College of Business Administration

1. In what way should business be responsible for the downstream effects of the disposal of their products?

2. What role should business play in addressing overpopulation?

3. Are businesses morally obligated to protect the population from their own consumption habits (Tobacco, SUV, Super Sizing...)?

4. What's wrong/right with genetically manipulating crops to be more productive and resistant to adverse conditions?

5. Do you think the United States should regulate the amount of waste that is exported to third world nations? If so how or if not why?

6. As shown in the video, US corporations can turn losses into profits by exporting waste to third world countries. Do you think US businesses have a moral obligation to dispose of the waste without exporting it to foreign countries?

7. In Overpopulation and Overconsumption: Where Should We Focus, Michael Hanauer discusses the situation the United States is currently facing: U.S. population is now at 269 million. Census Bureau projections indicate that our population is likely to surpass one-half billion in the coming century. Important analysis and calculations from the biological and physical sciences support the contention that U.S. population is now at about double the sustainable level. Attainable reductions in consumption will not do the job if we do not also stop population growth.
What do you think can be done to help sustain our world from both overconsumption and overpopulation?

8. Paul Hawken in The Ecology of Commerce writes: “…we take from other ecosystems by the importation of products and raw materials from different parts of the world. While we have stopped many damaging practices that affect our own environment at home, we are benefiting from the continuation of those same practices carried out by American or foreign companies overseas. In short, we are either buying or degrading other people’s environments and then consuming them for ourselves.”
Relate this to what Sonya states in Mindwalk about changing everything at once.