"double edge " reader response

In Nayan Chanda‘s work ‘The Double Edge Of Globalization’, the main focus of the author is that globalization directly causes environmental problems and yet neither developing nor developed countries have solutions to overcome this. The author suggested that the government should take more action.  I think in the present time, developing countries are unlikely to give up their countries development for environmental conservation. Moreover, for the developed countries, they will not be too willing to invest big sums of money to aid in environmental conservation. All these are inevitable in today’s globalized world. The author gave a number of examples to substantiate his argument, his overall message is clear and very well explained.

When the author mentioned about the environmental problems caused by globalization, he used the example of China, the “burning of coal and use of chemicals to fuel the export machine pollute not only China's air and water but the world’s environment as well.”, as well as “7,000 km chain that starts with the clearing of virgin forest by farmers and leads directly to chicken nuggets being sold in British and European fast food restaurants". China can be considered as the representative of developing countries.  The two examples above illustrated the reality in the world today. Firstly, China is a developing country which needs to find its own position in the world market. Due to the advantages of work labor and resources, China is producing low end and cheap goods to be exported to the world. Therefore its main concern for now is to keep the cost low. However, this will result in many environmental problems. It is inevitable because the government needs to improve its peoples standard of living, therefore development is its top priority. As seen from the example, it shows that there the demands from the global market is what makes the environmental problems worse. For developed countries, they do not want to burden their economy and pushed the responsibilities to the developing countries instead.

Overall, I think both developing and developed countries should work together to conserve the environment because we have only one earth, everyone on earth should bear the consequences. I think developed countries should help developing countries such as sharing their pollution free technology. For developing countries, even though development is the first priority, conservation of the environment should still be part of their concern in order to prevent the situation from worsening.

"double edge" summary final :)

Globalization is an on-going and inevitable occurrence. It is considered a double-edged sword as it bring about both positive and negative effects for the world. Positively looking, globalization has brought prosperity to many countries such as China, India and many other developing countries by encouraging global trade. A global village has formed as people all over the world are better connected to one another and world news is also spreading faster than ever. However, there are also negative effects caused by globalization. One major problem is the environmental damage caused in the course of globalization. Deforestation accounts for one fifth of the global carbon emissions; while the burning of coal for industries in developing countries causes serious air pollution. Global warming has worsened due to the emission of greenhouse gases, and this may affect not just the global economy, but also cause social disruption.

Willingness is the key to resolving these problems. Records show that with the help of technology, as well as the combined effort of the world’s authority, challenges brought about by globalization can definitely be resolved.

"double edge " summary (final draft)

  Globalization is an on-going and inevitable occurrence for the world today. It is considered as a double-edged sword as it brought about both positive and negative effects for the world. Positively looking, globalization has brought prosperity to many countries such as China, India and many other developing countries by encouraging global trade. A global village has formed as people all over the world are better connected to one another and world news is also spreading faster than ever. However, there are also negative effects caused by globalization. One major problem will be the environmental damage done in the course of globalization. Deforestation for crops growing accounts for one fifth of the global carbon emission; while the burning of coals for industries in developing countries causes serious air pollution. Global warming has worsened due to the emission of greenhouse gases, and this may affect not just the global economy, but also causing social disruption.

  Willingness is the key to resolve these problems. Record shows that with the willingness of countries and effective global governance, many environmental problems can be prevented or eliminated. With the help of technology, as well as the combined effort of the world’s authority, challenges brought about by globalization can definitely be resolved.