Companies VS. Ecologies

Yesterday in the botanical garden I met my friend Renaud who studied landscape architecture and now working in the garden as an internship. He was curious what course we are taking in there. So I told him it's Companies in Ecologies, and it is a business elective.

"But isn't business, economies in contradict with ecologies?" he asked.

Well, yes in a way. It depends on the ideology you believe in. If one believes in the shareholder model which is to maximize the profit of shareholders, it might seem right that companies and ecologies can't co-exist. But if you believe in the stake-holder model that a company should engage in the interests of all the relevant parties in the society, then being ecologically friendly should just be one of the many goals a company seeks.

While I have some other friends who are anarchies, and hate anything that is capitalist or materialist. For them, any company is just an evil organization destroying the world and our brain. When they heard that I am taking this curse,they acted in the way like I am joking. Pfft, companies just want to earn money, their so-called sustainable development is just to please the consumers, and it is some what a fetishism for the company now to be eco-friendly.

Well, it is difficult to tell the real intention of the companies. As sometimes we don't even know the real intention why we do certain things ourselves. Maybe we want to be green so that we can be included in a friend group we like. Who knows? But we can't deny that companies are now the engines of the society, whether it is a lucky thing or not. To save the planet, we need all powers possible. If companies are willing to make changes and participate in the green revolution. They should be more than welcome.

As a consumer, we should be happy so see that we are not only the puppets under the marketing tools, but now we are channeling the companies to use practices that pleases us. However, then, to please part of the consumers who care about the environment, companies raises awareness among other consumers who might not initially realize the seriousness of the environmental problems. So companies and consumers depend on each other to realize their goals. There should not be hatred in between, but collaborations.