What does sustainable mean?
What does prosperity mean?
Sustainable = to maintain something
Prosperity = a successful, flourishing,
or thriving condition
What might sustainable prosperity
mean?
Globalization and Sustainability:
Shipping and Shipbreaking
• Assignment booklet
• Text pgs 266-268
Sustainable Prosperity
• Like the word “globalization,” the term
“sustainable prosperity” is defined differently
depending on a person’s POV and reason for
using the term in a particular context.
• Sustainable prosperity:
– practicing stewardship of the environment and
resources so that future generations are able to
achieve prosperity.
– The goal is to balance environmental, social, and
economic factors.
Examples of Sustainable Prosperity
• Practicing stewardship of the environment and
resources for future generations.
– (Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, limiting the
amount of garbage going to landfills).
• Freer trade among all countries, including
developing countries.
– This would allow every country to increase its
productivity and make prosperity possible for
everyone (shared prosperity).
• Figure 12-2 pg. 280
What is Not Sustainable Prosperity?
• Logging a forest beyond its re-growth capability.
(+economy, -environment)
• Closing down a logging operation without
suitable transition arrangements for those
workers who are laid off. (+environment, economy, -social)
• Mining native land. (+economy, +social, cultural)
• Pg 265
What is standard of living?
What is quality of life?
Standard of Living
• Standard of living:
– A level of material comfort as measured by the
goods, services, and luxuries available to an
individual, group, or nation.
– Standard of living is directly related to money.
• Indicators of standard of living include:
•
•
•
•
income,
unemployment rate,
housing affordability,
gross domestic product, etc.
Quality of Life
The state of
being healthy,
happy, or
prosperous.
Indicators of quality of life
include:
• life expectancy,
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
adult literacy rate,
school enrollment,
air quality,
right to vote,
right to marry,
religious freedom,
gender equality,
equal protection of the law,
etc.
Our standard of living usually affects our QOL,
our QOL does not affect our standard of living.
Does a higher standard of
living mean for a better quality
of life?
Measuring Quality of Life
• Usually:
– higher standard of living means for a better quality
of life.
• NOT ALWAYS.
• when we are measuring quality of life, we need
to take this into consideration.
– Do we use standard or living factors to measure
quality of life at all? If so, to what extent?
How does one come up with a
measure of “prosperity”?
Gross Domestic Product
• Gross domestic
product is a standard
of living measure. It is
the value of all the
goods and services a
country produces in
one given year.
• These figures are in
trillions of dollars for
the year 2008.
1United States14,264,600
2People's Republic of China7,916,429
3Japan4,354,368
4India3,288,345
5Germany2,910,490
6Russia2,260,907
7UnitedKingdom2,230,549
8France2,130,383
9Brazil1,981,207
10Italy1,814,557
11Mexico1,548,007
12Spain1,396,881
13SouthKorea1,342,338
14Canada1,303,234
Importance of GDP
• Changes in GDP can be used to track the
health of a country’s economy. Agencies like
Statistics Canada monitor and record these
changes.
• The income and standard of living of the people
in a country are closely tied to GDP.
• How is GDP only a standard of living measure?
GDP Per Capita
• The GDP of a country divided by the number of
people who live there. (per capita – think “per
cap”, i.e. “per head”)
• If Canada has a population of 34 million and a
GDP of 1.330 trillion, what is it’s GDP per
capita?
• $39,117.65 (1.330 trillion divide by 34 million)
Could GDP per capita be
misleading? How so?
• It includes children, the unemployed, and
the retired. Also, it is an average, and
averages can be deceiving.
Other Countries’ GDP
• If Norway has a population of 5 million and a
GDP of 259 billion, what is it’s GDP per capita?
– $51,800
• If India has a population of 1.2 billion and a
GDP of 3.862 trillion, what is it’s GDP per
capita?
– $3,218.33
• February 2007: The Globe and Mail:
– the chief executives of some companies in Canada
earn up to 400 times more than the average worker.
,
• If a company has 100 workers who earn
$35,000 a year and a president who earns 200
times as much, what would be the total
earnings of the workers and the president?
• What happens when you average the earnings
of the 101 people?
– How accurately does this number reflect the real
prosperity of the workers? Of the company
president? (FYI pg 282)
• 10.5 million, $103,960, not very accurate
Human Development Index (HDI)
• The human development index was created by
the United Nations to measure quality of life in
countries. It is measured on a scale of 1.
