The_Lorax_and_Bp

The Lorax The story of the Lorax and Mr. Once-ler is comparable to many events we see today. Mr. Once-ler seizes upon an opportunity to make fortune for himself and his family with utter disregard for the damages it will cause to his town and the environment. He did not follow the rules of ‘sustainable development’ and also ignored the warnings from Lorax. The warnings from Lorax can be seen as telltale events or effects on his environment which he chose to ignore because he was too busy making a profit to care about the well-being of his community. And yes, ultimately he is responsible for the damage done. Had he not been so focused on making as much money as possible for his family and would have paid attention to the warning signs, he would not have ultimately destroyed his community. Any proper business model must focus on sustainability, not only for your environment, but also your business and its future. If you act irresponsibly and with disregard for your resources, your workers, your community; you will soon find yourself out of work. By maintaining a balance as in the triple bottom line suggests you can develop a successful adaptable business model. If Mr. Once-ler had grown under a sustainable development model, he would have done more to heed the warning signs, he would have listened to Lorax and he would not have used up all his resources. Planning for the future as he went along by replanting and taking precautions to negate his environmental impact, Mr. Once-ler could have sustained. To use BP as a current example, they were more interested in the bottom dollar than in safety. There were numerous reports about them cutting corners to maximize profits with little to no concern for the people or the environment. The relay to a shutoff valve below that could have prevented the whole disaster was reported to not have a battery in it. Many people have been highly critical to BP’s response to the spill. First they did not take blame for the event, then reacted slowly, and most notably spent millions on PR work that could have been used in relief efforts. Had they done more to take into consideration possible environmental impacts, worked closer or listened to the people involved, they would have saved lives, the environment and billions of dollars. In my personal opinion, BP wasted valuable time blaming other people and resources fighting the fire on the well that quickly appeared to be a lost cause. They should have used that time to ensure the shutoff was triggered and avoided the disaster completely. References Blowfield, M., & Murray, A. (2008). Corporate Responsibility. New York. Oxford Press Seuss (1971). Retrieved from http://csc.gallaudet.edu/soarhigh/lorax.htm Wikipedia (2010). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill