[Human] Values and Ethics in Environmental Health Discourse and Decision-Making: The Complex Stakeholder Controversy and the Possibility of “Win-Win” Outcomes

Descriptively, real-world facts about the link between the mode of production and its effects on the environment speak their own clear language. In 2018, Deutsche Welle reported that:

Plastic now pollutes our entire Planet.

Governments are trying to tackle the environmental catastrophe… and this is hurting some businesses.

It is all proving that the move away from waste is going to be a struggle.

The move will save a lot of money in the long run, but big business is only interested in profits. Shareholders focus on the short-term.

And… we are forever encouraged to consume. ¹

Making money is the centerpiece of corporate responsibility, according to Milton Friedman. Thus, the (value) clash between environmental concerns and the business-as-usual view goes to the very core of the controversy and conflict that this chapter 4addresses, as will be explicated in the following paragraphs and sections. At the same time, the complexity of the stakeholder divide is such as to give rise to a number of crucial mergers, meaning that critical questions about the depth and relevancy of their differences may be inescapable.