• HDI calculations are based on 3 main
categories:
– Longevity (life expectancy)
– Knowledge (school enrollment, adult literacy)
– Standard of living (GDP per person)
A Comparison of Countries and
their HDI (2006)
Top 10 HDI
# 1 Norway:0.963
# 2 Iceland:0.956
# 3 Australia:0.955
= 4 Canada:0.949
= 4 Luxembourg:0.949
= 4 Sweden:0.949
# 7 Switzerland:0.947
# 8 Ireland:0.946
# 9 Belgium:0.945
# 10 United States:0.944
Bottom 5 HDI
#174
#175
#176
#177
#178
Chad:0.341
Mali:0.333
Burkina Faso:0.317
Sierra Leone:0.298
Niger:0.281
(Figure 12-5, pg 283)
World Map Indicating HDI (2006)
0.95 and
over
0.7 –
0.75
0.35 –
0.5
Why Make the HDI?
• The HDI was created to:
– draw attention to indicators that go beyond GDP
– reveal information that is not reflected in GDP stats.
• Kuwait:
– very high GDP
– low level of education attainment.
• Canada:
– ranks high on the HDI
– has been criticized for the sharp differences between the
level of QOL indicators for the general population and for
Aboriginals.
• Figure 12-6 & Voices pg. 283
Other Measures of Prosperity
• GNH (Gross National Happiness)
• GPI (Genuine Progress Index)
In Bhutan, the king has brought in the gross
national happiness index, GNH. It is all about
your inner self and well being.
Gross National Happiness Index
• The GNH index:
– based on Buddhist spiritual values rather than
economic growth.
– The focus is on the inner happiness and well-being
of the people in a country, their spiritual and
material development.
• The king is determined to help Bhutan keep its
own cultural identity despite outside pressures,
including the influence of TV and the Internet.
The gov’t strictly controls trade, tourism, and
foreign investment. (Voices pg. 285)
Why do you think Bhutan is so
resistant to globalization?
Genuine Progress Index (GPI)
• The GPI index: being developed to measure
sustainability, well-being, and QOL.
• Advocates of the GPI say that GDP does not
measure growth accurately because it does not
take ppl’s real prosperity into account.
– GDP, for example, does not reflect the toll of
economic growth on the environment, nor does it
measure the inequality of income among the people
in the country.
What is Uneconomic Growth?
The "costs" of economic activity which include
the following potential harmful effects:
•
•
•
•
•
Cost of resource depletion
Cost of crime
Cost of ozone depletion
Cost of air, water, and noise pollution
Loss of farmland and wetlands
For example, the GPI will be zero if the financial
costs of crime and pollution directly from
economic growth equal the financial gains in
production of goods and services.
What is privatization?
Privatization
• To eliminate the cost of operating services and
to raise cash, some gov’ts are choosing
privatization.
• Privatization: the selling of a public service,
such as electricity delivery or health care, to a
private company so that the service is no longer
owned by the gov’t.
• Around the world, gov’ts have privatized
services such as electric utility companies,
health care, highway repair and upkeep, etc.
Arguments for Privatization
• Privatization lowers taxes because we as
taxpayers no longer have to pay for the gov’t to
run the service. This means more money for us!
• Competition that arises from privatization
improves service and lowers prices. (If Wendy's
raises the price of their burgers you can just go
to Dairy Queen. If Wendy’s wants to stay
competitive they have to lower their burger
prices or they risk losing your business.)
Example of Privatization Working
• 2007, Japan:
– privatized its government-owned post office.
• (The post office also was Japan’s largest savings and investment
bank).
• The post office was privatized and divided into four
separate companies:
–
–
–
–
a bank,
insurance company,
courier service, and
post office
s
• This made dealing with the post office easier for
consumers since they all didn’t need to go to one
place for different services.
Arguments against Privatization
• Many government-run services do not make
money so the government simply eats the cost.
• If we privatize an unprofitable business then
the company, in order to ensure it makes a
profit, will raise their prices and hurt us as
consumers.
• Government-run services meet the needs of all
citizens, not just those who can afford to pay for
them.
• Risk of monopoly.
Privatization Not Working Example
• 1989, the New Zealand:
– gov’t sold Air New Zealand to an international
group that included Qantas and American Airlines.
• By 2001:
– the airline had run into severe financial problems
and, because the airline is essential for their
economy, the New Zealand gov’t had to take back
control.
Issue: Privatizing Water
• The debate on whether to privatize water or not
is a HUGE issue.
• American business magazine Fortune calls control of
water resources:
– “one of the world’s great business opportunities. It promises
to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th.”
•
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-privatisation-of-water-nestle-denies-that-water-is-afundamental-human-right/5332238
– Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe believes that
“access to water is not a public right.” Nor is it a human
right.
– http://www.trueactivist.com/nestle-ceo-water-is-not-a-human-right-should-beprivatized/ (video)
Privatization of Water
• Assigment Booklet: article and paragraph
Privatization of Water Happening
• Despite the debate, privatization of water is
already happening.
