By Kim Sung-bin

The advent of industrialization, known as the Second Wave, has brought economic well-being and general renovation to many fields in our life. This was one of the most influential revolutions of all time, spreading across the world, but it also brought about problems.

Pollution occurred as a result of rapid development and a rise in population, leading the ecosystem including humans to suffer.

Contamination of the environment has destroyed the ecological balance and environmental problems are now a globally shared concern. Many experts do not anticipate the Earth to take this much longer.

The cause for this devastation lies in the general concept of industrialization and developments, which is “environmental possibilism.”

Environmental possibilism, a theory asserting that humans have the ultimate power to take advantage of their environment, has been the dominant conception across the world for a few centuries, especially in the field of business and science. To people, nature was a gift from God to humanity, which could be developed in any way for the sake of the well-being of the people.

Only recently have we been starting to realize that nature should coexist with humanity, instead of being a mere tool to boost the economy and make some people better off.

Serious pollution and its devastating results have caught the attention of people, and calls for corporations to take responsibility have risen. Awakening alarms from nature have made people keen on new policies from corporations.

Fortunately, positive steps are being taken. Efforts to prevent further environmental contamination by the industrial world are underway. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has made it clear that it will enhance eco-friendly businesses. As a result, an environmental management system has become a trend among many corporations in the world.

Last year, in my school's environmental science club, ECHO, we debated over whether this environmental management system will actually last and bring about a better outcome regarding the environment surrounding us. After a year, we finally came up with a report based on the research on these eco-friendly corporations and their sustainability.

Surprisingly, there were already myriads of enterprises adapting this system, and their policies seemed quite plausible and hopeful.

For example, Philips has made continuous efforts and has taken action for a healthy environment.

It has set up an eco-marketing program called “eco-vision” to prevent a further worsening of the environment and fully monitors the life span of its products and the production process to discover improvements regarding sustainability and annually reports on its work. However, some limitations and flaws in environmental management also captured our attention.

It is undeniable that is an ongoing controversy on whether some corporations are pursuing eco-friendly enterprises as a means of mere image making.

By broadcasting advertisements full of kindhearted keywords such as “responsibilities” and “volunteering,” consumers may be deceived by some corporations that are not as wholly into energy saving as they appear to be.

Also, concerns over corruption and graft are high. As it is much more challenging to keep the balance between profit and eco-friendly strategies, many environmentally-friendly companies fail to satisfy the thresholds of the environmental management system, and inevitably choose to violate the regulations.

Numerous companies have recently violated regulations by dumping noxious pollutants indiscriminately.

Looking over some cases, it draws us to the conclusion that environmental friendly corporations and environmental management systems are still at an early stage and need more preparations to make this idea realistic.

However, it is essential for people to realize how meaningful this work is, as humans and nature can no longer continue in a master-servant relationship. Threatening nature means threatening the lives of all species on the planet, including humans. For our future generations, we need to find a compromise from an ecological view.

Kim Sung-bin is a third-year student at Busan International High School. Contact her at sarah2074@naver.com.