Living
in a world where the dominating inhabitants tend to value progress and comfort
over anything else can pose some major issues for these people and their
environment. It’s difficult to escape an anthropocentric state of mind when so
much of a human’s life depends on their individual success, especially when the
stakes for success are reaching ever higher. While struggling to keep up with
the rapid progression of societal expectations, all too often people lose their
sense of intrinsic fulfillment – the feeling that it doesn’t matter whether or
not an outcome will heighten your success or diminish it. What matters is the
actions themselves, how they coincide with your own values, and how they will
better you as a person. In my pursuit of happiness – which I then believed to
be contentedness and financial stability – I was faced with a choice between a
degree in Business Management and a degree in Environmental Studies. The former
was a seemingly safe and comfortable route, and the latter a newly evolved passion
which put into question the morality of blending in with the masses. My choice
is better described as a compromise. With a Business and Sustainability degree,
I am able to honor my intrinsic motivation to protect the environment while
maintaining a level of respect for the nature of our species to strive for
economic growth.
As
I progressed in my education, I became overwhelmed by the increasing
seriousness of my decisions. Immersed in the ambiguity of my interests and the
external pressure for choosing a career path, Business Management seemed like a
fair decision. It provided me a broad array of options as to which companies I
could work for and I knew that I would be content in wherever I may end up.
What this path lacked in ecocentric and holistic motivations was substituted
with instrumental value and financial stability. I was so focused on the final
outcome; I wanted my education to be successful by providing me with a stable
job. Isn’t that the point of an education after all? To be able to prove my own
worth to others through all that I have learned and accomplished? It was enough
for me at the time to be one among countless business students striving for
success. It was enough to know I would be comfortable, content, and safe. My
contribution to the business of my choice would be appreciated and recognized
by many. What I quickly came to realize, however, is that although my worth
would be seen by others, the worth that I saw in myself was buried in my
outcome-driven mind. I had lost sight of things I am passionate about as if the
opinions of others in the future mattered more than how I thought of myself
right now. As Aldo Leopold states in A
Sand County Almanac, “…things hoped for have a higher value than things
assured.”[1]
Business Management could assure so many things that I had grown to value:
possessions which would ultimately be replaced and absorbed by the Earth, a job
with a business which, in its economic growth, takes no consideration for
environmental damage, and status among my peers which is useless when my
actions provide no self-fulfillment. In the end, these assurances were no match
for the things I now hope for.
Opportunities
in life are presented to us in all shapes and sizes. The seizing of these
opportunities are sometimes very easy and other times can be extremely
difficult. On this subject, Leopold states, “How like fish we are: ready, nay
eager, to seize upon whatever new thing some wind of circumstance shakes down
upon the river of time! And how we rue our haste finding the gilded morsel to
contain a hook. Even so, I think there is some virtue in eagerness, whether its
object prove true or false.”[2]
When I decided to set sails for Business and Sustainability, I felt this
eagerness. I felt a new form of yearning for what lay ahead of me and the value
I saw in my decision was refreshingly non-derivative. I no longer cared for the
outcome I would achieve, but rather the fulfillment I would receive along the
way. My passions became reality as I tried to lessen my own environmental
impact through my actions and inspire others to do the same. These actions, as
obligatory as they may seem, were purely voluntary and entirely enjoyable. As
happy as I am with my decision, my choice to take a more ethically sound career
path has added a level of complexity to my life. An ecocentric perspective
doesn’t resonate with everyone and I find myself frustrated with people who do
not share my point of view. It is this sense of ethical relativism that
inhibits the world’s sustainable opportunities. A person’s morals are often
based on the morals instilled in them by their culture, and when the
environment holds no importance in a society, change becomes very difficult. Generations
before my own were not aware of the damage they were causing to the ecosystem and
to the planet. Their fossil fuel-burning, materialistic, and wasteful ways of
life have been passed down and will continue to do so until enough people remove
themselves from this cultural “morality” and begin to see things with moral
objectivism. It is then that we can allow our environmental morals to overrule
some others. A parent may feel an ethical responsibility to buy their children
the newest cell phones and provide them with a car when they turn 16, but maybe
someday they will feel a more powerful responsibility to spare the earth those
fumes a few years and decrease the demand for consistent technological upgrades.
My optimism can be finely stated by Robert Finch: “If all things are in a state
of constant change, then human behavior can change too – and for the better.”[3]
In
regards to my hopes for the future, they are not as they were before. Success
no longer depends on my status or my worth in terms of others’ opinions. As
long as I am acting according to my own values and am still working
passionately toward a more sustainable community, I will be successful in my
own mind. What a better world this would be if everyone’s goals were to better
their community and their character rather than their social status! Too often
do people let go of their moral obligations for some monetary or socioeconomic
gain and too often does our environment have to pay the price. With the growing
amount of environmental data and research and so many historically passionate
people, there is no longer any legitimate reason why someone should ignore
their impact on this earth. If Leopold is correct in saying “We grieve only for
what we know,”[4] then
humanity knows very little of our ecosystem. Real human grief occurs at the
loss of an emotional relationship. We as a species have yet to fully develop a
relationship with nature that extends to the emotional level. Until then, we
don’t know nature and therefore
cannot grieve its destruction. So how can this relationship be built? We may
realize “That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology,” but as
Leopold states, and I agree: “that land is to be loved and respected is an
extension of ethics.”[5]
Once again, it all boils down to our ethical responsibilities.
The
first step to making ethical decisions is to be aware that these ethical
dimensions exist. As I had done when choosing Business Management, ethics are
often overlooked or disregarded. But once you are aware that there is a more
ethically sound alternative, and that this alternative will not only feel
better but be better for all, it is difficult to make a morally unsound
decision. Once this awareness is in place, a person is bound to make better
choices even if it be at first out of guilt or obligation. The satisfaction felt
when making a sound, educated choice is undeniably sweet and more of these
decisions are bound to stem from it. What I felt when I switched my career path
was a feeling of pride. I was awarded a clear conscience that I was no longer
willing to dishevel with bad judgement. To ignore my ethical obligations at
that point would be selfish and embarrassing considering all the other passionate
people like myself that devote their lives to a sustainable future.
Environmentalists are taking on an immensely intimidating task. We are facing
generations of cultures and societies, each with resonating habits and ideals
accompanied by a desperate unwillingness to change. It is amidst these
challenges that Leopold sees two alternatives: “either [we] insure the
continued blindness of the populace, or examine the question whether we cannot have
both progress and plants.”[6]
It is surely a slow process, but I believe with the growing number of people
making decisions like my own, the eyes of a sustainable future are beginning to
open.
In
conclusion, people everywhere are faced with ethical dilemmas of all different
sorts. My recent dilemma happened to be between a career path in Business
Management – which would provide me comfort in my occupational options as well
as financial stability – and one in an environmental field. As I became more aware
of my own passions and the planet’s troubled ecosystem, I chose to study
Business and Sustainability. This choice not only added to my own self-worth,
but also contributed to the number of people that are willing to put their
status-striving, habit-ridden lives aside in order to focus on something with
less moral uncertainty. Science alone may not solve the environmental crisis we
face today, nor literature, nor history or time, but with the addition of
ethics, the combination of these factors could be the key to environmental
improvement.
[1] Leopold,
Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. (New
York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1949). 54.
[2] Ibid.,
39.
[3] Finch,
Robert. Introduction to A Sand County
Almanac. (New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1949). Xxv.
[4] Leopold,
Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. (New
York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1949). 48.
[5] Ibid.,
Viii.
[6] Leopold,
Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. (New
York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1949). 47.
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