In order to understand the impact of international trade on the environment, it is first necessary to develop an understanding of their relationship. In past couple of decades, extensive globalisation has been observed. The impact of globalisation can be recorded in negative as well as positive terms (Green, 2012). On the positive sides, it has provided support to businesses and trade operations and businesses are stronger in term of their supply chain and skill matrices. Nonetheless, it has also raised the level of competition that makes it difficult for the small and medium corporations to survive in a cut-through competition. Based on this, a basic question arises; is globalisation good or bad for the environment? Once again, the impacts
On the positive sides, it is evident that environmental protection and sustainability is evolved as one of the prime challenges specifically for the developed countries including Pakistan, United States, China, and other regions. In order to respond to the challenge and promote environmental sustainability, a range of technological developments have been made (Sun & Reed, 2010). For instance, industrial waste water is normally dumped into the open reservoirs of water that resulted in extensive water pollution. Technological developments in this regard have allowed the industrialists to treat the water in order to minimise its negative impact on the environment and fresh sources of water. For this purpose, water treatment plants are developed in major developed countries around the globe (Baier & Bergstrand, 2007). International trade plays a critical role in this regard and provides an opportunity to the developing countries to get these technological innovations from the developed countries. This will positively contribute towards global environment. Aside from this, international trade also provides understanding to the members from developing states about the role of environment and environmental sustainability towards business objectives of the firms (Korinek & Melatos, 2009). In other words, it also acts as a platform for understanding and awareness for
For instance, as assessed in the case of Pakistan, the international trade agreements resulted in an increase in the commercial agriculture farms with an increased use of pesticides (Aghion, Antràs, & Helpman, 2007). The use of pesticides results in air pollution and also act as a main element of chlorofluorocarbons. This is not only limited to agriculture or the case of Pakistan; rather, negative impacts can be noted around the globe with increased opportunities for trades. For countries that depend on industrial goods, the number of industries is increased with an availability to trade internationally (Valkila & Nygren, 2010). The industry has alternatively contributed towards environmental
In this chapter of Naked Economics, by Charles Wheelan, he describes many aspects of trade. It begins by showing the capabilities of trade and how it affects everyone as a whole. It makes it so that everyone is better off than normal. To put it into perspective, he put the image in your head of how hard your life would be without trade, you would have to make your own clothes, find a way to get/make your own food, make your own car, etc... After showing some of the advantages to trade, he applies it to a global persona and begins to introduce his opinion on how global trade (globalization) makes us richer. One of the key explanations of this point is that trade frees up time in our busy schedule, therefore allowing us to use that freed up
One way that globalization limits sustainable prosperity is the amount of environmental destruction that occurs in our growing world. For example, a process called shipwrecking is the deconstruction of ships that are no longer able to function properly. The ships are pulled up onto beaches in Bangladesh and are taken apart by workers with blow torches. The ships tend to rust leaving the beaches a reddish orange color. This rust can get into the ocean affecting many other parts of our world. Also, gasses that are produced and released into the environment from the blowtorches help contribute to the already occurring global warming. Another scary fact is that there is nearly one death per day in ship breaking yards, and nearly one quarter of them get some form of cancer due to the harsh chemicals. Ship breaking is a very dangerous job and puts many lives at risk. A big factor that helps wreck the environment is the large manufacturing plants that are located in many different countri...
The trend toward a more globalized market has become increasingly developed in the latter half of the 20th century. Emphasis on world trade has become a dominant figure in almost every Nation’s economy. Between 1970 and 2000 world trade has experienced an increase of almost 370 percent. Concurrently, world GDP increased by 150 percent. Trade is beneficial to Nations because it allows the creation of avenues that aid in efficient allocation of resources (Canas & Coronado). Countries can gain from trade when they specialize according to their comparative advantage. This is, when they create conditions where goods and services can be produced at a lower opportunity cost than in any other country. Along the same logic, countries can also make large profits by taking advantage of another countries comparative advantage.
Some companies have acceded to public pressure to reduce or end their use of sweatshops. Such firms often publicize the fact that their products are not made with Anti-globalization activists and environmentalists also deplore transfer of heavy industrial manufacturing (such as chemical production) to the developing world. Although chemical factories have little in common with sweatshops in the original sense, detractors describe them as such and claim that there are negative environmental and health impacts (such as pollution and birth defects, respectively) on workers and the local community.
