In case you haven’t noticed, Earth Day is not
only a chance to celebrate our planet, it’s also a great platform for companies
to broadcast their commitment to protecting the environment. The headlines are
filled this week with popular brand-name corporations launching “green” Earth
Day campaigns. Take, for instance, American Eagle Outfitters. The apparel
company is teaming up with Brad Pitt’s Make It Right organization to recycle
denim jeans into insulation that can be used in affordable homes for
communities in need.
“As the consumer
demands just and conscious standards, more companies will adopt similar
policies, reap the benefits and create a healthier world.”
And it was no coincidence that on Monday
Apple, the maker of all things iCool, published its 2015 Environmental
Responsibility Report detailing the company’s commitment to “leave the world
better than we found it.” Last week, Apple announced that it would be buying
36,000 acres of forestland in order to responsibly and sustainably manage its
paper supply chain for items such as packaging and marketing materials.
‘Conscious and
Active’
Both
of these are examples of Corporate Social Responsibility — CSR in the alphabet of
business acronyms. This is when companies place ethical concerns before making
profits, and often help the community, humanity and, in this case, the
environment as a result. While many businesses just pay lip service to
their desires to give back and follow sustainable practices, others, like
Apple, integrate CSR into the very fabric of their business strategy.
It is a genuine business approach for some companies and not just a chance to
look stunning beneath the public relations spotlight.
Alice Beittel, 17 and a senior at Bishop O’
Dowd High School in Oakland, Calif., has explored the topic of corporate social
responsibility as the chair of her school’s Students for Sustainability
Committee and as a member of the student advisory board for Turning Green, a
student-led global movement devoted to education and advocacy around
environmentally sustainable and socially responsible choices. She reflects
often — and especially on Earth Day — about why she feels businesses “are
morally responsible to replenish and sustain the sources that provide
foundations for their economic success.”
Beittel
believes that companies become socially responsible “when they establish
commitments to reach past general environmental and social regulations in
an effort to use their power and financial capability to make a cleaner and
more equitable world. Working for the people and the planet allows companies to
take conscious and active responsibility for the impacts of their production
process.”
In
drawing the connection between business and the environment, Jessica Ainslie,
17, borrows a quote from Spider-Man: “With great power comes great
responsibility.” Ainslie, a senior at Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Waimea,
Hawaii, has long spent her free time “swimming in waterfalls,” and therefore,
she has grown up with a sense of connection with and responsibility to the
land. “There’s all this debate over whether businesses have too much power and
control, yet I believe this can be used to an environmental benefit,” notes
Ainslie. “Businesses are the ultimate trendsetters, so I think they have
the responsibility to get involved with sustainable practices.” She is
considering attending Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif., next year
so she can pursue a “killer major” called “Environment,Economics and
Politics.”
Both
Beittel and Ainslie agree that other teenagers should become more acutely aware
of the relationship between business, economics and the world in which we live.
Why? Because if they care about the future of the planet, then they can find
ways to influence the depth and scope of corporate social responsibility as it
applies to environmental sustainability and other social-justice issues.
Beittel, who is headed to the University of California, Davis this fall to
study environmental science, urges other teens to vote with their dollars.
“From the food we eat to the clothing we buy, let us use our purchasing power to
support companies who take action to reduce their [carbon] footprint, provide
livable wages and institute sustainable practices,” says Beittel. “As the consumer demands
just and conscious standards, more companies will adopt similar policies, reap
the benefits and create a healthier world.”
The consumer vote, adds Ainslie, is indeed
powerful. Companies that see their profits eroding may well choose to embrace
more environmentally friendly practices. “Teenagers need to constantly be
reminded that their power is limitless,” she says. “There’s no age requirement
for making a difference. If you don’t like something, change it. If you do
like something, be passionate about it.”
-whs
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