– In 56 countries water supply is controlled by large
transnational corporations.
• Ironically, some of the people who pay the most
money for water are the most poor!
– Many governments do not properly regulate the
private providers of water. There is no way to
ensure water is safely and efficiently delivered to
everyone who pays for it in certain countries.
What is trade liberalization?
Trade Liberalization
• Trade liberalization is to make trade easier
and more fair for everyone.
• Horst Kohler, head of International Monetary
Fund: “trade liberalization is the most important
element to promote sustained growth for
industrialized countries and for low-income
countries.”
Is Canada Two-Faced?
• Subsidies are gov’t
grants.
• In the case of
agriculture, the
Canadian gov’t gives
subsidies to
Canadian farmers to
offset their production
costs. This allows
prices to stay low for
consumers.
Doesn’t this action go against
the principles of trade
liberalization? Who does this
action help? Who does it hurt?
Who Does This Help?
• Canadian farmers: they get money from the
gov’t just for the sake of being farmers.
• Canadian consumers: we pay less for food then
we would have to if this industry was not
subsidized.
Who Does This Hurt?
• Canadian taxpayers: the gov’t pays the
subsidies, which means we pay more taxes.
• Farmers in developing countries: they cannot
compete with Canada and US farmers because
they are not getting financial help and thus have
to charge higher prices. Since consumers will
go for the lowest price, nobody buys their
product, putting them out of business.
If We Remove Tariffs/Grants…
• In 2005, the World Bank predicted that if all
tariffs, subsidies, and other supports for
agriculture were abolished, the global economy
could grow by nearly $200 billion over the next
10 years.
• Should the Canadian gov’t get rid of grants to
Canadian farmers? Why or why not?
Foreign Investment
• Foreign investment is the purchase of assets in
one country by individuals, institutions, or
governments in another country. (Kind of like
buying stocks in a company).
• Foreign investors can buy shares in existing
businesses, set up new businesses, or invest
money in the currency of another country.
Why Foreign Investment?
• It keeps Canada competitive in an
interconnected and fast-moving global economy
and strengthens ties among Canada’s trading
partners.
• It strengthens the sustainable prosperity of
Canadian companies, consumers, and workers.
Does Foreign Investment Always
Work?
• By the early 1990s, South Korea had the
world’s 11th largest economy and was growing
quickly. They attracted a lot of foreign
investment that helped stimulate the economy.
• However, by 1997, the value of South Korea’s
currency fell and with it people lost confidence
in the economy. As a result, people pulled their
money out, the economy shrank, South
Koreans lost their jobs, and the gov’t had to
borrow $58 billion from the Int’l Monetary Fund.
(Figure 12-13 pg. 292)
The Knowledge Economy
• Generally, knowledge economy is described
as businesses and individuals who use
research, education, new ideas, and
information technologies for practical purposes.
• This includes industries that create high-tech
products for business: microsystem
technologies, computer software, robotics, and
biotechnology.
Challenges & Opportunities
• The knowledge economy offers both challenges
and opportunities for sustainable prosperity.
• Opportunities are that it contributes to the
evolution of technologies and increased trade
and competition.
• Challenges are that to remain competitive,
knowledge workers must constantly upgrade
their skills. This can be difficult as this often
requires more education, time, and money.
Robotics
• Robotic systems continue to evolve, slowly
penetrating many areas of our lives, from
manufacturing, medicine and remote
exploration to entertainment, security and
personal assistance.
• Developers in Japan are currently building
robots to assist the elderly, while NASA
develops the next generation of space
explorers, and artists are exploring new
avenues of entertainment.
