Major Sources of Marine Pollution
Sustainability issues are associated with climate change, environmental degradation, globalization, and population diversity. These challenges have made a negative impact on the people of society and such challenges can only be overcome by the efforts of the different stakeholders (Kilbourne, 2010). The topic which is chosen for this essay is Marin Pollution. In the current scenario, oceans have become the waste dumps for the factories and manufacturing plants which is making a negative impact on the aquatic life and is damaging the ecosystem from wastewater, fuel spills, etc.
The major sources of Marine pollution are the flow of chemicals, solid waste, oil spills, and many other factors. Air and land pollution is also contributing to such pollution which is not only affecting the aquatic ecology but it does make an impact on the life on the land. There are different types of marine pollution which are mentioned below:
Eutrophication – When there are an excessive amount of chemicals such as nitrates in the water then it leads to eutrophication. It reduces the amount of oxygen and makes the water inhabitable for aquatic creatures.
Acidification – Oceans do act as the reservoir for absorbing the carbon dioxide but an increase in the level of carbon dioxide is making the ocean across the globe acidic and it does lead to acidification of oceans.
In my opinion, Marine pollution has affected the environment as the creatures of the ocean such as whales, turtles, and dolphins are unable to survive and it is getting difficult for the creatures to survive in such an environment. Preservation of the environment and maintaining ecological balance is considered the responsibility of everyone and to promote environmental awareness stakeholders need to contribute their efforts in overcoming such issues. Such stakeholders are the public, media, organizations, and the government. I have taken such stance upon this issue as the chemicals present in the water do make impact on the health of people such as dementia, neurological damage etc. Marine pollution is the complex mixture made up of mercury, plastic waste and when people consume the seafood then it makes negative impact on the health of people and it requires the attention to address such issue and overcoming it by taking effective measures.
In my opinion, the perspective of the government in the society is vital in resolving the environmental issues and it is only possible by developing awareness about such issues. The government has taken a step to overcome such an issue by focusing on launching the program Ocean Decade which is also known as the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021-2030. Such an initiative is based on bringing all the ocean actors across the globe and developing the partnership to ensure a sustainable and inspiring ocean (UNESCO, 2022). Such initiative not only helps in overcoming the issue of marine pollution but also helps in achieving SDG 14 (life below water). Such issue should be addressed effectively by the government as lack of information about such issue would make negative impact on the aquatic life and it might lead to the water scarcity in the areas which are affected by the lack of water. The continuous dumping of waste resources in the water should be stopped by developing the strict laws and making it mandatory for the organizations to adhere with such law. Through the program of Ocean Decade, the partners around the globe would join together at local, national, regional and global levels to overcome the issues and taking the decade actions in representing the decade challenge. The countries have been setting up their National Decade Committees and celebrating the start of national Decade nations. For instance, stakeholders in the Committee such as Canada, Colombia and Japan have been brought together including UN entities, local authorities, and private sector leaders to introduce the vision of decade and overcoming the challenges associated with the Decade.
Types of Marine Pollution
Such initiatives from the government does resulted in overcoming the issue of marine pollution but despite taking such initiatives the people in the government does use their power to provide the leniency to the organization which are indulged in the activities associated with marine pollution. The collaboration among the stakeholders does help in addressing the issue but the strict law and punishment is required to overcome the issue of marine pollution and it would help in setting the example in the environment and organization would think before adopting any practices which are harmful for the environment.
Organizations do play a crucial role in overcoming the issue of marine pollution as they could utilize their resources in protecting the coasts and supporting the oceans by testing the water quality and making community partnerships, and beach clean-ups. For example, the Surf-rider Foundation which is a California-based grassroots conservation group is putting its efforts to protect the oceans and beaches of the country. Its programs which are based on protecting the coasts and oceans get their funds from the donations which are made to the foundation. The Global Partnership on Marine Litter was launched at the United States Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012 which is based on the protection of the Marine Environment from land-based activities. This Global partnership is considered a multi-stakeholder partnership that focuses on reducing marine litter and plastic pollution. It would help partners in sharing knowledge and experience which help them in working together to address the issue which is faced all across the globe. This partnership also provides the platform for sharing ideas and working to reduce and prevent marine litter problems (UNEP, 2022). The organization should focus on developing the partnership with NGOs and government to overcome such issue and utilize the resource in organizing the campaigns which should aim towards educating people about negative impact of marine pollution on society and upon aquatic creatures.
