Global challenges for the future

globalisation v.boring

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Key Words

Ecological Footprint - a measurement of the area of land or water to provide a person with energy, food, resources they consume and the waste they produce

Food Miles - the distance food travels from a farm to the consumer

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Positive and negative effects of globalisation

Positive - the rise of the new 'Tiger' economies, including China and India- in these NIC's a growing number of people experience hiigh quality of life & purchasing power parity e.g South Korea: rapid industrial growth in the 1960's, investment in firms called 'chaebols' national revenues soared, increased spending on education and health - 11th biggest economy (OECD)

Negative - environmental impacts because of increased travel due to it being economically cheaper, unnecerssary waste (42 billion bottled waters produced per day) Deindustrialisation in places such as Sheffield (steel) can mean that those who lose their jobs may not return to work, leading to social issues - rising gun crime in uk estates 'losers' in globalisation can be found anywhere

Bangladesh & Leicester

cheap manufacturing in countries such as Bangladesh has been hugely beneficial for those countries; 90% of labourers in Bangladesh are female, now over 3,000 factories in Bangladesh = main source of income. However, this has lead to unemployment in source countries e.g Leicester 

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Moral and Social Consequences

The insistence of cheap labour prices for companies has meant that labourers who supply materials and goods are having to work for extremely low pay and often in bad conditions e.g factory workers in China, Kenyan cocoa farmers - long hours, harsh conditions, extremely low pay

Even with these harsh conditions, many chinese factory workers have escaped even poorer conditions in rural poverty.

Evidence that conditions are slowly improving - new labour contract laws set up in China

If conditions improve dramatically, TNC's may look elsewhere.... capital flight.. awk

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Two - speed world

The wealthiest 1% of the world recieve as much income as the bottom 57%

Two speed India

By 2040 expected to be the second largest economy in the world

Impressive overall growth - gap between rich and poor has widely sharpened

India is home to 32 billionaires, but also 375 million people live in urban areas and alums and poor isolated rural regions

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Environmental and social costs

Low production costs have driven global levels of consumption to record levels = negative environmental impacts including air pollution and the creation of landfill sites for the burial of consumer waste, at a global level carbon emissions are associated with the high levels of consumption, increase ecological footprint

Consumption Strategies

Recycling, reusing, refusing - e.g Modbury in Devon, plastic carrier bags have been banned

Green Taxes - e.g conjestion charges, penalise the poor

Local Buying - Fiji water is a notorious brand of water in the UK, when water is available at taps in the uk for far smaller environmental costs. (Food miles - UK greenhouses can generate even more carbon emissions than importing food by air)

Organic Buying - organic farms aim to reduce environmental impacts by avoiding the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides - often energy intensive because imported from abroad

Carbon Credits - Individuals & Organisations - neutralising emissions with carbon offsetting - e.g paying for a tree to be planted after a flight

Biofuels - saves on use of non renewable fossil fuels but still emitts carbin dioxide

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