13: Ecological Impact on Business

Relationship of business with ecology

Every business operates in an ecological system, and they rely on genes, species, and ecosystem services as essential inputs in their production processes. Additionally, they depend on healthy ecosystems to treat and dissipate waste, maintain soil and water quality, and help regulate the composition of the air. For instance, the agricultural industry depends on the variety of wild relatives of the main food crops as a resource to assure crop resistance to disease and pests.

This dependent relationship between ecology and businesses when things go wrong leads to a negative impact on all the creatures in a web chain of ecosystems.

Here are some environmental impacts of businesses:

• Soil and water contamination, erosion, species extinction, air and water pollution, and habitat loss and degradation.
• It can have an impact on neighborhood communities by restricting access to natural resources or interfering with ecosystem services like erosion management.
• Excessive waste generation, without proper waste disposal and management.
• Non-native species emergence can cause ecosystem disruption.

Apart from the measurable impacts of our activities, the earth’s ecology is depleting and going beyond the point of replenishment as days pass by. Human activities which are leading to the loss of habitats of various creatures are causing their migration to foreign lands with less suitable environments for them. Thus let’s look at some best practices and case studies to reduce, replenish and recover our ecology.

Best Practices for Industries

Companies are bulk users of all ecological resources thus it becomes necessary to plan actions and operate sustainably to avoid profit-over-planet situations.
Here are some best practices for industries to reduce, recycle and reuse resources judiciously. Using different levels of organization within ecology let's understand their interdependent relationship in terms of/with businesses.

1.Conservation of Environment:

By sustainable sourcing
Sustainable sourcing of materials should be a core ethic of any manufacturing company for any other industry for that matter. Thus, using up local resources or locally produced goods will reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumed in the transportation of materials. Sustainable disposal of waste and waste management issues should be one of the top most priority.

2.Energy Conservation:

By using renewable energy
Renewable energy comes from natural sources that replace themselves more quickly than they are used up. Examples of such sources that are continuously replenished are solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, hydropower energy, ocean energy and bioenergy. The key to solving the climate catastrophe is switching from fossil fuels, which now produce the majority of emissions, to renewable energy.

3.Community Ecology:

By switching to Eco-friendliness behavior
Effective carbon management plans and environmental improvement and risk aversive plans should be laid out clearly in the company's vision statement for transparent communication among all stakeholders. Along with this, credible and valid certifications from ethical standards related to the environment, society and governance or any other additional certifications required should be taken and looked after by all businesses. Community awareness sessions and sustainable restoration of all the products used from forests by preserving biodiversity through planting and reduction in deforestation of new resources must also be practiced.
Industries like coal and mines, manufacturing, food and beverages, hospitality and construction are a few of the major industries that are directly involved with the environment thus impacting directly. Therefore, these industries should lay out and implement best practices while they are formulating their business plans.

4.Soil Conservation:

By preventing unnecessary land alteration or biodiversity loss
Lots of ground movement occurs during construction, both consciously and unconsciously. Erosion is frequently caused by this movement, which can have an effect on the site and the surrounding natural surroundings. Thus it becomes really important to implement soil preservation activities such as

• No-till farming practices
• Switching to terrace farming, contour farming, windbreaks, wetlands restoration, buffer strips, forest cover reestablishment, using earthworms.
• Erosion can be reduced with the use of construction phasing.
• Schedule excavations when there is minimal rainfall and excavate efficiently so as not to leave soil exposed for a prolonged period.
• To minimize displacement, keep any disturbed soil covered with mulch or vegetation.
• Use less heavy machinery to lessen soil compaction.
• A proper scientific evaluation of sensitive lands and locations before any mining or construction.

Case studies

A case of sustainable mining: Tata Steel Coal Mines

It’s been more than 100 years since Tata steel coal mining was established and has committed itself towards sustainable mining operations.

• Starting from the certification of all its mining sites under international environmental management standards. It has committed itself towards a holistic business model that looks at the entire value chain.
• It has adopted a strategic approach to mine safety, management of natural and shared resources, particularly water, air, and land, diversity & inclusion in the workforce, and social and environmental sustainability through inclusive growth and biodiversity management. The Company aims to be the benchmark for environmental stewardship in the steel industry.
• FerroHaat app, a first of its sort in the world, is used to obtain the scrap. Using recyclable ferrous scrap for steel production has lowered its carbon footprint.
• Besides environment preservation initiatives, the Tata steel plant provided and strategically planned rehabilitation for residents and workers of almost all its mining locations.