Robots work on an Iranian made Samand car at the Iran Khodro auto plant, west of Tehran, on September 30,
2008. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
Surgeons use a robot named da Vinci to aid a hernia operation, at the University Hospital Geneva, in Geneva,
Switzerland, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. The University Hospitals of Geneva opened the department for robotic
surgery in 2008, where between 50 and 80 surgeons from around the world will have the possibility to train with da
Vinci each year. (AP Photo/Keystone, Salvatore Di Nolfi)
Vince Martinelli, an account manager at Kiva Systems, right, checks packages on the "pods", or shelves with
dummy merchandise as robots run through a demonstration of an inventory check at the company's "demo
warehouse" used to show their warehouse automation robots in action. (Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWsMdN7HMuA&feature=PlayList
&p=16A39FD504A786B1&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1
Tokyo Fire Department's rescue robot transfers a mock victim onto itself during an anti-terrorism exercise in the
response to a radiological dispersal device in Tokyo, on November 7, 2008. Tokyo Metropolitan government
conducted the exercise with eleven organizations including Metropolitan Police Department. (TOSHIFUMI
KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)
Mental commitment robotic baby seals named "Paro" are recharged at robot exhibition Robo Japan 2008 in
Yokohama, Friday, Oct. 10, 2008. The 350,000 yen (US$3,480) Paro, a cooing baby harp seal robot fitted with
sensors beneath its fur and whiskers, is developed by Japan's Intelligent System Co, to soothe patients in
hospitals and nursing homes. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
NASA's Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot (LEMUR) is being designed as an inspection/maintenance
robot for equipment in space. A scaled-up version of Lemur IIa, could help build large structures in space. The
Lemur IIa pictured here is shown on a scale model of a segmented telescope. (NASA/Planetary Robotics
Laboratory)
A mock intruder, tangled in a net that was launched by the remote-controlled security robot T-34, lies on the floor
while posing beside the robot in Tokyo January 21, 2009. T-34 users can see live images from the robot's camera
and control the robot using a mobile phone. The robot, which has sensors that react to body heat and sound, can
launch a net against an intruder by remote-control during its surveillance. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)
Toyota Motor Corporation partner robots play instruments at the company's showroom in Tokyo on May 4, 2008.
(REUTERS/Toru Hanai)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs_vL9
g4IYk
A biomimetic underwater robot, named "RoboLobster", designed by Professor Joseph Ayers, is seen, Aug. 17,
2007, in Nahant, Massachusetts. RoboLobster is intended to be used to recognize changes in seawater and to
locate and destroy underwater mines. (Robert Spencer)
Matthew W. Fisher with Hanson Robotics makers of conversational, character robots holds up a synthetic face to
show how light and easy it is to move and show human expressions in Boston. MA on May 15th, 2007. (David L.
Ryan/Boston Globe)
Economic Growth
• Economic growth depends on businesses
to produce more goods and services
faster, more efficiently, and at a lower cost
than the competition. Many agree that
continuous economic growth leads to
greater prosperity for everyone.
• One of the most common ways of
measuring a country’s economic growth is
by seeing how it’s GDP changes from year
to year
Thinking about starting your own
business?
• Economic growth and the living standards
of a country’s people depend on the
success of a country’s businesses.
• Not only do businesses provide jobs in a
community but they account for a lot of the
revenue that the gov’t gets from taxes.
Businesses in Canada pay between 25
and 40 per cent of their profits in taxes!!!
Easy examples of foreign investment involve oil companies. As we know many troubled areas
of the world have a lot of oil. Unfortunately for some of them they do not have the resources to
extract the oil so they rely on foreign investment to help them as well as their economy out.
Specifically some areas in South America, the Middle East and Russia. One example is
Kurdistan (northern Iraq). By having foreign oil companies working in their country it can kick
start their economy.
Millennium Development
Goals
Eradicating Hunger & Poverty
• United Nations has a goal of cutting in half, by
2015, the proportion of the world’s people whose
income is less than $1 a day. Can this
realistically be done?
• Think about your spending over the past 3 days.
List everything you bought and what it cost, then
calculate the total. Divide this total by 3 to get
your average daily spending. Then add to your
list everything you used but did not pay for
(shelter, food, clothing, telephone, and
computer). Estimate their costs and recalculate
your average daily spending. Could you live on
$1 a day?
The Greenhouse Effect
• The burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural
gas – releases carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases that were once trapped in
these fuels.
• These gases form a barrier in the atmosphere
that absorbs heat from the earth’s surface and
radiates it back to Earth instead of allowing it to
pass into space. Many scientists believe this
process contributes to global climate change –
small but steady changes in average
temperatures around the world.
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diag
rams/greenhouse/
What does this all mean?
• Many scientists speculate that greenhouse
gases already in our atmosphere will
cause global temperatures to increase by
and average of 0.5 degrees Celsius every
year until 2025.
• This warming increases the risk of drought
and evaporation of water from lakes and
rivers.
• Scientists still believe that actions we take
now can slow the rate after 2025.
• If nothing is done the poorest people in the
world will suffer the most as climate
change affects animals, plants, and water
supplies.
• Hardest hit areas will be the Arctic, subSaharan Africa, small islands, and large
deltas in Asia,
Norway: The Norwegian gov’t has made a seed vault, located far above the Arctic circle on
one of Norway’s most northerly islands. The project is to save Earth’s diverse seed sources in
the event of a global catastrophe or plant epidemic. It will include seeds from both the
developed and developing countries around the world.
Bolivia: the Bolivian gov’t is concerned about that speed at which glaciers in the Tuni
Condoriri mountains are melting. These glaciers supply 80% of the water for residents of La
Paz, the country’s capital. What would loss of water mean to the people of this city?
Norway