HOW GLOBALISATION IS AFFECTING THE WORLD The term ‘Globalisation’ began to be used in the 1980s. It was at this point used to describe the increased interconnectedness between, people, knowledge and ideas and money across the globe. Globalisation was not thought of in just the economic sense, it included social and political implications also. Globalisation was seen as modernising the world, ‘the transformation of ‘traditional’ communities into ‘western’ industrialized ones’ Bob Johan. The first signs of world trade began to happen in the 1st century. Countries were no longer confined to trading just locally or regionally they were able to haul goods thousands of miles to other countries. Luxury items such as silk and spices were sent from China to Rome with the starting value of goods being tiny. With so many go-betweens involved in getting the goods to its destination the purchase price of the goods skyrocketed. Globalisation has been said to have come in 2 waves with the first wave ending with the start of the first world war. With a decline of liberalism and an increase in nationalism this led to a decrease in international trade. The second wave began at the end of the second world war, and it was at this time international trade grew faster than ever before and continues to grow. Between 1950 and 1973 the most accomplished traders were in western Europe and Japan. Merchandise exports rose by eight percent per annum. After 1973 trade slowed with the effect of two oil price shocks. Monetary expansion as well as inadequate macroeconomic adjustment policies caused a burst of inflation. Innovations in information technology in the 1990s expanded trade once again, more rapidly than before. With the advancement of technology, including mobile phones and especially the internet people were able to connect all over the globe. It was in 1992 some restrictions were removed between America, Canada, and Mexico with a Trade Agreement. This allowed people to migrate across national borders which resulted in increased trade with the free flow of goods and services. Over the years National businesses have become multinational thanks to being able to outsource work abroad. The speed at which businesses can interact with countries around the globe has made for what has now become known as a ‘shrinking world.’ With a wider range of potential client’s globalisation offers businesses many ways to increase profits. A business wants to make maximum profit and cheaper labour across the globe is always going to be far more appealing. Exporting jobs also helps them to remain competitive in the global markets whilst keeping their own costs down. Many of the consumer goods that we own today are more easily accessible and would be far more expensive without globalisation. This of course has huge disadvantages for their own national employees, by outsourcing the work to cheaper workers internationally people have had a decrease in their own wages or been made unemployed. This then has a knock-on effect on the economy, with less income and people out of work there are less consumers to buy the products. Today, thanks to globalisation, developing countries can enjoy so many more opportunities. Technological advancement has meant people can seek work internationally or via the internet solving the issue of poverty within their country. Trade barriers in the past would have made it impossible for this to happen. Developed nations can now invest in less developed nations which has also created excellent job opportunities within the developing country. With the removal of trade barriers, the health and education system in developing countries has improved greatly. “Health and education are basic objectives to improve any nations, and there are strong relationships between economic growth and health and education systems” Fariooz Hamdi “The Impact of Globalisation in the Developing Countries” LinkedIn June 11th, 2015. (“The Effects of Globalization on Developing Countries | by ...”) While globalisation has made a massive difference in helping the poverty-stricken countries there appears to still be a substantial difference between the developed countries and the developing countries with regards to inequality. People who do the same work in one country getting paid a significantly poor wage in comparisons to someone in a more developed country. Within the developing countries itself there does not appear to be as much inequality though unlike the developed countries where there is a big gap between the rich and the poor. “Using population-weighted income inequality data from 138 countries from 1979 to 2000, Sala-I-Martin (2006), for example, showed that the level of income inequality across countries declined sharply over time. However, when income shares are examined by quintiles, we see that income inequality has increased mainly in the middle and high-income countries, and less so in the low-income countries” (IMF,2007) Globalisation has seen many positive changes in the way people view people of other cultures, better understanding thanks to increase in travel and people enjoying what other countries and cultures have to offer has meant for less negativity in how people view someone who was seen as ‘different’ in the past. People all over the world are taking an interest in other cultures, for example their beliefs, music, food. The world is becoming a less volatile place in terms of differences between people and their beliefs, and this has also meant for better economic growth. There is of course still a long way to go with Western nations still believing their culture has more worth than other cultural values. The dominance of the use of the English language too is another way in which other cultures languages are being seen as less important and people who are opposed to globalisation fear that some languages could start dying out. The Effects of Globalisation on the Planet While Globalisation has had many effects on the people of the world it has also had an enormous impact on the planet too. This unfortunately has not been positive though. There are many ways in which this has affected the planet. The first example would be due to the increase in transport of goods and products being sent all over the globe via planes, ships, trains, etc, the increase in Co2 emissions from the increased fuel consumption is having a massive impact on climate change both on land and in the ocean. Transportation when it involves lorries for example, require the need to increase the way in which lorries can get to their destination with the greatest of ease, this however involves destroying natural habitat to create more roads and bridges. With less trees which the planet needs as they take out the harmful CO2 emissions out of the air, pollution increases even more. Even with 70 percent of goods being sent via ships this again can have huge issues on the delicate marine environment in the ocean due to the devastating affects major oil spills create. Another issue with the transportation from country to country is the invasive species that can hitch a ride. They can affect the environment themselves, not always in a bad way but there is potential for them to have a detrimental effect on the nation's own environment. All these factors have an ongoing negative affect on the globe's biodiversity. The WWF living planet report (2020) has found that we are clearly losing a great deal of the wildlife population, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles at a very alarming rate. Since 1970 there has been a 68 percent drop in figures. “As humanity’s footprint expands into once-wild places, we are devastating species