food causes coronary diseases. These are only some examples of a much larger problem. Companies have to make sacrifices of their own in order to have an impact on creating a sustainable future for everyone. Mainly businesses have to create their own end in order to make a difference in terms of the bigger picture which is the environment.
The most realistic solution or responsibility companies have is that investing their CSR budget on renewable energy sources, for example wind. Wind energy is not a very popular energy source nowadays but its importance is growing day by day. The investment might cost a lot for a single windmill but its return is worth it. These mills do not affect anything except bird migrating to warmer places. What energy companies could do about this is that they could diversify their businesses to this section. It is a good deal. The company invests in a sector having the first movers advantage and on the other hand they would be conveying the idea of using renewable energy sources. This third suggestion is maybe the best these three. In this case the company’s ethical objectives will be meeting its SMART objectives, making everyone happy on both ends.
As world’s population continue to exceed its carrying capacity the consumption of energy increase with a direct proportion. As it is known these energy sources cannot be replaced within a very short notice. The fossil fuel that is being used now was developed in millions of years. In a place where corporations should be encouraging less consume of energy and materials they make the propaganda of living a better and large lifestyle by using SUV’s, using laptops where its parts are taken from Africa and wearing blood diamonds. Instead of promoting such images they should taking responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for generations to come. These are only some suggestions that companies could consider these solutions. First two listed solutions are mostly unrealistic but the third solution is the most realistic. It is a solution that satisfies both sides of the supply-demand relationship. As days to come there will be other problems occurring from over populating and consuming. If corporations reject the consolidation objective of human kind it will slowly turn into a survival objective for all.
