SOC10236-Applied Ethics and Sustainability

Assignment 

Part A

You are required to select one of the five topics listed below and clearly define one focused and specific ethical question relevant to your chosen topic which you will analyse in both assignments 1A and 1B. 

The five topics are 

1.Science and/or technology.

2.Media, advertising or journalism.

3.The operation of business organisation(s) in the global economy.

4.Disaster management.

5.Population, immigration and/or refugee policy.

Required tasks:

a.Select one of the five topics. 

By carefully following the extensive guidelines provided in the Study Guide (Topic 1) clearly and concisely define one specific ethical question relevant to one of the five topics in no more than one short sentence.

b.Explain why your specific ethical problem is important and worthy of your analysis?

c.Identify and fully reference 6 key facts relevant to the analysis of your ethical question.

d.Analyse the ethical act central to your ethical question using act utilitarianism by forecasting three important positive and three important negative consequences.

e.Provide an ethical conclusion which compares expected positive with negative consequences including an estimate as to whether net utility will rise or fall. 

Part B

This assignment is a continuation of Assignment 1 Part A and you must analyse the same ethical question which you defined in Part A.

Restate your ethical question from Assignment 1 Part A on page 1 of Assignment 1 Part B. You can modify the precise wording of your ethical question drawing on feedback provided in Assignment 1 Part A.

a) Identify the act central to your ethical question.

b)Identify 2 virtues relevant to the morality of the act central to your specific ethical question. Define each virtue in no more than one sentence.

c) Discuss the morality of the act central to your ethical question by comparison with your 2 chosen virtues. 

d) Apply Kant’s categorical imperative by completing the following tasks. You need to support any yes/no answers with reasons.

i)Define a specific rule which authorises the act central to your ethical question. 

ii)Define the general rule which authorises the act central to your ethical question.

iii)Is the general rule inherently self-contradictory? Why or why not?

iv)Does the general rule violate Kant’s practical imperative or any of Kant’s other absolute moral rules?

v)Is the general rule contrary to its fundamental purpose?

vi)Is the act ethical according to Kant’s ethical system?

e.Provide an ethical conclusion by comparing your conclusions from the act utilitarian analysis in Assignment 1 Part A, your virtue ethics and Kantian analyses in Assignment 1 Part B, and drawing on your own ethical conscience.

Part C

Required 

1. Go to http://www.wwf.org.au/get-involved/change-the-way-you-live/ecological-footprint-calculator and calculate your personal ecological footprint. Copy your footprint results (i.e. ‘Results By Land Type and By Consumption Category’) into your assignment document.

2. With reference to your results perform the following tasks

a.Explain the meaning of your ecological footprint measured in global hectares with reference to the global availability of productive area per capita, and a relevant average national footprint per capita.

b.Explain the meaning of your carbon footprint (tonnes per year) with reference to a relevant forestry carbon sequestration (offset) rate expressed as the estimated number of trees needed to offset your emissions.

c.Interpret your key results by Land Type and Consumption Category.

3. By utilising your footprint analysis (results and questions), identify four major causes of the unsustainable aspects of your personal lifestyle.

4. Identify one potential solution to your unsustainable lifestyle in each of the categories of ‘City’, ‘Energy’, ‘Food’ and ‘Population’. (Note: your Ecological Footprint results provide some ideas in each of these categories).

5. Select one product that you consume for further analysis in this assignment, and identify the business organisation which manufactures this product.

6. Identify the main energy and raw material inputs needed to manufacture this product and the stage(s) in the production process where the majority of energy and materials inputs are consumed.

7. Identify the main causes of unsustainability over the product’s lifecycle (production, distribution, consumption and disposal stages).

8. By applying the principle of the ‘waste=food model’ or the ‘waste management hierarchy’ provide one recommendation to reduce the volume of waste or pollutants discharged in the production, distribution or consumption of this product. 

9. By applying the principle of the cradle to cradle design protocol, suggest one key improvement to the design of this product and explain how your idea will reduce the unsustainability of the product. (4 marks- Marking Criteria: Apply theory, Creativity)

10. Identify this organisation’s key stakeholder groups and their specific expectations of the organisation.

11. Describe one major corporate social responsibility (CSR) issue which confronts this organisation.

12. Select one stakeholder group and make a recommendation as to how this organisation could improve their social impact on this group of stakeholders.

13. Explain how your recommendation will improve this stakeholder group’s wellbeing.

14. Are you able to change your own consumption of this product to reduce your contribution to the problem and causes of unsustainability? Explain why or why not.