Visual Research Report: Sustainability Issues in Business Practices

This report presents a visual research analysis of sustainability, focusing on the environmental impact of business practices. The essay uses ten photographs to explore themes related to green economics and the challenges modern businesses face regarding sustainability. It includes a literature review that discusses how organizations are integrating sustainability into their business strategies. The report examines the impact of pollution, over-reliance on fossil fuels, and the potential of renewable energy sources like solar and nuclear power. The visual analysis, supported by auto-ethnographic research, aims to identify major sustainability issues and potential solutions, ultimately supporting the hypothesis that the adoption of clean energy is crucial for a sustainable future. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of sustainable practices for businesses and highlights the use of visual research to analyze sustainability issues.

Visual Culture

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................17
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................17
Online...................................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Business basically have immense responsibility when it comes to carrying out effective
decisions and being highly sustainable in their operations. The main topic of this essay basically
comprises of carrying out a visual research in relation to sustainability which is considered to be
one of the most important topic the world is revolving around. I have a keen interest in having
more understanding about this topic and how various ways can help a business in becoming
more sustainable with the support of different ways through which they can harm the
environment and the stakeholders. The reason behind choosing sustainability as a theme is to
build the visual research which will be considered to be a part of this essay as the concept of
sustainability plays a very important role in running the organizations successfully. In context to
the visual research, it will be presented in the essay form which comprises of a total of ten
photographs which will be related to the chosen theme of “Sustainability” and also the broad
overarching of the sustainability topic. The selected images will be highly related to the theory of
green economics and also I would like to discover with the support of visual research with the
exploring of different problems in relation to sustainability and that the modern business is
dealing with.
MAIN BODY
The concept of sustainability basically refers to as the justified and the regulated use of
the natural resources in a method that the coming generation is not left with devoid of any kind
of necessary natural resource. In relation to the concept of sustainability, it basically comprises
of multiple dimensions which comprises of economic, societal, environmental but the major
focus of this visual research and essay includes the environmental aspect with the support of usin
g the theme of sustainability (Teotónio, Silva and Cruz, 2021). When it comes to sustainability, it
is considered to be the key to better future. When it comes to human beings, they generally rely

on the activities, natural resources. Ignoring sustainability could result in natural resources and
their exhaustion.
Literature Review
According to Spiliakos, (2018), various organizations are focusing on integrating
sustainability into their business strategy. The main objective of sustainability is to create a
positive impact on the business operations and when the organization fails to assume their
sustainability responsibility, it could lead to issues such as social injustice, environmental
degradation and inequality. When it comes to sustainable business, it basically comprises of the
various social, environmental and economic factors for the purpose to develop effective business
decisions. In relation to the sustainable business strategy, each of them is unique to each
organization (WHAT DOES "SUSTAINABILITY MEAN IN BUSINESS, 2018).
As per the viewpoint of Cramer, 2022, the situation of pandemic has resulted in creating
various issues when it comes to organization's business operations in relation to the concept of
sustainability which could result in affecting the profitability and functioning of the various
business organizations. It is very important for the organizations to implement new ideas in
relation to sustainability in their operations (Purposeful Sustainability Leadership for Turbulent
Times, 2022).
According to Patrik, 2020, the theory of green economics is considered to be one of the
major method for the purpose to seek development without harming the surroundings. In order to
make the economy highly sustainable, it is very important to use themes based on sustainability
and applying the smart technologies (The green economy transition: the challenges of
technological change for sustainability, 2020).
The major questions which the visual research analysis of this essay will aim to tackle
will include “what are the major sustainability issues faced by modern businesses?”, “what is the

impact of various forms of pollution on society?” and “what are the ways in which businesses
can become more sustainable in the long run?”. The main hypothesis which this essay and the
resultant research will be based on is “The major issues of sustainability arise from
overdependence on fossil fuels and adoption of clean energy is the best way forward”.
The main aim behind this visual research is to address the growing issues of sustainability
by highlighting the various ways in which businesses can become more sustainable in the long
run by changing the practices that they adopt on a day to day basis. The visual research which
will be conducted in this essay will involve various methodologies which will involve primary
analysis on the basis of 10 images which will help in extracting authentic data. This will be done
through a visual analysis in which the colours, symbolism and the features of the imagery will be
studied along with auto-ethnographic research which involves the use of self-reflection in order
to present the opinions forward regarding the research.
According to the opinion of Merry Richter, there are many pressing issues of
sustainability which is plaguing modern businesses and has resulted in major portions of the
global environment getting exposed to collateral damage (Top 5 Sustainability Issues in 2021,
2022). In order to become more sustainable in the long run, businesses have to be considerable
towards their local communities, stakeholders and hold themselves accountable to the
environment their business resides in which is something that the theory of green economy lays
emphasis on. The visual analysis reinforces these problems and aims to find potential solutions
and it has been developed herein with the help of 10 images.

