GLOBALIZATION and SUSTAINABILITY

1. GLOBALIZATION and SUSTAINABILITY of the EARTH

2. GLOBALIZATION • Globalization determines how closely connected the world is. • Depletion in the cod stocks affects fishermen, their families, the east coast economy, as well as people in other countries who rely on buying and selling it. • We need a principle of sustainability.

3. Sustainability • Meeting the needs of today without jeopardizing the needs of tomorrow (future generations) • What are our “needs”? • What do we need to exist and thrive in society? • What conflicts (or issues) come to light with our needs?

4. THE STATE AND CORPORATE POWER1994 ($billions)

6. The 10 largest TNCs have a total income greater than that of 100 of the world's poorest countries. • Many TNCs have larger corporate sales than some developed countries.

7. SUSTAINABILITY 'We must shift our emphasis from managing resources to managing ourselves and to learn to live as an integral part of nature.' W Rees and M Wackernagel, Our Ecological Footprint

8. SUSTAINABILITY

9. Excessive consumption, unnecessary production, vast quantities of waste and scandalous disparities between rich and poor have combined to put the future of both humankind and the planet in question. There is ever-more statistical evidence that this development path is unsustainable.

10. SUSTAINABILITY • Development is considered sustainable when it meets the needs of people today without harming the well-being of future generations.

11. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE(Don’t copy) • European colonization was very harmful. The main goal was to attain wealth, not preserve the environment. Vegetation and wildlife was destroyed throughout Africa, and North America. • Europeans were so destructive to new lands because they viewed them as having limitless natural resources. They believed that science and technology could control nature for the benefit of humankind. (People still hold this view.) • Also, with the Industrial Revolution people moved off the land and into factories, mines, and the railway industry. As people moved off the land the respect for the land decreased.

12. Environmentalism • With another boom in industry after WWII more problems arose. By the 1960’s major environmental issues were being raised and placed in high Priority with the governments. What are some of the issues we have been faced with over since 1950? • Air pollution was high (sometimes toxic), • Water supplies were contaminated with industrial waste. (Barbara Waite river) • Oil spills, • toxic dumping, • Pesticides for farming damaged the environment. • Global warming • Ozone depletion • Deforestation (especially of rainforests.) • Depletion in natural resources.

13. What does sustainability focus on? • There are three main areas of sustainability. If something is sustainable each of these elements should be healthy: (look at questions in the reading) • Environment • Society • Economy • Improvements to one area should not have negative effects on another.

14. Measuring sustainability • When we talk about the earth's sustainability there are a few questions to answer. They are based around the human population, environmental damage, and resource consumption. • What is the maximum population the earth can support? • How much damage can the environment absorb? • What would be the effects of distributing food and water more equitable? • How much and what kind of resource consumption can the Earth support?

15. What influences sustainability? • Several factors influence sustainability. • Quality of life is one big influencer. • depends on how many resources each person needs and wants to use in order to be satisfied. The problem is that this varies drastically throughout the world. (What satisfies one in Canada or US may not satisfy one in Czech Republic.) • cultural traditions, • Varying income levels • and geographic regions makes determining global sustainability very difficult.

16. What are some solutions to the sustainability issue? • Transportation methods - ? • Waste disposal – Recycling • One-ton challenge • Family size • Buy sustainable product? • Support government policies on environment • Kyoto Accord - global warming • Alternate Energy sources. • Wind, bio-diesel, solar, hydro, geothermal

17. Story of Stuff • Sustainability Video • Planned obsolescence • Perceived obsolescence

18. SUSTAINABILITY FACTS Bye, bye birdieHabitat destruction through resource extraction, urbanization and expanding farmland is destroying thousands of species and reducing the planet’s biodiversity to dangerous levels. New Internationalist 329 November 2000

19. An estimated 50,000 plant and animal species will become extinct in the coming decades; in the tropics, ecosystem destruction is so severe that 60,000 plant species, 25% of the world’s total, could be lost by 2025.

20. Running on Empty • As demand for fresh, clean water for irrigation and industry mounts, underground water tables are being drained faster than they can be refilled. Pollution and changing climatic conditions are adding to the burden on fresh water supplies. • 31 countries with a collective population of half-a-billion people are experiencing chronic water shortages. This may reach 3 billion people in 50 countries within 25 years. The vast majority of this water-stressed population will live in Africa and South Asia. • Nearly half the world’s major rivers are going dry or are badly polluted. In China, 80% of the major rivers are so degraded they no longer support fish life. New Internationalist 329 November 2000

21. Gas Pains • As CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels rise, the Earth is heating up. Seven of the ten hottest years in the past 130 years occurred during the 1990s. Hotter air makes the water cycle run faster which leads to more intense storms and more rainfall. • Scientific examinations of the Vostok ice core in the Antarctica found CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere at their highest levels in 420,000 years. • On average each person in the world emits 4 tonnes of CO2 a year, though figures vary greatly from country to country. Emissions per person in North America average 19 tonnes, five times the world average and ten times the developing-world average. • A worldwide CO2 reduction of 50-70% is necessary to slow climate change. But world energy demand is forecast to grow by 65% by 2020 and without action CO2 emissions will follow. New Internationalist 329 November 2000

22. Tree trauma • What are the benefits of forests? • The Earth’s forests absorb CO2, produce oxygen, anchor soils, moderate the climate, influence the water cycle and provide a rich habitat for plants and animals. • The Shocking Truth • Half the world’s original forest cover of some three billion hectares has been destroyed in the last 40 years; only 20% of what remains is undisturbed by human activities. • More than 90% of forest loss is in the tropics; about 14 million hectares of tropical forest are hacked down each year, two-thirds of that due to farmers clearing land. • More than 90% of forests in the Mediterranean have been cut while from 1995 to 1997 more than 60,000 square kilometres of forest cover in Brazil was destroyed – an area twice the size of Belgium. New Internationalist 329 November 2000

23. Let’s Go Shopping! • Western consumerism is spreading across the planet as people search for meaning and fulfilment in their toaster ovens and mobile telephones. In the process the Earth’s finite resources are being plundered and the planet despoiled by poisonous wastes. • The amount spent globally on advertising aimed at boosting consumption topped $430 billion in 1998. Spending on advertising has increased four-fold in Asia and five-fold in Latin America in the last decade. • Over 80% of Americans believe that they buy and consume far more than they need. New Internationalist 329 November 2000

24. Consumption by the world’s richest countries, which represent 20% of total global population. New Internationalist 329 November 2000

25. Readings • How Many People Can the Earth Support • Charts • Questions • Resource/Resource Use • Questions

26. ONCE AGAIN! 'We must shift our emphasis from managing resources to managing ourselves and to learn to live as an integral part of nature.' W Rees and M Wackernagel, Our Ecological Footprint