Environmental Awareness Issues

Environment

You hear about "the environment" nearly every day. Somebody is usually saying something about the environment, whether it about waste, energy, or 'climate change', and urging you use to do something. Go to the shops and you find "eco" fridges or organic vegetables. Everybody seems to be "going green".

What is the environment? The definition of the environment is "everything that surrounds us, everything made of the water, the air or the land, including ourselves." The environment consists of land, air, water - and people. Everything we make or do affects the environment. This is particularly the case while at work. Working people are cutting chopping, chipping and counting lumps of the environment all day.

Impacts

Our work may impact on the land, air, water and people in negative or positive ways. The impacts may also be direct - eg smoke fumes from a chimney affecting residents. or indirect - the water around a power station will warm up while producing the electricity that your organisation needs.

The main environmental issues are energy, water, waste, transport, pollution. food and carbon dioxide emissions. (See left hand Units). Energy uses valuable resources that are in increasingly short supply, and produces carbon dioxide that affects the climate. Water can be here there and everywhere, but not be fit to drink. Waste needs to be controlled otherwise our countryside will be full of landfill sites. More and more goods are transported every longer distances. This is particularly with relation to food production, which now accounts for a quarter of all mileage in UK. You will find out the details of the problems that each of these issues cause for the environment, in each of the Unit 2-8

Organisations The main environmental issue facing organisations today is to do with climate change. Every organisation is going to be expected to know how it is going to reduce carbon dioxide emeissions. However, there are many other issues, such as waste reduction and water usage which are also important. Your organisation does not exist independently from the environment. The work organisation impacts on the environment. Sometimes the environment impacts on the organisation. There is a constant interchange of energy, resources, and information. Each organisation involves people working at different levels. In vocational learning terms, these are level 4 for managers, level 3 for supervisors, skilled workers and trade union representatives, and level 2 for all supervised workers. Each level performs different fucntions with relation to the environment. See Environmental Organisational Map.