This first image of the visual research involves a brief look at the sustainable development
goals that established bodies such as the United Nations aim to achieve in the long run. By
analysing this image, one gets to understand some of the major barriers to global sustainability
that needs urgent addressing.

This next image relates to the theory of green economics which has been discussed before
in the essay and highlights the way in which businesses and the general public should rive
growth forward without harming the planet. I also personally think that planting more trees and
using solar energy to power machines can help solve many sustainability issues in the long run.

The next part of this visual research involves understanding the various dimensions of
sustainability which is much more than just caring for the environment. In order for businesses to
truly become sustainable, they must consider their social impact along with being
environmentally friendly.

This next image which is a live capture helps in understanding the way in which
sustainability issues have become a global threat in the last few decades as the rise in air
pollution due to the amount of dirty pollutants and carbon emission being done by corporates.
The air which we breathe has become very harmful as a result.

This next image also highlights some of the major reasons behind the current
sustainability problems by highlight the polluted landscape and air in the tropical regions of the
world. Due to the harmful operations of the corporates, even children are breathing toxic fumes
in the name of oxygen.

The next image also highlights one of the major barriers to achieving global sustainability
which comes from the abundant use of plastics which are non-biodegradable in nature. The
above image displays the sheer volume of plastic that gets dumped in the environment which is
the number one problem which needs urgent action to prevent further damage.

This image also supports the hypothesis by portraying the devastating after effects of the
over dependency on fossil fuels on the most precious resource on the planet which is water. The
above image shows the bodies of water being turned black due to excessive dumping of chemical
wastes and bi-products of fossil fuel burning.

The above image showcases one of the ways in which businesses and for that matter the
entire world can take a major stand against the growing issues of sustainability by using cleaner
and more efficient forms of energy such as the solar panels showcased in the image. I personally
feel that mass implementation of solar harnessing can help reduce the usage of fossil fuels.

This next image highlights another viable option for the purpose of reducing the use of
fossil fuels and increasing major sustainability quotient globally and that is through the usage of
nuclear energy which is sustainable to the point where it can make the entire UK electricity
generating industry green by as soon as 2030.

This final image of the visual research confirms the hypothesis that most of the major
sustainability issues come from usage of fossil fuels and the resultant forms of pollution and the
implementation of solar panels and the windmill showcased above are much better alternatives
as their impact on the environment is minimal in comparison and air and solar power is nowhere
near exhaustion anytime soon.

CONCLUSION
From the above essay, it helps in deep understanding about the visual research analysis in
relation to the sustainability which also helps in highlighting the different issues with the support
of holistic analysis which also comprises of comprehensive literature review. In case of the
research methodology, it basically comprises of use of 10 photographs which were used for the
purpose to conduct a primary analysis based on the theme of sustainability. Also the research
was successful in having deep understanding about the concept of sustainability as the images
which are collected helps in showcasing the different problems and major issues of sustainability
plaguing modern businesses. Also the visual research helps in proving the chosen hypothesis as a
correct usage of sustainability theme for the purpose to increase the quotient of sustainability in
businesses and also the chosen images are analysed in a very detailed manner for the objective to
reach the conclusion.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals
Teotónio, I., Silva, C.M. and Cruz, C.O., 2021. Economics of green roofs and green walls: A
literature review. Sustainable Cities and Society, 69, p.102781.
Zhang, L., Wu, J. and Liu, H., 2018. Turning green into gold: A review on the economics of
green buildings. Journal of cleaner production, 172, pp.2234-2245.
Julia, T. and Kassim, S., 2019. How serious are Islamic banks in offering green financing?: An
exploratory study on Bangladesh banking sector. International Journal of Green
Economics, 13(2), pp.120-138.
Online
2018. WHAT DOES "SUSTAINABILITY" MEAN IN BUSINESS, 2018. [Online] available
through <https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-sustainability-in-business>
2022. Purposeful Sustainability Leadership for Turbulent Times, 2022. [Online] available
through <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2022-purposeful-sustainability-leadership-turbulent-
times-aron-cramer?trk=articles_directory>
2020. The green economy transition: the challenges of technological change for sustainability,
2020. [Online] available through
<https://sustainableearth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42055-020-00029-y>
Top 5 Sustainability Issues in 2021, 2022 [online] available through <
https://www.presidio.edu/blog/top-5-sustainability-issues-in-2021/ >