Sustainability Is Ability of Human Nature †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: What Is the Sustainability Is Ability of Human Nature? Answer: Introduction Sustainability is an aspect that cannot be ignored in our current world. Human activities have led to losing a lot of natural resources. Our industries are one of the primary sources that do not practice sustainability. There is climate change and resources are being depleted, for example, gold and water depletion, which consequently leads to the ozone layer which in turn brings about global warming. Thus industries should work to ensure sustainability in every aspect. Samsung is an electrical and ICT company operating on the entire globe. The company manufactures electrical appliances which are used all over the world. As an electronic company, there are many sustainability aspects that it needs to consider. These are the waste, energy, water and also its ethical issues that affect sustainability (Scott, 2009, pp. 36-37). Aspects of Sustainability Waste Management Waste management is one of the most important aspects of sustainability as it involves processing, transporting collection and management of waste materials. Waste is always created from activities carried out by human beings, and it includes solid, liquid gasses and radioactive materials. There are so many studies and activities that have been conducted to ensure waste is managed to reduce its destruction and harm the environment and human health. There have been encouragements on reducing waste, efforts to recycle, reuse and remanufacture. Therefore, everyone should carry out activities with the mentality of no waste production in the first place to create a sustainable environment (Morelli, 2011). The Samsung Industry has not been one of the environmental friendly industries. They have not done their level best in reducing, reusing and remanufacturing of their waste products. The industry's products that are supposed to be disposed of cannot be reused or recycled neither can they be remanufactured. For this reason, the industry is creating an environment that is hazardous to the human health, the economy of a nation, and the society as a whole (Michell, 2010, pp. 153). Samsung produced 4.3 million Galaxy Note 7 phones which were later realized to be substandard. The company had no choice but to throw them away. These are brand new phones that weigh about 730,000 kilograms that the Samsung industry was thinking of doing away with them. This came as a result of these phones exploding all around the world. For instance, the phone explosion itself released carbon emissions that lead to depletion of the ozone layer. Besides, the explosion also affects the health of human beings as they are injured because of it (Richard, 2013). Samsung's consideration to do away with phones Galaxy Note 7 means releasing a lot of waste that does not decompose thus affecting the environment. Poor disposal of materials by the company affects not only the environment but also the economy as those phones were made of gold and cobalt that are rare natural resources and very expensive. It is not also ethical as it shows how they don't care about their surroundings (Axee, 2013). Hence, Samsung needs to be careful with its operational activities to ensure that they support sustainability. Disposing of phones that are not in use anymore is an issue affecting most of the industries that make phones. The manufacturers have not come up with a clear way of disposing of this items when they can no longer work. These items cannot decompose, and this is a huge effect on the natural resources (Laszlo Zhexembayeva, 2011).The industries also use materials that are very expensive and rare to find that can improve the economy of the world, but these materials just go to waste for example gold, silver, and cobalt. There are a lot of ways and studies which can made and applied to how phones can be disposed of. Nokia which is one of the oldest phone industries has had a problem with phone disposal as the consumers do not know what to do with them when they are no-longer-serving them. Hence ICT companies should consider this a big issue and find a way of resolving it (Blewitt, 2008, pp. 21-24. Energy Management Energy is an important aspect in our daily routines. Energy is used in heating, cooling, use of electronics and appliances. In this era of the 21st century, more energy is being used than in the 20th century. There are different kinds of innovations and technology that has been adapted to ensure a lot of energy is saved. We can save money and even reduce carbon pollution in our environment. Therefore everyone should be trying his/her best to conserve the energy and not misuse it (Caradonna, 2014). Today the various innovations have helped reduce energy loss. One of the innovations is the use of solar energy. This involves harnessing bright light and heat from the sun. It is renewable energy as it is inexhaustible, free natural resource and it is one that is not costly. This kind of energy enhances sustainability as it reduces global warming, reduces pollution. Apart from that, there is also a type of insulation that is called next- gen insulation. As we all know insulation is an important aspect that reduces heating and cooling costs. There is an innovation of foam insulation that ensures heat doesn't escape and it is environmentally friendly. There is also a form of lighting that has been adapted to provide a lot of energy is saved. LED (light emitting diodes) therefore, is more efficient than incandescent bulbs as it consumes less power (Axee, 2013). Since people and companies are trying their best to ensure energy is saved, more and loss is less, and this has not been the case with the Samsung ICT industry. The industry has manufactured phones and other electrical appliances like refrigerators, microwaves, and televisions that are not much of energy savers. For example, a television set, cannot work without electricity and therefore, they are consuming more energy, yet some kinds of television sets can use solar energy. Also, their microwaves have the same sort of problem as they only can work with electricity. The phones that are manufactured by the company demands a user to charge them first before using them. Therefore, these phones consume a lot of unnecessary energy which could have been otherwise used for something else (Ruffing, 2007). The case with refrigerators, the industry can adapt magnetic refrigerators where the magnetic field is changed to lower and rising temperatures. This lowers energy and carbon pollution that can lead to depletion of the ozone layer (Goodall, (2007). Samsung is not the best ranked long lasting phone that saves a lot of battery. The industry should adopt the tactics used by Motorola as it is the best when it comes to battery saving hence saving a lot of energy. Another example is Apples iPhones they contain inbuilt batteries that do not last for long yet takes in a lot of charges. This is a loss of energy which could otherwise be used to do some other useful activity. Hence most of the electrical appliances made by Samsung are not energy conserving, and mostly they use electricity, therefore, threatening our environment. Water Conservation Water management is one of the most trending topics these days. Water conservation can help one save money and water itself in the case of drought seasons. Industries