Flexible Ethics

In one of my classes, we had a long discussion on ethics and flexible principles. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it, so I wanted to kind of air my thoughts online and ask for input.

The example used was a job posting. In addition to the usual job responsibilities, the description listed additional requirements: male, age 30-35, send photo. Our instructor then asked us if the listing was OK. I immediately said no. That should be a given.

Our instructor then explained that listings like the example on the board were commonplace in Hong Kong and that requiring such things was perfectly legal. Legal or not, I argued that it was unethical. The instructor then wrote another description on the board: college degree, 10-13 years of experience, must be available for interview. He argued that it required mostly the same thing, that the candidate be roughly 30-35 (college graduates are typically 21-22 years old) and that gender and appearance would be easily determined in an in-person interview.

This is the usually practice in the US, where we pride ourselves on our "superior" sense of ethics. Our instructor explained that, while we may think we have certain ethical standards, we need to be flexible in different situations (i.e. hiring in Hong Kong).

I'm not so sure that merely being in a different place justifies different ethical standards. I try not to argue for cultural universalism, but I'm having trouble differentiating my support of unchangeable ethical principles from any sort of universalist stance. I recognize that you have to change your behaviors in different circumstances to fit local practices, but how far does this extend?

In certain places it is perfectly legal to treat women as inferior, to force children to work in factories, or to bribe public officials. I consider all of these activities unethical (some immoral), but if it's locally acceptable does it mean I should do them anyway? I know I'm using some extreme examples, but if you bend your ethics once, what's to stop you from bending them again to suit your needs at a particular time?

Now that everyone knows the dilemma in my head, would someone care to weigh in on it?

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The City of Roses

On one of my other blogs, I posted a video and critique of the Chinese government's use of pesticides. I referred to them as hypocritical for spraying pesticides over the heads of pedestrians while simultaneously promoting sustainability and environmental consciousness. I feel they are making a mistake and I'm not trying to propagate conspiracy theories, I just thought it would make for interesting debate.

Now is time for another debate, one much closer to home. The bike path I frequently take to campus has been under construction for quite some time. This is fine for me, because the construction will preserve the path and keep the hillside next to it from falling down. However, I have become upset with the way the city is constructing their retaining wall.

1. They are using brand new sheets of plywood for the concrete forms. Even though they built the wall in sections, they would dispose of all their materials before moving on to the next section with completely brand new 2x4s, plywood sheets, and anchors.
2. While I don't know if the wood was recycled elsewhere, I know the anchors used to hold the forms were just thrown away. Furthermore, they are to be buried behind the retaining wall rather than reused or recycled.

Here are some photos and the reasons I'm upset:

This first photo is just a small picture that shows several of the brackets lying on the ground behind the retaining wall. They're metal and plastic and are used to hold the wooden forms in place when pouring concrete.

What you do is put the bracket all the way through the void that is filled with concrete, let the cement harden, and then remove both the brackets and the wooden forms. While most of the brackets have to be cut, there is no reason the city can't recycle the metal and plastic. For those of you who've forgotten, plastic is a petroleum-based product. Gas prices are rising and we're running out of fossil fuels. The city is basically ignoring this reality and burying pieces of recyclable plastic they already have!

You're probably looking at the one photo thinking I'm making a big deal out of nothing. Here's another photo that shows the back of the retaining wall and the sheer number of brackets strewn behind it. Do you understand now why I'm so upset? We live in a city that prides itself on its leadership in the environmental sustainability movement, but our city's own construction employees are wasting materials!

Does it matter that we have special drainage gardens set up to filter street run off before it goes back into the streams? Does it matter if we have an extensive public transportation system and even a car share program to cut down on traffic and pollution? Not if we are displacing those conservation efforts in other areas. This is a situation where the right hand doesn't know (or care) what the left is doing. It's unacceptable.

Last month, the American Marketing Association organized its annual conference to focus on topics of sustainability. The number of people in attendance suggest to me that there are people in this city that care about what we're doing to the environment.

I'm just worried how much more of this wastefulness is going on elsewhere in town.

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Writers of the Future

Well, the results are in. My story did not make it to the next round of judging. I'm a little disappointed, yes, but I take this as an opportunity to learn and move on to the next piece. I'll polish up what I have a bit and try to make it available to the public some time in the near future. Stay tuned!

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Memorial Day Weekend

Isn't this just a beautiful view?

What'd you all do this weekend?

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Share Time

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to attend the annual conference of the Oregon Chapter of the American Marketing Association. The second keynote speaker was Kevin Carroll, and I have to say his presentation was very inspiring.

Most of all, he talked about the idea of sharing time. You might remember in elementary school when we all got the chance to share about the new book we got, the movie we saw, the soccer game from the night before, or whatever it is that makes you happy.

Well, I was inspired by his presentation and have put together a Google group for us "grown ups" to have our own sharing time. It's called "Inspire Me." I've opened the group to anyone and everyone and want it to be a safe place for all of us to practice being kids again and take a minute to share with one another. Stop by, sign up, and tell your story.

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