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Oksana Kayan FRINQ 11/19/2013 Implementing Sustainability

The world is intertwined into one; this is evident just from the sight of bushel of leaves falling softly to the ground in the slight breeze ruffling the tree branches outside. Some leaves are in the air and others are on the ground starting to decompose. To grow these leaves, rain rains down upon the earth to nurture the eco system. As it falls the grass starts to look greener and some mushrooms start to peak out. The whole world looks revived after a slight midnight rain shower. When the cows wake up in the morning they graze in the field. When the right time comes we kill the cows in order to have it in gravy with mash potatoes. There is a link in all of these things. We are all intertwined within each other. When I say we I mean the whole universe. We are mechanisms that help each other thrive by supporting each others needs. We humans are the elite of the food chain; which means, that the decisions that we make impact the whole global spectrum. Every living mechanism on this earth has a job to do; the plants and trees cleanse the air, fish and animals supply us protein nutrition, and agriculture provides other nutrition sources for us to thrive in our environment, but what do we humans do to sustain this environment? Seeking an answer to this question, I now look the common themes and differences among human organizations- corporate, governmental, and NGOs. All organizations have massive impacts on the sustainability of the environment. The specific organizations examined here; Applied Materials, Peace Corps, and Green Peace share common values towards sustainability, but have different ways of implementing their goals.

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In the world that we live in today, there is great transformation via globalization. Applied Materials manufactures technologies that have propelled this transformation. Only a couple of decades ago we lacked, innovations like dishwashers in our kitchens, flat screen TVs in our living rooms, and solar panels to power our houses. The mission statement of Applied Materials is, to lead the nano-manufacturing technology revolution with innovations that transform the markets, create markets, and offer a cleaner & brighter future to people all around the world(Solarplaza, 2009, para.6). Applied Materials is implementing their goal by changing the market, creating more jobs in the market, and providing technology that assists people all around the world. The evidence for this is that we now have iPhones that fit right into our pocket created by the Apple, Inc. The first computer came out in 1946 weighted 27 tons, and was the size of a room. Having the technology has changed the world it the ways things get done. The way we communicate, do business, and learn etc. Evidence of Applied Materials claim is that we are finding more efficient ways of generating our electricity through solar power panels and designing them to fit for our cars. As Chris Marsden (n.d.) wrote, The triple bottom line objective is a holistic business policy which intergrades corporate citizenship into the values and practices of the entire company such that its environmental, social, and financial performances are managed as one(pg. 16). Applied Material sees itself as a responsible corporate citizen, working to improve the way people livefrom the health and well-being of our employees and their communities to our sustainability business practices and corporate governance every aspect of our business supports the goal of building a brighter future for all (Applied Materials, n.d ).

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Applied Materials is working on managing the environmental, social, and financial performances in order to maintain a holistic business policy. An organization that takes insights in order to maintain social sustainability of other countries and their ties with United States of America is the Peace Corps. Peace Corps mission statement, is to promote world peace and friendship by providing qualified volunteers to countries of interest in need of trained manpower (Peace Corps booklet, 1999, para.1). Peace Corps is a government-sponsored agency that promotes American ties all around the world. Peace Corps sends volunteers who have gotten a degree of any sort or experience that will benefit the country that is in interested in Americas help. Peace Corps implements its sustainability goal by sending qualified volunteers to help out in order to educate other people in countries in need of assistance to live a better life by sending doctors and medical equipment to countries in need. Peace Corps is helping people in other countries creating longer life expectancies by providing health treatment instruments. For example, In Uganda, for instance, a major cause of death is brain hemorrhage following auto and motorcycle accidents. The Center for Global Health helped to get the medical supply company Stryker to donate an electric craniotomy drill. With an electric drill you can (evacuate blood) in two minutes," Kerry explains. "We've used this drill a number of times, and it's saving lives. I got a letter saying 'You don't know what a difference this has made (Doucleff, 2013). Sustainability is implanted by such actions in promoting human health and saving lives. If an epidemic breaks out, then the human environment is clearly not sustainable. We have had massive numbers of people die from plagues like smallpox. In order to prevent smallpox from

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spreading further, vaccines must be provided for all. This example is like Kerrys because they both are helping sustain community health.

Green Peace is the leading independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protests and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Michael Porter wrote in Creating Share Value (2011), Highlighted environmental awareness and advances in technology are catalyzing new approaches in areas such as utilization of water, raw materials, and packaging, as well as expanding recycling and reuse (Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer, 2011). Green Peace works to find solutions to problems like the threat of global warming, destruction of ancient forests, deterioration of our oceans, and the threat of a nuclear disaster loom large (Green Peace,n.d., para.6). The reasoning for this is weather the solutions are political, social or technological, we believe that they should be both environmentally responsible and globally equitable (Green Peace, n.d., para.6). Green Peace works to preserve the ecological aspects of the environment. For example Green Peace created a movement to save the Arctic! The Arctic petition asked for the Arctic to become a sanctuary. Shell ceased drilling in Alaska for the year. It is a huge victory for people power because 2.2 million people around the world signed the Arctic petition (Green Peace, 2012, para.31). This was only one example of what Green Peace has done out of the hundreds.

Applied Materials, Peace Corps, and Green Peace share common sustainability goals, but they each have different ways of implementing these goals. Environmental issues, weather they involve sinking oil platforms in the sea or the implications of genetically moderated crops, are no longer just a matter for governments and their scientists (Chris Marsden, n.d.). It is for all the

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populous on the earth. We have a great say in our environment. The circle of life goes on in a cycle which is to show that the world is entwined within each other. If we are having a problem with one portion of our environment for example polluted rivers then we are not sustainable. We have to work for sustainable in order for a brighter future. When a person starts lacking a certain element in their diet the body slowly becomes weak affecting the whole body system to a point where it could start shutting down. The body has to be in good health in order for it to further development. Sadly for example when cancer invades the human body it develops at different rates. Some faster cancers develop faster than others, but in the end it will still come to the same outcome if cancer goes untreated and if it gets caught in time. This example correlates to the environment because when part of the landscape gets affected and goes untreated then the world is effectively battling an internal cancer (?) Applied Materials implements its goal of sustainability by designing technology that is efficient for our environment, while Peace Corps implements its goal of sustainability by helping out countries in of interest trained manpower. Green Peace implements its goal of sustainability by creating peaceful protests and creative speaking about global environmental problems in order to maintain a sustainable ecological environment. Applied Materials, Peace Corps, and Green Peace share the common value of sustainability through different aspects that they implement.

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References Applied Materials. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.appliedmaterials.com/about/cr Chris Marsden (2000). Business and Society Review 105:1 9-25. Blackwell Publishers Doucleff, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/a-peace-corps-fordoctors-built-by-a-senators-daughter Greenpeace. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns Porter, M., & Kramer, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.hks.harvard.edu/mrcbg/fellows/N_Lovegrove_Study_Group/Session_1/Michael_Porter_Creating_Shared_V alue.pdf Preiswerk, D. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.psu.edu/org/peace_corps/history.html Solarplaza.(2009) Retrieved from http://www.solarplaza.com/business/applied-materials