are among the major sectors that a lot of water is used and comes out later as waste water (Soederbaum, 2008). Proper water management can help in sustainability. People should also learn about different ways of storing water for future use because you will never know what is likely to happen in the coming days. People can conserve water through harvesting rainwater, recharging ground water, and recycling wastewater. For this reason, water charges could go down hence saving more (Hoekstra Chapagain, 2007, pp. 35-48). In industries, water is one of the essential things. Water is needed in cleaning materials and manufacturing of the electronics. Water sustainability has been affected by most ICT industries, and Samsung Electronics is one of them. There is an article that talks about Samsung Electronics targeting to reduce its water use in production. It also talks about increased use of water in Korea as the volume of wastewater rose 14 % in 2011 when it is compared to the previous year 2010. Therefore this is a lot of water increase in just a year (Shaker, 2015, pp. 304-314). Lucky enough, the Samsung Electronics industry realized this and decided to look for ways that can sustain water. It came up with water management policy to assist it. It involved using semiconductor productions. The came up with this to prevent the risk of water shortages as these was one of the issues they were facing. The also came up with ultra-pure water recycling water to recycle wastewater instead of doing away with it. They also decided to reduce sewage water by operating on non-industrial waste water treatment and recycling. For this reason, Samsung has also helped in ensuring sustainability (Hak, et al. 2007). Ethics Being ethical involves personal decision to do the right thing but not as an obligation by the law. One has to identify what is wrong and what is right to be done. Ethics also comprises of virtues a person or an industry portrays. Ethics helps industry keep good relations with the society and the employees. Therefore industries should be ethical enough to do right to its workers, stakeholders, and consumers (Huesemann, 2011, pp. 111) Unethical practices towards workers Regarding moral values, the industry is supposed to consider the safety of its employees and make sure they are not exposed to any harmful substances that can harm their health. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure safety is granted to his/her employees at work. If the company notices something wrong, he/she should not keep quite because it is not a good picture for the industry if employees will be affected in their line of duty (UNEP, 2011). Also, Samsung has betrayed its code of conduct. Principle number four on Samsung's code of conduct says they care for the environment, health, and safety. It also says the industry values the health and safety of human beings. This includes the protection and health of the workers. Therefore the industry should try to its level best to take care of employee and everyone else (Hoffelder, 2014). There was the case that was reported in 2016 where chemicals poisoned Samsung employees in the industry. The poisoned employees were over 200, and this is a significant number of people affected that have come to take work to provide for them and their family. The worst part is that the industry knew about the toxic chemicals but did not report or do anything about the substances (Daniel, 2013). Even if their families are compensated, it is not ethical for a company to result in someone's death. One worker died in the event, and the family offered $864,000 to keep quite. Samsung is not the only industry with this kind of issue, there are other industries where workers die, get the illness or even are affected in a way they cannot work anymore and their families or themselves are paid to keep quiet. Hence, this should not be a habit where employers pay people to keep quiet from effects caused by the company (Scott, 2009, pp. 142-150). Apple Industry had been using harmful chemicals that threaten the safety of their workers. These chemicals were toxic that led to severe illness when exposed to the workers (Patel, 2011). This made Green America and China Labor Watch ask them to stop using chemicals that expose their employees to danger (Barnosky et al., 2012, pp. 52-58). Also, Fengtai Huawei has used toxic chemicals that are applied on screens. These chemicals made the joints painful, and after sometime workers could not lift themselves, it made some workers collapse. It is ethical for employers to ensure their employees are well protected and therefore it is not ethical to let them be exposed to toxic chemicals (Bell et al., 2008). Unethical practices towards customers. The same way an industry is supposed to look after its employees, it applies to clients and shareholders. For an industry to maintain goodwill consumer satisfaction should be one of the goals. When a customer is satisfied with goods and services delivered, then the entire society will be in good terms with the industry. For this reason, every party that contributes to the industry should be well taken care of (Lynn et al., 2014). On the code of conduct of Samsung Industry, principle number three talks about priority in customer satisfaction and also protection healthcare wise. This was not the case with Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones. The phones were sold to consumers and brought accidents and injuries to the buyers. This is unethical as the industry did not adequately protect customers. Injuries and accidents affected the health of the consumers which is something the industry should look after. This led to the loss of trust to the Samsung phones (Alex, 2013). The explosion of phones did affect not only their health but also their finances. The consumer used the money to buy a phone, and therefore this affects their financial plan. When someone is also affected health wise, one will also not able to work hence reducing the world's economy. The environment is also affected by this when they decided to dump the rest of the phones, not only is the environments at risk, but also the resources used are destroyed interfering with natural resources and the economy. This also goes against their ethical code of caring for the environment and making it friendly (Thomas, 2016). Conclusion In conclusion, some of our ICT industries have brought harm to our environment. Sustainability and ethics are something that needs to be practiced since they are no laws to be followed according to these aspects. They are just practices and values or virtues that one has to learn. For this reason, everyone should be ready at least to change their lifestyles and habits to conserve the available natural resources. The ICT industries should practice Green Computing also known as Green IT. This is a type of innovation that came up to create a friendly environment. It came up with a way of disposing and recycling computers since computers and related resources do not decompose. The innovation has a concept called green use where electricity consumption is minimized. They also try their best to reduce waste during the making of the computers. The energy costs are high because of different electrical appliances people use, and for this reason green computing should be adapted in all electrical appliances. 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