populations. But we are also exacerbating climate change and increasing the risk of zoonotic diseases like Covid-19. It is time to restore our broken relationship with nature for the benefit of species and people alike.” (“Wild, wild world: new initiatives strive to conserve ...”) WWF-US President and CEO Carter Roberts Natural disasters such as flooding and forest fires due to the ever-increasing global temperatures are all linked to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The rising sea levels due to the loss of sea ice are all a side effects of the warming globe. Since 1880 the sea levels have increased by 8 inches. There is great concern that by 2100 this will have increased by another one to eight feet. This will have devastating consequences for potentially half a billion people. With 267 million people currently living on land less than 2 metres above sea level they are facing a loss to their homes with the risk of the sea claiming the land. By 2100 the population of these lands is expected to be about 410 million people. Credit: Rosamund Pearce. Carbon Brief Deforestation, an indirect cause of climate change, is due to many factors, Agricultural expansion, growth in population, livestock ranching and logging. Climate change is also a direct cause too, with the drying out of forests and increasing forest fires which again releases vast quantities of CO2. Forestland twice the size of Paris is disappearing every day. The effects of this are there is less and less trees to convert CO2 into Oxygen. Time To Act A study by scientists believes that human influence towards climate change began as early as the 1830s. It was deemed to be due to the human society starting to industrialise which seen the beginning of CO2 being added into the air. We are learning so much about the effects of CO2 emissions and its impact on the planet and realising just how important it is to change the way the world goes about daily life both at home and in business. It was back in 2015 at United Nations climate change conference (COP21) in Paris that world leaders came to a breakthrough agreement to start tackling man-made climate change now known as the Paris Agreement. The agreement goals include all nations assisting in reducing their Greenhouse gas emissions to bring down the global temperature by 2 degrees Celsius. The legally binding international treaty includes 192 countries who have all committed to reducing their emissions and make their efforts clear for regular monitoring of each country's goals. All countries must produce a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) every 5 years. This involves communicating their actions on how they can keep adapting to find better ways to tackle climate change. China made a pledge back in 2020 to cut their emissions to net zero by 2060. With them being a country that produces the most emissions and being responsible for 28 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions this is a huge commitment and does bring a lot a hope for the future of the planet and came as exciting news for environmentalists across the globe. The COP26 Climate Change Conference being held in Glasgow has involved 400 private planes flying from all over the globe. The positives to this being that more can be done, and views are listened to when it is a face-to-face situation but 400 private planes flying to Glasgow and back is sending very mixed signals when it adds so much CO2 into the air. Pressure is continuing to mount making it vitally important that world leaders make huge headway during this meeting. With the increase in travel this has meant more people are able to witness for themselves the devastation that globalisation is contributing massively to and opening people's eyes to what is happening to the planet. People are starting to listen and want to act. Changes We Can All Make Actions people are taking to help tackle climate change 1.Eating less dairy and meat will have a significant impact on the environment. This is due to the high amount of methane gas cows and sheep produce which contributes to climate change. With less land needed for farm animal's farmers can start growing crops instead. 2. Cutting back on flying, instead of flying for work people are using video conferencing instead. People are holidaying closer to home and opting to travel via train or electric car. If they are flying, they are choosing to go economy class instead of business which can reduce their carbon footprint. 3 Leaving their cars at home and opting for public transport, walking, cycling or even car sharing. 4. People making changes even in their homes such as putting an extra layer on when they are cold instead of turning the heating on. Reducing the thermostat by a degree or two. Turning of lights and appliances that are not in use and switching bulbs to LED. 5.Cutting consumption and waste. Everything we buy as consumers has a carbon footprint, but people can reduce this by donating to charity and buying second hand. Buying quality items that will last a long time can also help reduce your carbon footprint as you will be buying less in the long term. Choose brands that promote green aspirations and are actively tackling climate change. Becoming a world that repairs rather than disposes can reduce what ends up in landfill. Globalisation even though it has had a massive impact on climate change can also bring the world together to unite in making a change as a planet. The word is getting out there on internet sites and in the everyday news it would be hard for anyone to not take note and be alarmed at the state the world is now in. On this note there is great hope that the damage that has already been caused can be reversed in time, this would not be during our lifetime, but it would be wonderful to secure a healthy happy future for the generations to come. For this to happen more action needs to be taken right around the globe. REFERENCES Https://ourworldindata.org/trade-and-globalization Https://www.khanacadamy.org/humanities/us-history/modern-us/1990s-america/a/globalization Https://www.bartleby.com/essay/globalization-is-the-shrinking-of-our-world-P3CNAXUSTJ Https://www.cuustomwritingservice.org/effects-of-globalization-on-developing-countries/ Https://medium.com/@BonillaXM/the-effects-of-globalization-on-the-developing-countries-1e46527c400 Https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228269303 Https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/globalization-effects-on-the-environment Https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-us/ Https://www.mvorganizing.org/how-does-globalization-impact-culture/ Https://www.theclassroom.com/negative-effects-of-globalization-on-culture-12083897.html Https://read.oecd.org/economics/economic-globalisation/what-is-the-impact-of-globalisation-on-the-environment-9789264111905-8en Https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ Https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/07/01/nearly-half-a-billion-people-at-risk-from-sea-level-rise-by-2100 Https://www.carbonbrief.org/scientists-clarify-starting-point-for-human-caused-climate-change Https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54347878 Https://www.soilassociation.org/bette-for-the-planet/does-climat-change-mean-i-need-to-stop-eating-meat Https://www.imperial.ac.uk/stories/climate-change Https://ww.slideshare.net/bobjohan/introduuction-to-globalization Https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/how-globalization-4-0-fits-into-the-history-of-gooobalization/ Https://www.ourworldindata.org/trade-and-globalization Https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/anrep_e/wtr08-2b_e.pdf