Business Ethics - from Sea to Plate

Table of Contents

Introduction        3

Ethical issues        4

Utilitarian perspective        6

Libertarian perspective        6

Deontologists Perspective        8

Recommendation        9

Reflection on weekly one hour lecture and two hours workshop        10

Introduction

Business ethics includes ethical principles that guide the behavior of a particular business. Acting in a moral way involves distinguishing between “right” and “wrong”, and then making the "right" choice. In addition, the principles of business ethics must also include fair treatment to their stakeholders and minimizing the harm to the environment, which called corporate social responsibility. In short, business ethics include the principle that companies must follow to gain community acceptance, as well as maintaining the trust between consumers and other forms of consumers in the business market (Investopedia 2015). According to the principles of business ethics, this essay will explore and compares two ethical dilemmas in the case study “From Sea to Plate” through four ethical perspectives such as utilitarian, libertarian, deontological, and virtue ethics. Finally, this essay also justifies a combination of ethical perspectives in order to suggest solutions for this case study.

Ethical issues

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There are two ethical dilemmas in the case “From Sea to Plate”. The first ethical dilemma is the pollution of plastic in sea water might cause huge impacts on human health. According to an ecologist, Chealsea Rochman, the poor management in our waste had caused an obsession over our dinner plate. Plastic has now been found in mussels, oysters, clams, fish and even sea salts. Basically, there is a fact that people might not know. The scene pieces of plastic, which were discharged into the sea, are not only from the industrial activities, waste, landfills flow and overflow of wastewater, but also from activity daily household like laundry or personal care products, and even from toothpaste (Alec 2016). According to the UC Santa Barbara researchers, synthetic fleece jackets release around 1.7 grams of microfibers each wash, with the most shedding caused by older, lower-quality jackets cleaned in top-load washing machines. These microfibers then travel to your local wastewater treatment plant, where up to 40 percent of them enter into rivers, lakes and oceans. More than that, microbeads are another source of ocean pollution. The tiny sands like grains of plastic are found in hundreds of household products such as toothpaste, face washes and body washes. It is too small to be filtered efficiently by the wastewater treatment process and was found in the aquatic environment and fish. Once there, the microbeads act as a sponge and soak up the chemicals at sea, increasing its toxicity. In addition, other types of plastic materials containing polystyrene, polyester, PVC, nylon such as plastic bottles, plastic bags, or the product packaging which are difficult to decompose in nature. According to statistics, the yearly annual global production of plastic has reached 5 million tons and in 2014, even that number is multiplied by 62 times, 311 million tons in 2014 and around 8 million tons of plastic "be released" out to the nature as lakes, sea, rivers each year. In addition, a study shows that plastics often attract seaweeds because they often smell like nutritious food, attracting different species of fish and shrimp. Therefore, GESAMP, a joint group of Experts on the scientific aspects of marine Environmental Protection said that more than tens of thousands of organisms and over 100 species contain microbeads or fragments of plastic from the plastic bottles, even tiny pieces of the nylon bag. Therefore, when we consume seafood, which contains microbeads, our health will be seriously affected. According to (“Adverse Health Effects of Plastics | Ecology Center” 2016), plastic can cause serious impact on the health of human beings as if lightly, they will feel shortness of breath, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, weakness, headache and fatigue, or more serious it can lead to cancer, skin diseases, genetic changes, indigestion, liver dysfunction and impaired immune function. The second issue, the plastic pollution can lead to negative environmental impacts on land and marine environments. And more, it can cause the extinction of some species, upset the natural order and the earth (Andrady 2003).

Utilitarian perspective

Due to utilitarian perspective, philosophy of greatest the happiness for the greatest number of people in society is considered good (Turner 2015, 170). However, to be considered ethical, those actions need to be assessed through its consequences or results (Hammond 1996, 94) as well as through the analysis of the costs and benefits of action (Fisher and Lovell 2006, 128). According to the view from the first ethical issue, we can see that this case belongs to the utilitarian perspective that maximize the good and minimize the bad effect. In this case, specifically, Leo Baekeland, inventor of Bakelite and opened up a new world for plastic. Leo was able to think in a positive way that he recognized the potential in the market trade that plastic brought, suitable for production. And of course, the contribution of plastics to life today is very necessary and useful and cost very cheap. However, Leo Baekeland did not consider the consequences that it would make. This shows that he only concerned on short-term benefits rather than scrutinized the long-term results.

For the second issue, the benefits that plastics bring to environment not exist. Moreover, the consequences of the production and consumption of plastics to nature are enormous. It can impact directly and indirectly on people, species and environment on Earth. Specifically, people will be at risk of contracting to the diseases are extremely serious such as cancer, bronchitis, chronic, inflammatory skin ulcers, impaired vision, disturbances of liver function, and in the long run, it may lead to death. As for the creatures and the environment, it will cause the extinction species, air pollution, soil pollution and marine resources. If we continue to ignore our environment like we used to, it will be a disaster for nature and earth.