I watched a video is about David A. Kaplan talking about his book called The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court’s Assault on the Constitution. In the video, Kaplan talks about his book and his argument though discussing the court case and the problems in the United States. He mentions that the Court involves and intervene in American life too much. He thinks the Court should not get involved so often; however, he supports the Court intervenes some areas but not all areas such as protecting those unpopular opinions, because, in his opinion, we do not expect other two branches to defend some areas like the crimes’ rights.

The video reminds me of the weakness of the Supreme Court. Even though the Supreme Court strengthens its power by establishing the Judicial Review, the Constitution does not define what it suppose to do. Under the Checks and Balances system, the Supreme Court has the power to declare the president and the Congress unconstitutional; however, its power also is limited by the other two branches. For instance, the president can nominate the judges, and Congress might control the Court because there are two dominant parties competing the power in the government.

On other hands, as Kaplan says, the Supreme Court’s involvement could distort the presidential election because they think the new president will nominate the “right” judges. In other words, sometimes the Court has too much power. Some decision of the Court will make it run the country, and it is possible that a single vote in the Court will determine the key social and political policy. In my opinion, I think that what the Court does is required by the Checks and Balances system. Since the three branches share the power and influence each other, how we draw a clear line for the Court and its duties?

Introduction

I conducted a survey to obtain the customers’ viewpoint from people on how the public preserves the role of the corporate social responsibility in environmental protection and interviewed Timothy Ridenour, who works in Baruch College as an actuarial science professor to comprehend the position of actuaries in corporate social responsibility in the environment. The survey’s target audience is a diverse general public. In addition, the reason that I chose to interview an actuarial science professor is because his professional knowledge makes the result more persuasive. The result of the survey and the interview indicate that although not every person recognizes the corporate social responsibility, those who have realized it believe CSR is important not only for the business profits but also for human benefits. Besides, according to Professor Ridenour, the actuaries play a positive role in corporate social responsibility.

The benefits of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) in protecting the environment

According to the survey results, most people still pay attention to the relationship between business and the environment and believe a company’s corporate social responsibility plays a significant part in increasing business profit and building a healthier living condition. When it comes to the business and environmental relationship, near ninety percent of 16 of those who were surveyed believe that they have a win-win and mutual help relationship. On the one hand, based on their responses, companies can use CSR to enhance their reputation through environmental protection to promote business expansion and development. A sustainable environment has a carrier function which means that the more sustainable, healthy, and consistent the environment is, the more profits a business earns in the long run. As Professor Ridenour insisted, from a risk perspective, the business takes less risky because in a sustainable environment. On the other hand, almost all respondents expressed that they will support the company’s corporate social responsibility in protecting the environment since it contributes to helping to improve people’s living conditions, such as reducing the pollutions. Therefore, not only the companies but also our living conditions gain benefits from corporate social responsibility in protecting the environment.                                                                                                                                                                                  The roles of the big companies and the actuaries in the CSR

It seems that all respondents agree that every company should undertake the social responsibility of environmental protection, whether it is because of pursuing the business profit or establishing better living conditions. Besides, they believe that the greater the abilities, the greater the responsibilities, according to their responses. In order to explain the role of companies, I attempt to find out the answer from interviewing a professional. Professor Ridenour also advocated that big corporations should play a leadership role and inspire all companies to take the responsibility to protect the environment because, based on his expertise in risk perspective, the big corporations have less risk than other small businesses while fighting uncertainty. In addition, he believes that actuaries have the abilities and skills to contribute to assisting the companies in its CSR in protecting the environment. For instance, Professor Ridenour mentioned that the actuaries’ skills in data analysis and modeling to assess risk are useful for assessing the environmental impact of business activities. In other words, they can provide professional advice to entrepreneurs and report the environmental and social returns in their investment decisions. Therefore, actuaries can make contributions to the implementation of CSR in protecting the environment.

Conclusion

This survey and interview contributes to analyzing the benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility in protecting the environment, and the actuaries have the abilities and skills to assist the corporations in that area. The results from the public demonstrate that the business and the environmental influence each other mutually. The CSR, in protecting the environment, creates a sustainable environment; a sustainable environment helps to earn more business profits and improve human’s living conditions. In addition, from Professor Ridenour’s professional point of view, large companies should play a leading role, and actuaries can help companies achieve CSR in protecting the environment to a certain extent.

