Should sustainability be a profit-making business?
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Should sustainability be a profit-making business?Sustainability is one of the major points of today’s debates. In many sectors and many occasions this subject is mentioned. Very complex, tearing apart people because of its numerous aspects, this issue asks many questions. One of them is the following: should sustainability be a profit-making business? Like every difficult matter, the answer can’t be an easy one. Thus I think that both yes and no are valid answers, each in their own way.
Sustainability is a wide-range term that can be applied to almost every facet of life on Earth, from a local to a global scale. Developing sustainable ways of living can take many forms, from living conditions reorganization, economic sectors or work practices reappraisal, the use of science to develop new technologies, to adjustments in individual lifestyles. All those forms imply a lot of money, that can’t be denied. But it shouldn’t be a way to make more.
In fact, the main point of sustainability is to get responsible of the wellbeing of our planet and of the use of natural resources. The goal is to respect nature, not to fill up our pockets. And if, in certain points, it seems necessary to pay more to get something sustainable compared to something that isn’t, the right reaction should be to be able to spend more for “a greater good”. Unfortunately, it appears to be the case most of the time…
Thus, treating the environment may generate short-term profit at the expense of sustainability. Sustainable business practices, on the other hand, integrate ecological concerns with social and economic ones.
Growth that depletes ecosystem services is sometimes termed "uneconomic growth" as it leads to a decline in quality of life. Minimizing such growth can provide opportunities for local businesses. Energy efficiency can also increase profits by reducing costs. And so, sustainability becomes a profit-making business. In this case it doesn’t seem wrong. Moreover, the