47. The responsibility for preventing environmental damage should be shared by
1 W4 Q9 I! f, Y8 F5 ~3 pgovernment, private industry and individuals alike. The primary obligation, however, ) ~6 Y' [( p0 Y/ G" k& [. N' ^# I$ r- V
belongs to individuals. Moreover, within organizations like the government or a : r% H1 M6 w4 _+ k+ C8 y
corporation, responsibility should be increasingly distributed to individuals according to
6 t$ u, z/ E" K' t6 }8 olevel of authority.0 F0 a8 R; |! T& a
The primary obligation to preserve the environment belongs to individuals for the
% `& }& j2 M# u, `) `$ ]" \reason that assigning responsibility to a government or corporation is problematic. This
- C$ ]7 _, w F; w) d2 r0 Kis because abstract entities like these do not fulfill the usual criteria for being
5 ?& s, h9 |( }7 C& `responsible. An entity can shoulder responsibility only if it can be held accountable for 5 O! I- j W* U- j, W! }0 E
its actions. Furthermore, being held accountable for an action requires that the entity act
, J# l O! ~; Z+ V' ?& \willingly and on the basis of conscious intentions. But governments and businesses are 0 y' D% R+ F2 D0 Q
abstractions, having neither will nor consciousness beyond that of the individuals within
+ Q+ S+ N0 M; I& B& r# T; _them.
* q7 X* g5 ~( X+ G: g Still, we can make some sense of treating corporations and governments as if they
5 I {( i+ @4 gwere individuals. They are individuals under the law, and therefore subject to laws, # n! O' ]# l5 B* x
penalties, and lawsuits. They can even be identified as beneficiaries in wills. ) j8 B1 b/ d; `: n. ]& _. \
Nevertheless, when responsibility is vaguely allocated to abstract entities like
; l( H- ~( [; L) K4 H7 Z" [9 Agovernments or corporations, it becomes easy for those within such organizations to ) e) z0 {9 S C7 j
cover individual actions that result in devastation to the environment. Consider the 7 k8 Y5 d' B) s- T
famous case of the Exxon Valdez accident and oil spill off the Alaskan coast. While it 1 g! n$ j! Q/ \5 P" e. g
was easy to single out Captain Hazelwood and determine his blameworthiness the night
( y9 t+ H" P8 H* {9 dof the mishap, it was not so easy to identify those responsible at higher levels. Someone
: [4 u, g3 F: k4 J# F3 N @/ wwas responsible for hiring Hazelwood; others should have known about his drinking or
Y5 R6 }5 a) ?5 J8 C& U8 ?other job-related problems. Thus when we do assign responsibility to governments or
- t" O$ d% [: e, @! l7 V$ S- Nbusiness organizations, it must be clearly distributed to individuals in relevant lines of
& o& Q! h8 f6 E8 T! w9 `1 j9 r. ~( t& Qauthority within the organization.
8 N" v: H3 ^( w8 o In conclusion, individuals are mainly responsible for protecting the environment. 6 r- _# j& q; j6 u# f
And while it makes some sense in a vague way to talk about the similar responsibilities
3 J+ u9 x$ t9 G5 g- R7 _9 Dof government and industry, in the end such obligations will belong to individuals
$ k; [3 q0 @! Owithin them. Therefore, some individuals will assume greater shares of responsibility
# C0 ~' S7 U7 V- N! B& }3 dfor the environment, since they act in positions of authority on behalf of government or 0 x- |' `. R2 o* n4 G+ ?
industry. |