Agreed! We are becoming hyper-aware of what goes on behind closed doors of some of the largest corporations (with the help of transparency laws and a few brave souls) and this awareness is leading to a higher demand of sustainable products, brands and an overall lifestyle. People are willing to cut back on other expenses to support the corporations who adopt a more environmentally-friendly approach and it is 100% the way of the future. At the same time, greed and corruption is also reaching new heights. So there will always be counter-offers from companies that promise you the world if you sell your soul to them. Because it's "easier" / "cheaper" / "more durable"- all these words that humans are suckers for and buy into every time.

So as much as I believe sustainable businesses are the answer to the environmental downfall, I fear for how bad the counter-party is going to become to "keep the balance".

I don't see why sustainable business practices are regarded as a 'general short term focus'. It is the other way around. The industries have the power and thus they can decide whether to pollute or to protect the environment. They can also influence the society, which would even have a greater effect on the environment. However, businesses tend to think short-termed meaning they want to make money immediately/now and stay competitive. Being sustainable is not relevant at that particular moment. But if all companies go along with each other focusing on sustainable business practices, this could be a new milestone in solving environmental problems.

I think the businesses that are avoiding harming the environment as much as possible should represent an example for other businesses that do not care too much about it.

To me this is a start and like you said, a fresh breeze in a world where many industries are not taking into account the pollution their factories are causing.

I truly hope that in the future most of the industries would have switched to a better plan of making use of raw materials without harming the planet. It's also the fact that people are more aware of the environment they live in, thus the demand for a sustainable product is also increasing. Many people are already avoiding buying products that come from companies that do not pay much attention to the environment and soon enough businesses will have to switch to a good sustainable plan in order to keep their customers. Take for example H&M;, that has recently introduced the possibility for customers to return old clothes in order to be recycled and receiving a discount card for H&M;products. I think this is very important because not only H&M;is supporting recycling, but it also encourages people to do it themselves.

There are more factors in play here than simply being a sustainable business. In order to solve global environmental crisis, I feel that it is a combined efforts of both businesses and leisure together. However, I do feel that (especially large) businesses have a significant impact on these environmental issues. They are the ones with the most "pollution" and have the highest carbon footprint. Changes made to their businesses towards the sustainable side will mean significant reduction in environmental issues. I feel that it is not the most effective weapon, seeing as it is a combined effort, but it definitely has a large impact.

I think it is a very string 'weapon' in this respect. If all major corporation took it upon themselves to lower the environmental impact they have, then the crisis will be at least 'put on hold' and then the efforts to 'fix it' will be much more successful. A company like Nutreco, who produce animal and fish feeds, are an example that I know of who invest a lot in sustainability. Being the one of the worlds largest feed producers, they not only put plans of action in place to producing it in a environmentally friendly way, but develop strategies for amelioration of the regions they work in. This is a good example of what I mean.

Even though I feel I am not in the best position to comment on this statement, because I do not know enough about the advantages and pitfalls of sustainable businesses, I do think they are a very good place to start. However, without any other changes on smaller and higher level, they may not have enough impact to solve the real environmental crisis. To be able to do this, 'everyone' needs to work together, meaning that for instance, there shouldn't be any environmentally unfriendly businesses that somehow level out the sustainability of other businesses. Moreover, it is important that the financial rewards and costs for starting a sustainable business are comparable to those of starting a 'normal' business.

Sustainable businesses defenitely aren't the only way.

The corporate world have the biggest influence on society, so if they would collectively (SMEs and MNOs) work on sustainable goals in society they would influence the consumers as well. Sustainable businesses could be the solution for all environmental crises. Though they have the power to make these changes, I do not believe they would actually make it happen as they always keep commercial purposes, profits and market share in mind.

I agree that the big companies polluting our earth should be the ones fixing it. But we all know being sustainable is not high on the list of a lot of those companies. Next to that it will mean that the consumers of these companies will in the end pay more. A big part of these consumers will find cheaper alternatives. Alternatives that are probably made by smaller non-sustainable companies. Completely solving the environmental crisis is a long way ahead. In my opinion every business (from small and local to big and international, governments and consumers need to work together to fight the environmental crisis.

Yes, I agree with this statement. If more companies become more sustainable than we will make a great step in the right direction. However, I also think that every individual should contribute in solving environmental crisis, because when one does something against it and one other keeps on polluting it wont make a change. So the sustainable businesses are the first main step.. but many other will have to follow..

Yeah, companies produce so much pollution, it's insane. Sure we civilians can help, too, by seperating plastic from paper etc. But I think a lot of companies should really focus on being environmentally responsible.

I do think that these sustainable business are the most effective weapon in solving environmental crises however nowadays they still don't have enough impact to remarkably change our environmental situation. This is due to the fact of not strictly enough governmental regulations and the refusal of a lot of companies, SMEs as well as large enterprises to implement a sustainable business strategy. Only if they are willing to /forced to change their actions these sustainable business are an effective weapon in solving environmental issues. There are barely any other effectives weapons that could lead to change

It are the big companies of our time who are most responsible for even causing the environmental crises. In order to solve these issues, it are these exact same companies who should alter their approaches and instead go for a more sustainable business model. However, the main problem here is that these companies often don't look at their pollution or the amount of animals extinct by their doing, they often only see profits.