globalisation essay

Globalisation has many implications in the daily life of today’s society, including both developing and developed countries. Recently, much of the attention is being paid to the environmental problems of globalisation since it affects the entire global community, as the name suggests. The rapid industrialization and international trade have caused aggravated usage of raw material and natural resources, which worsen the problem of deforestation and depletion of finite resources. Moreover, global warming is also a serious consequence that stemmed from the need to meet the demand of the global consumers who now have higher spending power. On the other hand, globalisation itself has raised awareness of the situation worldwide, urging organisations and authorities to assuage the problems all together. There had been many concerted efforts made, such as the Kyoto Protocol and Montreal Protocol. Unfortunately not all had been successful in achieving their goals.

One major environmental issue raised is rapid deforestation. Logging activities have increased greatly globally, especially in the tropical areas where plantation is ample. The problem arose due to the fact that globalisation has sped up commercialization and industrialization, spurring the logging firms to engage in illegal logging. Over at the East Kalimantan, extensive deforestation is carried out, ranking it the third largest carbon emitter in the world (Mattangkilang, 2012).[1] The authorities have attempted to impose moratorium and regulations on the logging activity but it has not produced a convincing result. Corruption and bribery still proliferate in Indonesia, thus it is not easy to effectively control the logging activities. Instead, the inhabitants of the area should co-operate with the authority and contribute to minimize the effect of deforestation. For example, monetary incentives could be given for replanting trees in place of the cut down trees. Otherwise, since the authority alone is not efficient in control the situation, a mediator country or international organization could assist the Indonesian authority to manage the problem together.

The next major issue is global warming. It is widely known that the ‘greenhouse gas effect’ is the cause of global warming and has been causing climate change and rise in the sea level. Due to the increasing deforestation, the greenhouse gases are not being regulated naturally, thus remaining in the atmosphere, trapping the heat inside the globe of the Earth. The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, targeting reduction of emission of greenhouse gases (United Nations Framework Convention For Climate Change, 2013).[2] The Protocol essentially places more responsibilities on developed nations that generally produce more greenhouse gases compared to the under-developed countries. This treaty has not proven to be effective, especially due to the fact that the United States did not ratify the Protocol. The negative impact on the economy could be a factor that had deterred the United States to sign the Protocol. By reducing the emission of the greenhouse gases, the United States would have to curb its productivity substantially, which would impact its economy adversely. Therefore, a more realistic solution to reduce global warming has to be proposed that would cushion economic downturn. For example, many environmentally friendly products are produced nowadays, which can substitute the less environment-friendly ones. Such method favours environment and still encourages consumption. An example of green products is solar-energy water heater. Instead of depleting fuel and producing carbon, solar energy is utilised to heat up the water. Although solar panels are still rather costly, it is predicted that advancing technology and environmentally favourable policies would progressively subsidise the cost.

As seen from the examples above, environmental problems affect individuals, and the entire community ultimately. Now that globalisation has also improved the technology tremendously, such problems are shared and discussed widely online among people from every part of the world.  Individual awareness is the first step to solving the problems effectively. It is also important that the national authority advocates measures that are suited to the social fabric. International approaches may not be suitable in the context of the local community. For developed nation like the United States, it is also crucial for it to maintain the stability of its economy since it affects the global economy. Thus it has to implement a more economically favourable environmental measure. South Asian countries could model their policies after Singapore, which conducts strict maintenance of its carbon emission and amount of plantation in the country.

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 (717 words)

Reference list:

1.     Mattangkilang, T. (2012) East Kalimantan Is Third Largest Carbon Emitter. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/east-kalimantan-is-third-largest-carbon-emitter/

2.     United Nations Framework Convention For Climate Change (2013) Kyoto Protocol. Retrieved from http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php

Runaway Globalisation Without Governance(reader's response)

In Runaway Globalisation Without Governance, Nayan Chanda(2008) claims that the governance is always lagging behind globalisation, causing problems that affect the international community. The author also partly blames the United States for not being participative and pro-active in the development of the rules and regulations.

It begins with the notion that ‘the rules always lagged behind the growing connections across continents’. This is a reasonable statement, especially when technology was not as developed in the past. The overwhelming distance between continents itself was an enormous communication barrier, naturally slowing down the process of passing legislation that involved multiple nations. Even today, in such a hyperconnected world, the problem still exists. Rules and regulations are not easily agreed upon by multiple parties, and disputes do arise from the discussions. As long as it involves more than two countries, such problem would always remain, even when the technology advances further in the future.

The three threats that the world is facing currently are namely the risk of nuclear proliferation, national security and the growing environmental problems. The United States, being one of the superpower states in the world, is apparent of its passiveness towards the international movements to solve such problems and work on the governance of the globalisation. However, the United States should have a choice of participation in such case. It is a country that can wield great influence on the world, given its power and authority over the global community. However, globalisation is hardly the work of one country. It is a process that every country has a part to play, thus every country is to be blamed if one has to put a finger on.

It is critically wrong for the United States to jump on the bandwagon of creation of nuclear weapons, even for the purpose of self-defense because other countries are likely to follow suit. Instead, it should have tackled a more peaceful method of deterring other countries that possess nuclear weapons. Regarding the withdrawal from other governance such as the Kyoto Protocol and other environmental movements, it is still reasonable because it has a responsibility to protect its own citizens from the negative side effects such as economic downturn and threats of terrorism. A recent study has analysed that the Kyoto Protocol was not achieving its goals, affecting the United States adversely as well even though the US did not even ratify the Protocol. The United States was '[paying] almost two-thirds of the global cost in the central Annex I case'.[1]

Overall, the article is well reasoned and balanced on the topic of globalisation. The United States is accused of its insufficient contribution to the governance of globalisation, but not to an extreme degree. The author also constantly reminds the readers that it is legitimate for governance to be slower than the globalisation itself.

Reference:

1.Henry Jacoby and Ian Sue Wing, “Adjustment Time, Capital Malleability and Policy Cost,” The Energy Journal, Kyoto Special Issue, p. 126.

Final draft of summary

In 'Runaway Globalisation Without Governance', Chanda(2008) claims that governance is always falling short of the speed of globalisation. Even in the past, rules and regulation were established much later in the fast globalising society. Currently, this is causing an array of problems such as the risk of nuclear proliferation, theft of intellectual property, threats to sovereignty and national security, and serious environmental problems. 

Furthermore, the important player, the United States, is withdrawing itself from international involvement and agreements in fear of losing its power in global economy and getting exposed to more threats from terrorists. This would hamper the development of the governance of globalisation without the leadership of the key player in the collaboration of multilateral movements.

In other words, the writer is suggesting that the legislative work would always lag behind the rapid globalisation unless the United States becomes more participative and lead the world in the international governance.

(151 words)

Runaway Globalization Without Governance - summary

Governance is always falling short of the speed of globalisation. Even in the past, rules and regulation were established much later in the fast globalising society. This is causing an array of problems such as risk of nuclear proliferation, theft of intellectual property, threats to sovereignty and national security, and environmental problems. Furthermore, the important player, United States, is drawing itself away from international involvement and agreements in fear of losing its power and getting exposed to more threats from terrorists. This hampers the development of governance of globalisation and will eventually threaten the international community to a critical level.