In Michael Specter’s essay “Bigfoot,” Michael talks about the issue of increasing pollution from carbon emissions, and what causes the emissions. He explains that we as humans produce a whole lot of emissions from everyday tasks that we would hardly think about. Some examples are driving to work, flying in an airplane, and eating food. Michael talks about a company called Tesco, which is a grocery store in the United Kingdom, and what the company has done to help people recognize the quantity of carbon emissions from a simple grocery item by putting labels on all the products that they sell. Terry Leahy, the CEO of Tesco, said: “Customers want us to develop ways to take complicated carbon calculations and present them simply.” Terry Leahy thinks by putting the labels on each of their items; it’ll give more recognition on the pollution that’s being caused.
In the essay, Michael Specter shows that if people had a choice to buy an item that either had a label indicating the process in which an item is produced, and the level of emissions produced, or an item that didn’t show the process, most people would choose the product with the label, because the people buying the product with the label think it’s the better choice because it shows how much it has polluted, and the customers would think they’re helping out the case by buying an item with a label on it because they might believe there are fewer emissions from the product with the label. I think that by putting the label on the product, it creates a double positive for Tesco because when people see that the company cares about the environment, they will want to shop with Tesco, and that creates more sales. It doesn’t only just come down to sales though; Leahy wants not just to help, but to inform the total amount of pollution from the product being made, to the amount not being used going to the wasteland.
I don’t think that using labels are helping the problem right now, or I don’t think it’ll help in the future either; all the label does is inform the buyer how many emissions pollute our planet. When people buy an item at the store with a label on it, the customers think they’re doing good, but they aren’t at all; the customers aren’t helping anyone out beside the company that produced your favorite food. I believe that Tesco truly doesn’t care as much as they say they do, the company just acts as they do to attract customers to their shops because they “care” about the health of the planet. The true meaning of the label is only to build the value of the company to make it seem like they care about the problem, but all they care about is their next fat paycheck! Customers should think beyond what Tesco think they are by demanding a truly responsible organization that produce and sell environmentally manufactured products.[G1]
I think that Tesco has the right idea of trying to promote awareness of carbon footprint, but I think there are better ways to decrease the carbon emissions. One of the top ways to minimize carbon emissions is by merely reducing the amount of energy that the business uses. According to Sustainable Business Toolkit, “For most companies, energy use is by far the largest contributor to their carbon footprint, often accounting for up to 50% of a carbon footprint.” I think that companies can switch to energy efficient lighting, so it doesn’t produce a whole lot of emissions as standard bulbs do. Another way to reduce the energy in businesses would be by controlling the heating and cooling. If a company is using an out of date heating or cooling system, the system can spew out emissions like no man’s business; that’s why I believe by putting energy efficient ones in, it’ll drastically improve the problem. The last way that I think that companies can improve their carbon footprint is by recycling all that they can. A big reason why I picked this as a way a business can reduce their emissions is that if companies don’t send their recyclables to recycling centers, it means that it goes to a landfill and creates even more emissions from the greenhouse gasses, and more pollution is the last thing we need.
I think if companies can make a move to take care of their carbon footprint instead of just putting out a label showing the carbon footprint, it’ll boost not only their reputation, which means more sales, but it’ll also make our planet a better place for our generation and now. The labeling system that they had was a good idea, but I don’t think it honestly worked as if you took control of the company, not having it your consumers hands. With the labeling system, sure it shows the number of carbon emissions it took to make the product, but what does that help with? Consumers are not going to change what they do by merely seeing a label, but if companies took action by replacing everything with energy efficient items it’d reduce emissions a whole lot, but will companies do it? To answer the question, no, they won’t do it because it costs money and it’s easier to act as they care by putting out stickers on their items on which they sell.
Businesses should care for the environment with the enthusiasm they use to maximize profit by going beyond PR stances. I believe that the society whom the businesses serve is significant otherwise if their plight is not taken into consideration then the businesses should fall. In line with Katie Fehrenbacher (2015) argument, adopting energy efficient technologies may help in reducing carbon emission and that an organization’s commitment towards reducing energy consumption is also significant. I tend to agree with Fehrenbacher on this because unless an organization is committed to a more efficient energy, it may be difficult to implement good strategies that can help in achieving the target. Having labels on products alone cannot help reduce the emission if a business sticks to its old tactics. A consumer should be much concerned with the processes involved in producing a product but not the end product as Tesla may want to make people believe. According to Fehrenbacher, coming up with good environmental friendly and conscious policies as well as good leadership may help in eliminating excessive emission as it is currently witnessed. However, policy-making cannot be done at the business level but at the national level. The federal national government and the policy makers should be able to direct the activities of businesses whose main aim is making profits. With this, the companies will be forced to comply with the rules hence making them more responsible.[G2] Organizations should be focused on compliance and heavy penalties should be introduced in case of non-compliance to encourage the business to be more vigilant.
Works Cited
Fehrenbacher, Katie. “How Big Companies are Reducing Emissions-and and Making Money.” Fortune, 29 Sept. 2015. http://fortune.com/2015/09/28/carbon-emissions-seimens-dell/. Accessed March 18, 2018.
Specter, Michael. “Big Foot.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 19 June 2017, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/02/25/big-foot. Accessed February 26, 2018.
Writer, Staff. “5 Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint.” Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint - Sustainable Business Toolkit, 1 Dec. 2014, www.sustainablebusinesstoolkit.com/5-ways-to-reduce-carbon-footprint/. Accessed February 24, 2018.
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