Pollutants are contaminants that enter and affect the natural environment which can cause negative changes. There are two main types of pollution, air and water, which occur from different sources and have different effects. Air pollution is the main cause of “dirty air” in the United States. Suburban areas suffer from outdoor air pollutants as well as indoor air pollutants. Indoor air pollutants are caused by the burning of coal and wood, which are used for heating. Outdoor air pollutants are caused by chimneys, in which smoke is released into the air, and crop fertilizers, which are generally used in rural areas. The impact air pollution has on humans are large cases of health defects in rural areas: such as cancer, tuberculosis, heart diseases, and low birth weights. J.P Majra, author of “Air Quality In Rural Areas” states that, “This leads various health problems, mainly affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular system...” (Majra, 2). This shows that if the United States alone uses this much fertilizer, in which affects our health, imagine how much the world will be affected. Kirk Smith, professor of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health states that ”nearly 10% of all lost-life years worldwide” has been due to air pollution (COEH
The tag on my shirt reads “Made in Taiwan,” my pants were made in Venezuela, and my cell phone was manufactured in China. Someone may ask, “How am I driving a car in the United States that was put together in Germany?” The answer is globalization. Products are made and sold across the globe due to globalization. Through modern technology advances, globalization allows countries thousands of miles away from each other to be right next-door, hypothetically. Organizations, people, and companies from all around the world can collaborate ideas and work together with. This is not a new concept. People have been traveling across mass distances to trade products for centuries. However, with the developments that globalization offer, people can exchange goods and insights faster and more efficiently than ever before possible, with minimum effort or financial commitment. Modern communication, such as cell phones, and new technology, like the Internet, are a few of the factors that are advancing globalization at a rapid pace. Globalization is growing quickly and benefitting our world in many ways, both big and small.
Daniels, John (2010). International Business: Enviroments and Operations 13e. pg 620-625. New Jersey. Pearson Education Inc.
In an effort to create a sustainable global environment a significant area of focus needs to be on the interrelationships that contribute to this goal. As with the relationships associated with globalization our actions are interconnected with one another, one nations decisions in a particular geographical area can often times impact those in another geographical areas. The same cause and effect theory applies to environmental interrelationships. An area that this can be most prevalent...
UNEP. 2013. Green Economy and Trade: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities. [online] Available at: http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/Portals/88/GETReport/pdf/Chapitre%207%20Tourism.pdf[Accessed: 5 Nov 2013].
Technology has changed global commerce. The question is to what extent has it changed commerce, and how has it changed commerce. What are the repercussions of global commerce and commercial patterns on the natural environment? This paper will strive to answer some of these questions, as well as, delve into other areas of global commerce.
To complete a Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats (also known as SWOT) analysis presented to a developing country by globalisation, we must first understand the actual concept of globalisation itself. So how can we define this term? Joseph Stiglitz, a winner of the Nobel Prize defines Globalization as “the closer integration of the countries and peoples of the world ...brought about by the enormous reduction of costs of transportation and communication, and the breaking down of artificial barriers to the flows of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and people across borders.” Hence, we can understand that globalisation can be described as an expanding global marketplace for the trading of anything from transport of goods internationally,
In the long run, despite the apparent advantages of Fair Trade and the opportunities it appears to offer small suppliers, free trade provides a more sustainable development for suppliers than Fair Trade. It is also more effective in incr...
- It can harm the environment and add to pollution. Some environmentalists express their views on the adverse effects of globalization, including free trade. They emphasize that this will lead some countries to disregard the environment when it comes to producing products and getting rid of waste materials just so they can compete in the industry. With more competition, others might cut their costs like proper dumping of wastes and their process of
Globalization affects this world and the people of this world in many ways. It is the idea of making the entire world like a single country.
Although we all enjoy the advantages that globalization has made way for, we cannot disregard the negative effects it has had on the world. It’s easy to understand how businesses may benefit from a global market in some ways, but to me it is far more important that jobs not be loss as a result of globalization. Many different factors contribute to the exploitation of developing countries and has caused many issues for them economically. In spite of the fact that free trade increases opportunities for trade internationally, it also increases the risk of failing for small companies in undeveloped countries that cannot compete on an international level. I cannot definitively say that globalization itself is completely good or completely bad, however I do believe it has caused great losses for the poor and middle class.