Globalization and Its Effect on The Environment

Question: Write an essay onGlobalization. Answer: Introduction: The term globalization was not that popular before the 1990s as it is now. This shows primarily the economic system through which the manufactured goods, raw materials, intellectual property and transaction takes place across the borders under the super vision of an international trade authority. This has also resulted in the homogenisation of the culture and the language, which resulted in the inflow of money, ideas and materials. Though there was enough strength in the strategy, yet the economic strategy was not that understood effectively. The reason for this was that the strategies they were indirect in nature. This is seen to be true for the effects related to environment. The globalization is sometimes termed as inexorable which tends to lead to the final state where the large commerce they dominate the world under the regulatory bodies. These bodies are not run by the ecologists and the environmentalist so they are not aware the effect of the increased level of globalization o n the environment. There has been a rapid spread of globalization and this effect on the natural area and the remote human communities is comprehensive in the undeveloped and the developed countries. In this article, the impact of globalization on the environment and sustainability has been discussed in much detail. Globalization: Reason for environmental damage The term Globalization is used commonly with the increasing international trade; there has been a rapid production, consumption of the trade of the goods in unlimited quantities. This has led to weighing of the ecological footprints of the activities of the human around the globe. There are some areas where the effect is obvious where as is some cases it is difficult in suspect. Increasing GHG emissions: The changes in the climate are one of the serious environmental problems. It is very difficult to predict it how it is going to be developed and what the consequences that can be. The causes of it are well known. The main reason for the changes in the climate is due to the greenhouse effect. The main sources of the emissions of CO2 are transportation, industrial production and deforestation. These three activities exist independently of the globalization but the development during the 20th century has accelerated the environmental depletion as this is linked to that of the globalisation. Globalization promotes CO2 emission from the transport and industrial activities: Transport system is a critical driver of globalization and this has multiplied with that of the international trade. The emissions within the national borders are very high but the opening of the regional borders has led to a strong boost in the road freight transport. Transnational road transport and piggybacking has been a huge source of carbon dioxide emissions. The most important mode of transport i.e. the aeroplanes has increased the emissions of the global green house gases by 86% during the period 1990 and 2004. The aviations sector is responsible for the emission of the green house gases by 4 to 9%, the sea transport is swallows 2 to 4% of the fuel each year. The increase in the domestic traffic has caused environmental harm. There are also many other factors apart from globalization is seen to affect the increasing traffic in the international trade. The Industrial Revolution has helped to spurt globalization in the economy. There has been rapid growth of the industries due to the investment and growth across the borders. This is held to be as a major source of the emissions of carbon dioxide. The generation of electricity still requires oil and the burning of the coal. The intensified globalization led to the rapid global warming and increased the level of the green house effect. The developed countries of the world with the rapid industrialization has become as one of the biggest polluters across the world, which has helped in increasing the green house gas emissions. 20% of the green house gas emissions is contributed by the United States. The emerging countries, which are developing rapidly, are also major emitters of the carbon dioxide gases. Industrialization in many countries in Asia was mainly due to the globalization but this has happened at the expense of the environment. China to meet their energy needs is opening new coal plants every week as coal is the cheapest and available in abundant. This is also major source of pollution. The rapid urbanization and transport fleet in the nation of China has made it a largest emitter of the carbon dioxide gas and was ahead of the United States in the year 2007. There are steps taken by China for the use of the renewable source of energy. The emerging countries they tend to buy more through the mass consumptio n, which is linked to the globalization. This reveals that for the years to come the emissions of the Green house gases is likely to increase each year. Globalization encourages Deforestation: The indirect cause of the effect of the green house is the deforestation. The plants converts the CO2 emissions into oxygen but the increase in the amount of logging and clearing of the plants has increased the carbon dioxide emissions in the air. This has resulted in the added green house effect. Deforestation has led to the 20 % of the increased green house gas emissions in the atmosphere. 