final portfolio

Portfolio Assignment SUS1501 – Sustainability and Greed Student Name: Student Number: Date: Teaching Assistant Name:

Declaration:

By submitting this portfolio, I implicitly declare that this is my own work except for the “Introduction” which was kindly written for me by my lecturer.

I am aware that if ANY unacknowledged copying is detected in ANY answer, I will get 0 (zero) for the entire assignment.

Introduction

My aim in compiling this portfolio was to reflect on the things that have struck me throughout this crazy module.

My starting point for doing this was to revisit my opinions to the multiple choice questions which were presented in the Crossroads assignment. I present these current opinions, together with my original opinions, and some brief notes in the section entitled: “Back at the Crossroads!”

Once I have done this, I draw some key conclusions about this crazy module and about the things that did indeed strike me.

Back at the Crossroads! Instructions: • Please download the most up to date version of this template from the additional resources tool on myUnisa. Do not rely on the digiband copy! • First, go through the MCQs again, and record your current choice • We suggest that you don’t look at your original opinions before you have been through all questions • Second, for each question, record your original choice • Please ensure that you record your original and current choices for ALL 20 questions • Third, jot down any notes which explain why your opinion changed if it did, or why it didn’t if it didn’t. • Note that we would expect to see comments/notes for at least 10 of the questions. These comments should be quite substantial – a paragraph or two. • By now you should know that it doesn’t matter what opinion you give, so long as your opinion is supported with a good argument you will get the appropriate grades. • Delete all these Instructions (the stuff in red) before you submit this assignment!

1. “The assets of the three richest people in the world match the combined annual GDP’s of the 48 poorest countries.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Good for them – they worked hard to get their wealth b. The only problem I have with this is that this money is in their bank account and not in mine c. No problem with this – many of these people give huge amounts to charities d. I think that it is morally wrong for anyone to have that much money e. I think that active steps should be taken to correct such immoral wealth imbalances Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

2. “Unless fossil-fuel use slows dramatically, the earth’s average temperature could rise by six degrees Celsius in the next 100 years.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. I don’t believe this climate change nonsense c. Six degrees will make winters much more bearable to me personally d. I’m a bit concerned about this, but there is nothing that I can do about it e. I’m a bit concerned about this, but why should I invest my personal time, effort or money in solving a general social problem. f. I think that individually we can and should strive to solve this problem for the greater good Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

3. “If the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached sometime within the next one hundred years. The most probable result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. I don’t believe this tale of doom. b. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast, but I don’t think this is a problem as there is plenty of time to find technological solutions to problems that emerge c. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. The first priority in solving this is to put the brakes on human population growth. d. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. The first priority in solving this is for rich people to reduce their consumption significantly. e. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. The first priority is for poor people to not have more kids than they can afford. f. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. And frankly I don’t see any solution because increasing consumption is the basis of our economic growth. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

4. “If arctic ice melting continues, we are likely to see the loss of two thirds of the world’s polar bear population within 50 years.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. If it boils down to choosing between driving a luxury SUV and worrying about polar bears I’ll take the car any day. c. While this is sad, polar bears aren’t really very important to my personal welfare which is my primary concern. d. While this is sad, polar bears aren’t really very important to general human social welfare. e. I don’t think polar bears are all that important to human welfare. However, their plight is a symptom of climate change which is a big problem to future human welfare. f. I think it is morally unacceptable for humans to put their interests ahead of the rights of other species like polar bears. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 5. “Let’s imagine you find out that some students get together, buy good assignments from previous years and use them, taking care to not use the same example twice on one group site and making sure the name of the original author is replaced by their own.” My personal opinion about this practice is most closely described by: a. I have heard that Unisa might be using sophisticated plagiarism detecting software like Turnitin and, if this is the case, the chances of getting caught are just too great. I don’t want to get into trouble. b. Not only will I participate, I am going to be the one who sells assignments next year for cash. c. I am not sure what the rules say but if this is against the rules I won’t do it. d. I am not sure what is the right thing to do here or what is expected of me now that I know this? e. This is another example of how unfair life is. Now students get marks undeservedly. f. Someone needs to report this because it is intellectual fraud, and that someone is going to be me. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

6. “It is for the sake of trivial gains that the world’s affluent, and their governments and international organizations are keeping the poorer half in severe often life-threatening poverty.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Rubbish! b. “The only way to make money out of poor people is to keep them poor.” c. Who’s to say what is trivial? d. “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer” e. We must mobilize ourselves and rebel against this unjust state of affairs. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

7. “Every day some 20,000 children die prematurely from poverty related causes, mostly treatable diseases.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. It’s hard to say it, but given the rising human population, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise for the human species as a whole c. It’s hard to say it, but this just means less people competing with me for scarce opportunities and resources. d. This is morally wrong, but practically, I think that it would cost too much money to solve e. It is morally unacceptable for a single child to die of a preventable disease and we should collectively fix this irrespective of the cost. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

8. “The business of business is to increase profits for shareholders” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. This is how it is AND how it should be b. This is how it should be. Unfortunately in reality businesses have become distracted by social and environmental issues c. This is how it should be. Unfortunately governments have been messing around with business and have imposed all sorts of unnecessary social and environmental responsibilities d. This is how it should be, so long as there are strong legal frameworks in place to ensure that this doesn’t lead to negative social and environmental consequences e. Unfortunately this is how it is. Ideally business should have a much wider set of responsibilities, including both social and environmental responsibilities. f. This narrow view on the responsibility of business is incorrect and went out of fashion in mainstream business years ago.

Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

9. “The world population is 7 billion. 4 billion live in poverty” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. If population growth rates of the poor were not so high they wouldn’t be so poor. c. This is sad but there is not much I can do about it. d. This is sad, but to be honest, it is not going to stop me from focusing on my own wellbeing first. e. I think that individually we can and should strive to eliminate poverty. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

10. “Don’t let’s lose sight of what creates wealth. It is open markets, it is capitalism.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Absolutely – any threats to the free market must be squashed b. Yes – capitalism is how we create wealth, but the markets must still be managed a little c. I’m not sure about this – I think that it might be time to consider some sort of different economic system d. No – the market needs to be extensively managed to ensure that the wealth that is created is good wealth rather than bad wealth e. Rubbish – capitalism creates monstrous wealth for a few and abject poverty for many. We need a much more equitable economic system Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

11. “In 2010, Whitey Basson the CEO of Shoprite earned ZAR 620,000,000.00.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. Good for him – he worked hard to earn this c. The only problem I have with this is that this money is in Basson’s bank account and not in mine d. I think that it is morally wrong for anyone to earn that much money e. I think that active steps should be taken to correct such immoral executive remuneration practices Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

12. “It is estimated that humans are consuming natural resource at a rate that is 30% above the renewal rate. If we continue to consume in this way we are likely to suffer dire consequences which could include extinction.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast, but I don’t think this is a problem as there is plenty of time to find technological solutions to problems that emerge b. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. The first priority in solving this is to put the brakes on human population growth. c. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. The first priority in solving this is for rich people to reduce their consumption significantly. d. Yes we are consuming natural resources too fast. And frankly I don’t see any solution because increasing consumption is the basis of our economic growth. e. I don’t believe this tale of doom. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

13. “You discover that your best client is selling tickets to win cars, however, the winners are not chosen at random. The client makes a huge profit after marketing expenses and bonuses.” My personal opinion of what should be done is most closely described by: a. Everyone is doing this kind of thing these days but still I worry that I will get into trouble if , this gets out. Maybe someone should try to convince the client to stop? b. I want to know how they decide who gets the cars. Maybe I can get one too! c. This should be addressed in a written report so that the client can respond formally. d. This should be discussed with the client from the perspective of the relevant laws to urgently find a solution which will be fair for participants but also good for the business. e. If this is a significant irregularity then it must be reported to the authorities as required in various prescripts. If this causes the client cancel my contract then I have a duty to report the facts to my successor. f. I worry a lot about the victims who bought these tickets and about why they are not adequately protected against this kind of scheme. I am going to tell the client that I do not want his business and I am going to lobby for more effective laws and enforcement thereof. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

14. In my opinion, the financial crisis which began in 2008 was caused by…: a. Government interference in the financial markets b. A lack of regulation of the financial markets c. Corporate greed d. Government incompetence e. Inevitable economic cycles Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

15. “The only way to make money out of poor people is to keep them poor.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. This is how it is AND how it should be. b. This is how it should be. Unfortunately, a bunch of do-gooders are trying to mess up this natural law. c. Fortunately this is just not true. d. This is unfortunately true, but there is nothing I can do about it other than make sure I am not poor. e. This is unfortunately true in today’s world, and I believe we are morally obliged to try and do something about it. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes: 16. “I have missed my assignment 6 deadline for SUS1501 because I had an Economics assignment which is just more important to me.” My personal opinion of what should be done, is most closely described by: a. I’m going to a doctor I know to get a doctor’s certificate saying I was sick – I wasn’t really sick. b. I’m going to come up with a really tragic story about my best friend passing away in a car crash and having to attend the funeral – I’m sitting with my best mate now having a good laugh about this. c. I really can’t afford to fail this module so I’m going to do A. above even though I really feel bad about it. d. I’m not going to do any of the above because there is always a chance that Unisa will find out and charge me with misconduct. e. I’m not going to do any of the first three above because eventually Prof Eccles is going to stop believing these stories and then someone who really does have a problem is going to suffer. f. I’m not going to do any of the first three above because they are morally wrong.

Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

17. “Save the rhino!!” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Why? b. Let the people who want to use this resource pay to protect it. c. We have bigger problems than worrying about rhinos. d. We must save the rhinos for our children. e. We must save the rhinos because it is the right thing to do. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

18. “With a shift of only 2 percent of global household income, all the great deprivations of the poorer half of humankind could be avoided.” My personal opinion on this statement is most closely described by: a. Who cares? b. Let the poorest work for their money like the rest of us. c. So long as no one takes 2 percent of my income. d. Just proves – if poverty was an issue for the rich we would solve it by throwing money at it. e. Let’s solve it then! Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

19. “A woman was near death from a rare form of cancer. There was one medicine that the doctors thought might perhaps prolong her life. This was sold at the only local pharmacy at 10 times the cost. The woman had no medical aid cover and her only son could simply not afford the medicine.” The most ethical option available to the son is best described by: a. The son should not steal the medicine because he might end up in prison. b. He should steal the medicine regardless of a possible prison sentence because saving his mother for a few more months would bring them the most happiness. c. He should not steal the medicine because stealing is bad and he is not a criminal; he tried to do everything he could without breaking the law so no one can blame him for the consequences. d. The son should steal the medicine but also accept the prescribed punishment for the crime and eventually pay the pharmacist what he is owed; actions should have consequences. e. He should steal the medicine because everyone has a right to life, regardless of the law. f. He should not steal the medicine, because others who are fortunate enough to be able to pay for it may need the medicine just as badly. Their lives are equally significant. Choice now: Choice in assignment 1: Notes:

20. Greed is good” My personal opinion of what should be done, is most closely described by: a. It’s not good or bad. It’s just how things are. b. Absolutely! If it wasn’t for greed we would never achieve anything. c. I’m not sure. Sometimes I think that it’s good. At other times I think that it’s bad. d. It depends on how you define “greed”. e. Absolutely not! Greed is bad. It leads to much pain and suffering.