Development Research Blog

Ethics and Sustainability

by ward2021

Ethics

Figure 1: An image showing numerous Ethical related coloured icons, taken from Freepik. Each icon represents a different meaning of ethics.

Ethics is centred around doing the right thing or what is morally good. Ethics is different for everybody; people have different moral compasses. People’s ethics can be governed by different factors such as religion, upbringing, and community.

Examples of this can be seen when we look at different cultures and communities. For instance, in Senegal, abortion is strictly illegal, regardless of circumstance due to religious beliefs of the state. This is an example of Supernaturalism, the theory that ethics are dependent on your god. However, this is seen as ethically wrong by others. This could be due to the number of people who state they believe in a religion is rapidly declining. More commonly shared values are it’s ethically wrong to steal, murder or rape. This could be seen as an example of Consequentialism, which is based on whether the act is good or not based on the outcome.

The different types of ethics are:

  • Supernaturalism
  • Subjectivism
  • Consequentialism
  • Intuitionism
  • Emotivism
  • Duty-based ethics
  • Virtue ethics
  • Situation ethics

In order to produce good ideas, synonyms and antonyms of ethics were explored.

Synonyms

  • Morality
  • Belief
  • Conduct
  • Ethos
  • Conscience
  • Honesty
  • Integrity
  • Convention

Antonyms

  • Corruption
  • Dishonesty
  • Evil
  • Immorality

Sustainability

Figure 2: An image showing numerous Sustainable related coloured icons, taken from Freepik. Each icon represents a different meaning of sustainability, from recycling to business.

Sustainability is often perceived as being environmentally focused, but sustainability is broader than the environment. Sustainability as defined by the Cambridge Dictionary (2023) is “the quality of being able to continue over a period of time”.

From an environmental focus, sustainability is important to ensure that what we take from the planet we replace, is to ensure that the earth continues long after we’re gone. If we take natural resources from the planet without being able to replenish them, future generations will suffer, potentially resulting in the planet without any natural resources left.

Businesses need to be sustainable not just from an environmental point of view, but how they operate. It is not sustainable to hire a lot of staff to lay them off the following month, it’s not sustainable to charge customers different prices for the same product or service. If a company continued to operate in such ways, it would collapse because of its unethical and unsustainable practices.

The art to sustainability is to ensure that the actions we take don’t result in a negative future impact.

The different types of sustainability are:

  • Social
  • Human
  • Economic
  • Environmental

To produce good ideas, synonyms and antonyms of sustainability were explored. Doing so will aid me in portraying the stark differences and create more of a dramatic effect in my animation.

Synonyms

  • Continual
  • Viable
  • Unending
  • Renewable
  • Supportable
  • Imperishable

Antonyms

  • Temporary
  • Wasteful
  • Untenable
  • Unendurable

Animation Subject

The subject of the animation is focused on the 7th goal of the Sustainable development goals, affordable and clean energy; this is a prominent topic as we set off on the journey to Net Zero.

Figure 3: An image showing all 17 sustainable development goals, what they are and their symbols.
Figure 4: An image showing each target of the 7th sustainable goal with a brief description of what those targets entail.

The fundamental goal of the plan is to transition the world to green energy. Whilst it is excellent that we are transitioning into a combustion-free world, the ways of getting the energy required differs from the speed at which we aim to transition the world.

The costs of renewable energy stint the process of becoming fossil free. Some methods of renewable energy aren’t feasible; a great example of this would be solar power. In a country such as the UK, the amount of sunlight per year would not be worth the investment of a solar farm.

Fun fact, A solar farm that covers 130 square miles of the Sahara Desert will produce enough power to power the world. This takes up just 1.2% of the total surface area of the desert.

Purpose

The purpose of the animation is to be educational. The aim is to portray the world’s state if we continue to use non-renewable methods of generating electricity, then display the solutions and what the world aims to appear by 2050. The animation is not necessarily to induce fear in the viewer but to show the extent of the damage we are collectively doing to the planet.

Audience

Considering the severity of the issue, no group of people is exempt from the targeted audience. This topic should be known to all ages as we collectively have to make changes to contribute towards the end goal of living in a green energy world.

Further Reading

To better understand the topic, I explored online articles and videos surrounding the subject of the animation I will be creating. I chose this form of research as most of the books I found on sustainability were many years old, making me think their data and understanding of the topic is potentially outdated.

UK SDG Data

UK SDG Data helped provide up-to-date data based on all of the targets within the goal. The data and graphs they display help better understand the UK’s current position concerning the end goal. With each chart, I could filter and select subcategories to show the current status in more depth; examples of those filters are region, renewable source and wind (offshore or onshore).

This article will be helpful if I use facts and figures in my animation, as they provide up-to-date and trustworthy information.

Figure 5: An example of the type of information the article provides. This particular graph is focused on the Installed capacity of sites generating electricity from renewable sources. There is a positive correlation between the x-axis and y-axis, indicating the amount of renewable power sources is increasing yearly.

SDG 7 Affordable & Clean Energy – UN Sustainable Development Goals – DEEP DIVE

This video, based on the 7th SDG, the topic of my animation, gave a helpful explanation of the goal. They covered the basics of what energy is, its efficiency and our access to it, which provided a broader insight into the topic. Understanding the basics is essential to make an accurate animation and reducing the risk of producing something that needs to be corrected or factual. The video gave me much valuable information for when I create my animation.

Figure 6: A youtube video explainging affordable and clean energy in a deep dive. It explains what energy is, the access, the efficiency and renewable.

References

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