Introduction
Through their activities, commercial organizations generate waste that contributes to climate change. Although effort is being made to limit human impact on the environment, the commercial waste is still one of the major problems for the environment that results into climate change. Electric energy is an important resource that is wasted across most commercial organizations. Further on, the wasted resources facilitate climate change. This paper argues that commercial organizations’ wasted electric energy contributes to the climate change.
Body
Commercial organizations are the institutions that carry out activities that imply selling products or services. Their activities developed for satisfying market’s demand often imply resorting to specific resources required for meeting the demand. Some of these resources are raw materials like water, energy, wood, metal, etc. Electric energy is therefore a raw material that commercial organizations employ in their operations. Either for lighting purposes or for powering up computers or other devices that run on electricity, commercial activities use it and often time waste it. The process of wasting electric energy is known as light pollution, which can take multiple forms:
glare (causing a discomforting, insufficient or dangerous lighting that affects the eyes);
sky glow (brightening of the sky due to artificial outdoor lighting);
light trespass (public or private lightening that trespasses private property) (Garrett 877).
All these forms of light pollution are contributing to climate change. First, glare facilitates the greenhouse effect inside the commercial units, as the light interacts with windows or other reflecting surfaces, absorbing light and heat. Sky glow emitted as a result of commercial activities (outdoor lighting of parking lots, commercial centers, billboards, etc.) mean the release of CO2 into the atmosphere, which causes atmospheric pollution and implicitly climate change. Finally, light trespass impacts the rhythm of the vegetation, hindering trees to adjust to the seasonal changes, further affecting role of the vegetation in absorbing CO2, hence, leading to climate change (Garrett 877).
As all the above - mentioned forms of light pollution produced by commercial organizations are generated by wasting electric energy and wasted electric energy contributes to climate change, than this implies that through their activities that imply energy consumption and wasted energy, commercial organizations contribute to climate change. Think about a shopping center that uses outdoor lighting even after its closing hours for advertising purposes. Its outdoor lighting produces glare, by reflecting the artificial light in the auto drivers’ cars, hampering their circulation, but also increasing the atmospheric heat. It also affects the nearby vegetation through light trespass, jeopardizing the local wildlife and delaying trees’ responses to natural seasonal changes. Furthermore, the sky glow emits unnecessary CO2 into the atmosphere and lightens the nearby areas, further affecting the vegetation and the natural processes. Therefore, in an instantiated manner, commercial organizations’ wasted electric energy contributes to climate change.
Of course, not only commercial organizations are wasting electric energy. Individuals are also creating glare, light trespass or sky glow through their domestic activities and with or without commercial organizations’ wasted electric energy climate change would still occur as a result of domestic energy waste.
Conclusion
It is true that not only commercial organizations are wasting electric energy and that individuals, through their domestic activities are also producing all forms of light pollution, contributing to climate change. However, commercial organizations work at a much larger scale. One commercial organization’s daily wasted electric energy is incomparable higher than one individual’s domestic daily wasted electric energy. The impact of the commercial organizations upon the environment, through their wasted electric energy speeds up the process of climate change, while the individuals’ wasted electric energy has limited potential of inducing it.
My central argument is a valid categorical syllogism, based on these premises and conclusion:
P1: Electric energy is an important resource that commercial organizations waste in their activities.
P2: Wasted resources contribute to climate change.
C: Commercial organizations’ wasted electric energy contributes to climate change.
This syllogism is based on figure 1, namely that middle term is subject of the major premise and predicate in the minor premise and on AAA mood (Parry & Hacker 281).
Works Cited
Garrett, Mark. Encyclopedia of Transportation: Social Science and Policy. Los Angeles: Sage. 2014. Print.
Parry, William Thomas & Hacker, Edward, A. Arostotelian Logic. New York: State University of New York Press. 1991. Print.