Such partnership among the organization does contribute in such issues but it still requires attention and collaboration from the organization which are discharging the chemicals in the water. There are organizations which are continuously discharging the chemicals in the water and neglecting the impact of such issue on human health. To earn more profit, various organization are inclined to adopt the unethical practices and to address such issue, a fair body which required to monitor the activities of such organization and taking the strict actions against the organization whose practices are not favourable for the environment.
The role of stakeholders in achieving SDG 17 is vital as it shows that partnerships for sustainable development are multi-stakeholder initiatives that are taken by governments, intergovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders, which efforts are based on achieving the goals. SDG 17 is based upon global partnership for sustainable development as the stakeholders’ partnership to share their knowledge, expertise, and resources to achieve the sustainable development goals. It does help in encouraging partnerships and achieving the sustainable development goal (UN, 2022). Stakeholder has to understand that continuous increase in the marine pollution would lead to the water scarcity and algal blooms, which can be toxic for humans and marine species.
Government Initiatives to Combat Marine Pollution
Achieving the SDG 17 is important for stakeholder as the sustainability challenges not only affect the environment but it does affect stakeholders in terms of quality of life. The stakeholders would require the data and mechanism to achieve the SDG 17. The lack of political will does affect the implementation of SDG and another issue which is faced by the stakeholder is the lack of structure of financial resources and does make impact on achieving the goal. The lack of initiatives from the stakeholder does affect its implementation and would require effective planning to achieve the goal.
It can be concluded that an increase in marine pollution is considered a serious issue and it does make a negative impact on the ecological balance. The stakeholder does contribute their efforts to overcome such issues by promoting awareness and by reducing the use of plastics.
Starbucks has decided to continue its business operations in Russia after the other companies have halted their operations in Russia due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The topic selected is to understand the responsibility of the business towards the people of society and understand Starbucks’ decision to stay in Russia after the war situation and argue against the decision of Starbucks to continue its business operations. In my opinion, Starbucks should have halted its business operations in Russia to show its solidarity towards mankind and show that they are against the war as it makes serious damage to the people and the society. By continuing its operations in Russia, Starbucks is showing that they are more focused on its profits rather than working in favour of humankind which makes a negative impact on its brand image and does make a negative effect on its productivity and profitability.
Starbucks has to focus on understanding its duties as a responsible organization as the whole world is condemning the attacks of Russia against Ukraine and the organization continuing its operations in Russia shows they are in favor of war and it does affect the image of the organization among the consumer which is not favorable for its revenues.
In my opinion, as a responsible company Starbucks has to focus on making a positive impact on society by setting the example of halting its operations in Russia and making a positive impact on the environment, and preserving the environment in which the organization operates. Starbucks is one of the top organizations which excel in providing the highest quality coffee across the globe. It is considered one of the largest coffee chains across the globe. As the largest coffeehouse chain, Starbucks should show its solidarity against the war by stopping its operations in Russia and showing that they are with society and mankind. Stopping its operations in Russia would help Starbucks is setting an example in society and show its functioning as a responsible organization. The term moral responsibility applies to Starbucks as the organization has its moral principle toward humanity which should be followed by the organization (Yang & Ha-Brookshire, 2019).
Starbucks has to focus on stopping its operations in Russia and the organization has to focus on engaging in donating the resources and putting its efforts towards the development of Ukraine. It would help the organization in showing its moral values toward the society and its responsibility toward the people of the society (Glonti et.al., 2020). The people of the society are the consumer of Starbucks and the organization has a responsibility toward its consumers by putting its efforts to make the society a better place to live.
The Role of Organizations and Stakeholders in Addressing Marine Pollution
It is suggested from the company’s perspective that stopping its business operations in Russia would help them show their responsibility towards the people of society and help in showing their solidarity with the war. The moral values of the organization are associated with overcoming the issues which are faced by humanity and war makes a negative impact on the country’s economy and also affects the infrastructure and public health provision. Starbucks has to focus on contributing its resources towards the development of Ukraine’s economy and it is its responsibility to ensure the development of the society and should act in the interest of the community.
Climate change has made a severe impact on the people and the society as it could lead to food production and human health. It does make an impact on the economy and society by an increase in the rise of sea level and affecting human health (Geest et.al., 2019). It does lead to global warming and makes people vulnerable to extreme heat and poor air quality.
