Environmental Report (Shell) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Environmental Report (Shell) - Essay Example In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in charge of making sure industry is compliant with standards set into law. On the worldwide scale some developing countries do not have any guidelines, where as European Union and the United Kingdom do. European Union is responsible for a host of regulations that reduce greenhouse gas emission, preserve bio diversity, protect water supply and impose stiff fines for non compliance. The United Kingdom also has its own sets of rules and regulations, also enforced by fines for non-compliance. The International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed ISO 14000 and particularly ISO 14001 pertains to development and reporting sustainability of a company. ISO 14001 is a voluntary guideline that is compatible with the EU environmental management auditing standard (EMAS). This is one complexity that faces all companies that are trying to develop environmental sustainability. Developing a company that is both environmentally friendly and sustainable is the trend of the times in which the world finds itself these days. Shell is a worldwide company that has accepted this challenge of sustainability and reducing its impact on environments in which it operates. Herein is a brief overview of environmental management systems and environmental performance measure that make up a sustainable company. Thereafter evaluations of which systems have Shell put in to place, followed by a comparison of Shell with one of its competitor’s programs to evaluate how well Shell is in becoming an environmentally friendly and sustainable company. First there will be a discussion of sustainable development, environmental management systems (EMSs) and environmental policy management (EPMs). What is sustainable development? Sustainable development refers to using resources in such a way that fulfill our human needs today as well as save the environment from detrimental

Assess the relationship between American security policy and American Essay

Assess the relationship between American security policy and American international economic policy during the Cold War - Essay Example The nuclear arms race was primarily focused on the two world superpowers at the time: the United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries, being at odds in terms of political and economic structures, were trying to prove the worth of democracy (in the US) and of communism (in the USSR) and this was the central point in the Cold War. Given the international power of both countries in terms of military might and global alliances, both the Soviet Union and the United States lived in constant fear of the other and subsequently both nations became involved in the so-called arms race to obtain as many nuclear bombs as possible. This was a deterrent tactic on the part of both countries whereby it became clear that if either were to strike in an act of war, the other would retaliate to the fullest extent and cause maximum damage. Ironically it was the huge stores of nuclear bombs that were meant to keep the United States and the Soviet Union from attacking one another and turning the Cold War into a real war. Ano Another security policy employed in the United States during the Cold War was networking (Sumi and Salla 103). The main objective of the American government at this time was the containment of communism around the world, and to stop the spread of an ideology it viewed as fundamentally flawed and dangerous, the US did its best to form alliances or simply maintain friendly relationships with those countries that were in close proximity to the Soviet Union. For the most part, this meant the close observation of western European nations and in particular a high interest in the economic status of both West and East Germany. Since World War II Germany was a divided nation, with the West side adopting capitalism and democracy while the East remained communist. Like the Korean and Vietnam wars, the struggles of West and East Germany became a physical battlefield for the ideals of a Cold War between two nations that would never formally take action (Ball and Arnold 132). The goal of the United States being to remain a safe country while simultaneously oppressing communism meant that international networking was key, and this is why security policies and international economic policies were connected so closely during the Cold War. The major influence of the United States over key western European nations came because of the War; in the aftermath of World War II a great deal of infrastructure and structural damage had been done to countries like the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Norway and Sweden, and with the conception of the Marshall Plan the US had figured out how to use international foreign economic policy to its direct advantage over the Soviets (Bonds 180). The Marshall Plan, otherwise known as the European Recovery Plan, channeled funds to ailing economies who promised to support capitalism and democracy in return. For the most part these countries were already pro-democracy and had no interest in