#cosores

[janeldaily]

Going Green!

           Businesses owners argue about how going green can affect their competitiveness.  hey think that going green will hinder them from being competitive and from earning profits 

Contrary to conventional thinking, going green and being environmentally cautious is actually better for the business because it generates cost savings, promotes innovation, command premium pricing, enhances brand image and it differentiates you from your competitors. Now, let me go through these advantages one by one. :)

generates cost savings - going green can mean that the company will conserve more energy by using less electricity or by using products that will generate energy conservation.  Using such products may cost more than the ordinary ones (e.g. normal light bulbs vs led light) but in the long run it would benefit the company more.

promotes innovation - going green promotes innovation in such a way that managers or employees would be challenged to think of new ideas and ways that could mitigate and solve issues concerning the environment.  An example mentioned in class was the invention of the Toyota Prius, which is currently the most environment friendly car because it does not emit CO2.

command premium pricing - companies who are environmentally friendly can actually command premium pricing because they can easily say that their products did not go through the usual mass production using harmful chemicals and the like.  They can say that the process by which they manufacture their products has higher costs since they used non-toxic methods and chemicals.  An example of this would be The Body Shop and the organic food stores.  

enhances brand image and differentiates from competitors - consumers can easily remember and identify your brand since being green means being different from the other brands.  Being green advocates that the company cares for nature and the environment hence consumers would be more enticed to patronize your product. 

I personally think that going green is not easy, it would require a huge amount of investment, time and effort for the company to achieve the state of being "green" or environmentally friendly.  The company should consider a lot of factors, costs, benefits, advantages and disadvantages, furthermore they should also consider the time that they would spend changing their ways.  

I believe that in the long run, going green would really be beneficial to the company as it would allow to be sustainable and it would also save on their costs.  

[janeldaily]

Inconvenient Truth

I have watched this documentary for countless of times now and its effect towards me is still the same.  I feel the importance, urgency, and warning in the delivery of the message.  I feel Al Gore's concerns about the environment, growing effects of global warming to our lives, ecosystem and the overall environment.  What really strikes me most about global warming is how fast is happened and how its effects are very visible in our society right now. 

Global Warming and the Philippines

Global warming is a worldwide problem; all of us have contributed to this phenomenon, hence all of us are affected by it.  In the Philippines, in particular, we can all feel the climate change, hotter summers, stronger typhoons, more frequent flash floods and other natural disasters, together with the more polluted environment.  These consequences are a direct effect of the damages we have done to the environment.  

I think that that greatest damage we’ve done in the Philippines is the deforestation due to illegal logging, the lack of waste management and the different pollutions in the environment.  All of these causes the flash floods, the erosion and these heightens the effects of the natural disasters.  For instance, we’ve never experienced super storms prior to this year, storms that had nearly flooded the whole Metro Manila.  Also, in line with the effects of global warming, we are now experiencing hotter summers as compared before, I have also noticed that our rainy season has moved from June – July to later parts of the year

Photos from Typhoon Ondoy

*All images are take from google

[janeldaily]

Poor Working Conditions & Foxconn

It is not the first time that I've heard of this terrible story about the poor working conditions in several factories in China.I am actually not surprised about the working conditions, since China is a known place for cheap labor and reason behind it is that they really treat their workers poorly and most of them engage in child labor. 

The thing that really bothered me about the videos we watched is that:   1.  how come these kind of conditions still exists in our modern times, we see China's big improvements in its economy and infrastructures but the working conditions in the provincial factories are stills so bad?! 

2.  hasn't the government taken any regulations or employee rights protection to assure the employee's safety? 3.  how come big companies such as Apple, Nokia, etc., still partners with these kinds of company? 4.  How can the employers sleep through the night knowing that they are earning billions in the expense of the lives and futures of their employees? I just think that it's really tragic how people can be blinded by greed, by the love for power and money. It's sad how people would think that money is everything and think that it is more important than treating other people well. :( 

I also think that big companies like Apple should stop partnering with companies like Foxconn, since it would be bad publicity for their business and it would seem that they are in favor of how Foxconn is treating their employees. Yes, Apple does benefit from the lower manufacturing costs and cheaper labor costs of Foxconn, hence they should also be liable for the lives of the employees who are terribly damaged by the poor working conditions.