The organization is taken as the stakeholder for this issue as the increase in global warming does made affect the climate and makes a negative impact on the people of the society. The organizations should focus on identifying the potential issues which are contributing to the increasing level of global warming and should focus on taking the measures which could help them in reducing such pollution. The emission of greenhouse gases due to the activities of the manufacturing plants leads to changes around the world and makes a negative impact on the atmosphere.
There are various initiatives which are taken by the organization to overcome the issue of climate change as the partnership of the 15 international organizations during the United Nations Climate Change Conference is based upon making their operations climate neutral (UNFCCC, 2018). The actions which are taken by the organizations under this partnership are to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and focus on installing the solar photovoltaic system, up-gradation of lighting system within the premises, and developing the sustainable procurement policies to develop the awareness among the employees of the organization. Climate change is caused by the anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases and it does make an impact on the natural and human systems all across the globe. It is important to overcome such a challenge by achieving the goal of the UNFCCC goal of limiting the temperature and focusing on achieving the SDG by decarbonizing the operations and supply chain by adopting an energy-efficient system and reducing the carbon footprint. Taking significant steps in overcoming such issue is important for their functioning and performing CSR activities towards the issue help organization in developing positive image among the consumer and it not only help organization in preserving the environment but also help in boosting the profitability of organization.
The organizations could focus on overcoming the issue of global warming by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and the organizations could focus on taking the assistance of the private agencies to measure their CO2 emissions. When such emissions are identified, the organization could focus on identifying the activities which are the highest pollutants and making the changes to reduce the emission. The organizations could focus on choosing renewable energies as the solution to the issue of global warming (IRENA, 2022). There are suppliers which provide such solutions and help in avoiding the usage of fossil fuels which results in reducing the climate footprint. Another way of overcoming such an issue is to reduce the amount of waste generated. The organizations could focus on avoiding the usage of plastic and could focus on using products that could be recyclable. The organizations could focus on putting the investment in the innovation to improve the company’s product portfolio. The organization such as Tesco which is supermarket giant in the UK has taken steps to eliminate the deforestation from Tesco products by 2020 and making their packaging recyclable by 2025. Tesco has committed towards reducing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2025. Such initiatives are required from the organizations which are operating in the business environment as it would help in overcoming such issue.
It can be concluded that organizations should focus on taking the measures which help in reducing the greenhouse gas emission which directly makes impact the climate change. The organizations are key stakeholders in reducing global warming by adopting sustainable practices and measures which could help in overcoming the issue of climate change. The organization should focus on utilizing the energy-efficient system to reduce global warming and developing awareness about such issues.
Geest, K.V.D., Sherbinin, A.D., Kienberger, S., Zommers, Z., Sitati, A., Roberts, E. and James, R., 2019. The impacts of climate change on ecosystem services and resulting losses and damages to people and society. In Loss and damage from climate change (pp. 221-236). Springer, Cham.
Glonti, V., Trynchuk, V., Khovrak, I., Mokhonko, G., Shkrobot, M., & Manvelidze, L. (2020). Socialization of organization sustainable development based on the principles of corporate social responsibility. Montenegrin Journal of Economics, 16(1), 169-182.
IRENA. (2022). Renewable Energy: A key climate solution. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from IRENA:
https://www.irena.org/climatechange/Renewable-Energy-Key-climate-solution
Kilbourne, W.E., (2010). Facing the challenge of sustainability in a changing world: An introduction to the special issue. Journal of Macromarketing, 30(2), pp.109-111.
- (2022). Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. Retrieved 2022, from Sustainable Development Goals:
- https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/globalpartnerships/
UNEP. (2022). Global Partnership on Marine Litter. Retrieved 2022, from UNEP: https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/oceans-seas/what-we-do/addressing-land-based-pollution/global-partnership-marine
UNESCO. (2022). United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030). Retrieved May 17, 2022, from UNESCO: https://en.unesco.org/ocean-decade
UNFCCC. (2018, December 12). At COP24, Leading International Organizations Commit to Climate Neutrality. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from UNFCCC: https://unfccc.int/news/at-cop24-leading-international-organizations-commit-to-climate-neutrality
Yang, N., & Ha-Brookshire, J. E. (2019). Truly sustainable or not? An exploratory assessment of the sustainability capability of textile and apparel corporations in China from the moral responsibility perspective. Fashion and Textiles, 6(1), 1-16.
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