3% of the forest cover was lost during 1990-2005. Approximately 200 km square of the forest cover is seen to deplete each day. Deforestation has mainly occurred due to the conversion of the forest in the agricultural land, which is seen in the developing countries. For example, Brazil is mainly an exporter of the agricultural commodities in the past decade. Brazils export plummeted from 15000 to 6 million tonnes during 1996-2005 much of this was due to the deforestation of the region of the rain forest for the purpose of cultivation. The impact of deforestation is not felt by the environment alone but is also seen to affect also the people. The impact of global warming is severe in the poor regions. The UN has noted the increasing level of scarcity of water and desertification. By the year 2060, 90 million hectares of the land in the Sub Saharan Africa would be turning out to be sterile. In the next 70 years, 1.8 billion people might lack access to fresh waterThe risk mainly lies for the areas of Northern China, Central Asia and Andes. Global warming might be one of the main causes for the increase in the number of the natural disaster like the storms, hurricanes and floods in the recent times. During 2000-2004, approximately 262 million people were affected by the natural disaster. This also led to the loss of species of about 20% to 30% as there was sudden spurt in the temperature by 3 degree Celsius Apart from the effect of global warming the activities of human being has left an important mark on the ecosyste ms around the world. Effect of globalization on sustainability: Economic Growth: The globalization has led to the economic growth all round the world. The mobility in the selling and the providing market through the economical, the political globalization has led to increased levels of division of labour, and the focus is on the main competences of the individuals at all the levels. The transnational companies they tend to provide the goods with the better quality than the competition or they are seen to cooperate with some of the companies so that they are able to offer products at a very lower price. In Switzerland, the PTT was in charge of the telecommunication and post but their successors i.e. Die Post and Swisscom they concentrated their work on the logistic business and communication services. There is now more number of employees working who are able to develop their own potentials. The people in Switzerland they used to work in the Swiss companies previously now there are many other foreign companies for whom they are working. The exchange of the specifi c types of the services and goods has led to the prosperity worldwide. It was seen that in the last decade there has been an increase in the production of the goods by 45% as per the records of World Bank. The developing countries they are able to grow quite faster since the year 1965. The growth has originated in the countries South Africa, Russia, India, China and Brazil. Reduction of Poverty and Increasing inequality in Income: The period under the globalization i.e. 1990 up to 2004 the percentage of the people around the world that used to stay with less than a US dollar a day has fallen from 1.25 billion to less than 1 billion. The goal of reducing the level of poverty by the year 2015 is seen to be a reachable goal. The progress was mainly due to the reduction of poverty in China. In case of the Sub Saharan Africa the number of poor people has increased by 60 million but the percentage of increase has decreased by 41%. There has been a rise in the differences in the income levels around the world. When considering the world as a single country, 20% of the richest of the world population would be holding almost three quarters of the income of the world while the poorest bracket would consist the 40%. The World Bank has warned about the economic upswings has resulted in the increase in the income inequalities and this has increased the polarization of the wealth. The income inequalities were more prominent in the Asian countries. The globalization in the industrial states was more pronounced. The number of working poor is increasing and the salary of the managers of the industrialised countries has increased almost 40 timesThe implication is that the richer countries are getting richer while the poorer countries are left out. Ecological Effect: There are companies and the people who are seen to produce the goods and the services, which are best at the given circumstances and with the global trade will be able to contribute higher rate of prosperity. This can however also lead to monotony. The production of a single type of crop on land will lead to infertility of the soil. The huge production of the bio mass energy from the production will lead to decline in the bio diversity but the energy plants was built to save the environment. The rapid use of the natural resources and monoculture has caused challenges in the ecological front and this has led to the increase in the global production, trade and consumption. As per the Earth Policy Institute, with an increase in the annual income of China by 8% and with population of 1.45 billion it is likely that by 2031 there will be same per capita income for USA in 2004. If a person, of China, they try to copy the consumption patterns of the USA then they are likely to own three cars per four inhabitant rather than 1. The main problem in the near future due to the globalization is the ecological problem. Conclusion: The prediction of the disruption and demise of the globalization is much easier than devising of the strategies for coping with the upheavals of the environment. The physical environment includes the physical environment i.e. The increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, changes in the global temperature, uneven distribution of the rainfall, rise in the sea level and all this is dealt based on ad hoc. There have been massive changes in the biological environment like the extinction of the exotic species as there is more stress being done on the economic resources. Globalization tends to be a vector of environmental solution as well. There will be green technologies with the use of the globalization of research and trade. The conservation of the environment is compatible with the development when there is globalization. Global warming is a cause of the globalization and so there is a need for the government of each country to take steps towards reducing it. 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