The Environmental Influence

Natural disasters occur every year and have a great influence on human and economy. Although we cannot completely prevent them from taking place, we can reduce the frequency of its occurrence since human activities are important contributed factors. The natural disasters increase from last century to 2108. Despite the decrease tendency,  almost three hundred natural disasters happened in 2018 (Ritchie, Hannah, et al., n.d.). Besides, many lives lost due to natural hazards. According to U.S News & World Report “10 of the deadliest natural disasters in 2018”, thousand people lost their lives, and more than hundreds were injured during “earthquakes in Indonesia, flooding in Japan, and a volcanic eruption in Guatemala” (10 of deadliest, 2018). Also, it can cause a huge economic loss, according to the estimates that more than hundreds of billion dollars losses by major natural disasters type from different hazards databases (Gall, Melanie, et al., 2009). In addition to the direct economic and human lives costs, natural disasters also will harm biodiversity, which can decrease the gross product. Based on the article Meet Four Small Businesses with Big Ideas to Help the Planet, it states that “loss of biodiversity costs the equivalent of about 10 percent of the world’s annual gross product (about $7.5 trillion)”. In other words, it will indirectly affect business profitability.

The New Relationship between Business and Environment

More and more companies engage in developing a new relationship with the natural environment. As Christine Meisner Rosen states in the article Business and the Environment, in the early business history, the business historian did not pay too much attention to the environment and continued to ignore that the impact and dependence of the big business on the natural environment. In the process of developing business, the relationship between business and the environment has begun to change, shifting from purely relying on extracting the raw materials to managing the resources to dealing with the generation of the waste problem. Though our company does not mainly settle that problem, we realize that the significance of maintaining a friendly relationship with the natural environment and devote to help other small business and other local areas who are at the most risk in the world. For instance, Seychelles locate in the Indian Ocean, which is disappearing while its sea levels rise. Seychelles, as a big tourism country, the rise in water levels has seriously affected its tourism industry and changed the way of life throughout the country. Moreover, this change has also affected the marine ecosystems that influence fishing industries. To assisting Seychelles to solve this problem and improve the current situation, our company works with NaturalVest to provide them strategic advice (“Saving Natural Resources” 2018).

The Concern of Sustainability Challenges

In fact, in protecting the environment and maintaining the relationship of development between the natural environment and economic, problems arise as well, such as sustainability challenges. In the book Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability, the author comes up with two questions: one is that “what are the greatest threats that humanity will encounter as it attempts to navigate the transition to sustainability?”; another one is that “what are the most promising opportunities for avoiding or circumventing these threats on the path to sustainability?” (National Research Council. (1999), p. 185). Therefore, sustainability challenges are one of the biggest problems that we should concentrate on so far. However, actuary masters in modelling the outcomes and the TBL (Triple Bottom Line) which is a framework to use the measure sustainability (Reddy, T.L. et al. 2014). Thus, actuaries can promote sustainability in some degree.

When I was a child, watching TV was my favorite entertainment because I envied the actresses who played the role of businesswomen. I could not tell the reason why I liked them, but I probably admired their strength, intellect, and dedication and I thought they were so charmed. Since then, I told myself that I would be like them one day. Even playing games, I addicted to playing the kinds of games related to business rather than playing dress-up and make-up games like most of the girls. I could play them day and night; moreover, I could forget going to school due to them. My families and friends never understood my feeling. However, not only did I feel happy, but I was also proud of myself when I succeeded in serving others in the game. Until now I am still attracted by similar games.

Time went by fastly; I became a high school student from a child. You could never imagine my stress when I was in the last year of high school. In China, every student has the same turning point of changing life which is the significant and influential College Entrance Examination. If failing the Exam, students could not go to a high-quality college or even had to work out. When I decided to go to study in high school, I had to face to the Exam. Therefore, I had no choice but to do my best.

During that period, whether in hot summer or in a cold winter or whether in high-pressure homework or in an upset time, only math could relax me. For me, math was a solving problem game rather than a tedious subject; I spent much time on it. Under the such a high pressure of the College Entrance Examination, sometimes I did want to escape the lessons because they were a torment to me, but I could not since they had an indispensable position for the Examination. The description of healing my stress and nervousness was doing the math. When I was doing other subjects’ homework, sometimes the solution of the math problem would run into my mind. When I was tired of studying, I would choose to calculate the math problem. When I got bored with my homework, I would pick up the math. My friends often ask why I was always learning math; my answer always was because I like it. I still remembered that I got 127 out of 150 in a math exam which was the highest score in the class when many students felt dissatisfied because of their grade.

Now I am in the United States and plan to major in Actuarial Science at Baruch College. Actuarial Science is related to mathematics and statistics, and after graduation, students have more opportunities to work in companies. So, it is a chance to become a businesswoman for me. Therefore, I thought you could guess the reason that I make this decision after reading my story.