Answer to Question #222854 in English for Natie Nel

Question

List [3 marks] and explain [6 marks] three factors that influence our choice of methods for Environmental Education/Education for Sustainable Development.

Answer 1

In modern society, the concept of sustainable development is based on three factors, which are economic development, environmental conservation, and social justice. While pursuing new economic development models, the long-term sustainable development should not be neglected for short-term individual benefits.

In economic development, the environmental load should be balanced and buffered, and the natural resources and environments needed by human beings should be well protected, instead of abusing environmental resources. Development should be accompanied by contribution to the society; thus, there should be a balanced model of sustainable development based on the economy, environment, and society in order to accomplish sustainable development in human society.

As corporate social responsibility (CSR) is gradually valued, firms usually have to deal with difficult problems regarding green issues in corporate sustainable development. Regarding environmental pollution caused by 3C electronic products in particular, firms should try to undertake CSR, while simultaneously achieving greater successful and stable sustainable development in design. Since the issues of global warming and climatic change become important, countries around the globe value the importance of constructing green civilization, and related measures of environmental protection become more complete [3]. The establishment of environmentally friendly green industry policies, finance policies, and tax policies and the enhancement of laws of environmental protection and complete management system result in harmony between human beings and nature, and they are important policies for the present and future of different countries. Therefore, while the government actively reviews overall economic direction and implements new tax reform, firms should more positively implement sustainable development and product sustainable development design.

The corporate cognition and practice of social responsibility have evolved from a narrow to a broad sense. In Europe, Japan, and the USA, the concept of the corporate social citizen has become common. However, in Taiwan, the concept of CSR is still new. Therefore, when overseas cognition of CSR makes progress, firms in Taiwan are still at the level of charities and fundamental associations. Regarding firms’ difficulties in implementation of sustainable development, 53.4% of firms suggest the lack of a guidance mechanism, 50.9% suggest that costs are too high, 38.8% suggest the existence of ambiguous governmental laws, and 35.3% indicate a lack of related professional knowledge. As to corporate sustainable development policy in regards to green business policy, 90.5% of firms suggest the importance of resource recovery, 83.6% use energy-saving devices, and 61.2% identify with the improvement of production [8].

Regarding positive development upon CSR, firms should not only be familiar with international laws and have significant support and guidance from government, but they should also possess the concepts of sustainable development, positive professional sustainable development, and responsive ability. However, firms sometimes cannot fulfill this responsibility due to a lack of management time and the traditional profit-oriented concept of business [9, 10], and they tend to be passive and careless regarding sustainable development. However, nowadays, with green trends, sustainable products should be based on the concerns of development procedures, including material selection, manufacturing, innovation, assembly, transportation, dismantling, and recycling. Firms should try to obtain a balance in sustainable development within this trend in order to enhance corporate image in the market after product sustainable development [11–13].

For successful sustainable development, at the decision-making stage, firms must consider the impact on the environment, the direction after green product manufacturing, and the resulting waste. They must notice the demonstration of CSR and the increase of public consciousness of sustainability. Therefore, in sustainable development, besides the sustainable perspective, they should consider the issues important for consumers and future trends, including corporate social image, positive attitude, and acceptance regarding corporate sustainable development in order to further recognize the important trend of sustainable development. Firms must then explore the different degrees of implementation in decision-making of sustainable development, developmental intention, and difference, which will not only enhance firms’ sustainable product development intention but will also solve the problems encountered during development. Therefore, firms, consumers, and social environments will be sustainable and developed by mutual dependency [18–20]. This study will analyze and conduct cross-comparison on the investigation of CSR, the degree of corporate product sustainable development, and the factors. Finally, the researcher constructs influential factors and strategy of sustainable product development as the criterion for the implementation of other related firms. Thus, based on the above analysis, this study aimed to explore correlation and effects of current corporate-developed sustainable products and the effects of sustainable product development intention.