Valeria Frolova （ Hongxuan Ji ）
Dr. Alesha Gayle
English 812
14 April 2015
The Negative Effects of Globalization on the Global Environment.
It is undoubtedly true that globalization influences the world in the variety of ways, such as economic, cultural, environmental and financial (Thai 4). The effect of globalization on the environment has been on debate for a few decades. Some scholars argue that it protects the global environment and promotes sustainable regulations across nations. For example, Thai
(2007) states that there are many international institutions, like World Trade Organization
(WTO), which can positively influence the global environment by raising the environmental awareness and introducing world regulation on environmentally preferable technologies and products. On the other hand, there are many opponents of globalization, who claim that the increase trade creates a threat to global biodiversity and negatively affects the global ecology. As
Huwart (2013) states, “globalization helped accentuate the major environmental damages people are experiencing today, even though it is only indirectly responsible” (112).
One way that globalization negatively affected the global environment is deforestation.
The reason for this trend is the growth of economic activities such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and transportation (Thai). According to Huwart, “deforestation [occurs] mainly due to the conversion of forests into agricultural land, especially in developing countries”. For example, the growth of international food chains requires more land to grow food which directly leads to deforestation. As a result, Greenpeace claims that there is “a 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”. Moreover, with the growing demand for goods there is a trend of increasing in a number of factories and plants for producing them, which also leads to the destruction of forestland. Or in the words of Chanda (2007), “by encouraging trade, globalization encourages consumption, which leads to more logging worldwide”. For instance, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (2005) reported that each year about 18 million acres of the world's forests are lost due to deforestation. Clearing forests is extremely harmful to the environment as it reduces the volume of carbon dioxide that plants convert into oxygen (Huwart
114).
Furthermore, the greater demand for products also poses a global ecological issue because industrial production is one of the main sources of carbon emissions. According to
Chanda, pollution produced by one local factory eventually impacts the global environment, or in his words:
“Pollution hits the originating country first, contaminating its soil and water, but soon is absorbed in the atmosphere, where it becomes a global problem – poisoning the air and bringing acid rain to other parts of the world”.
Manufacturing negatively impacts the environment because its processes involve heating raw material and/or burning fuels that release toxic pollutants into the air, others methods might use big quantities of water that are later released into streams, rivers and lakes as water waste, and eventually disperse chemicals into the global waters. For example, Chanda states that
“accelerated 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”.
Moreover, globalization contributes to the increase of waste that leads to more environmental pressure such as the emission of polluting matters into the physical environment

(van Veen-Groot). According to Mukherjee (2014), landfills are the primary option for waste disposal all over the world. The volume of landfill waste dumping is expected to grow around the globe due to increasing materialistic lifestyle and planned obsolescence of the products
(Mukherjee). The environmental impacts by landfill leachate includes contaminating of groundwater by toxic chemicals, which in turn affects biodiversity. Furthermore, globalization indirectly contributes to increase in the international waste trade. Kellenberg (2012) states that
“in 2007, the world traded more than 191 million tons of waste”. He also claims this trend is expected to grow and pose many environmental issues for developing countries. In other words,
“waste that flows to countries with low environmental regulations to be recycled or discarded in an environmentally unsafe manner can create severe environmental problems for those countries” (Kellenberg 68). One of the major problems is seeping of toxic chemicals into groundwater, rivers and lakes, which are the sources for drinking water.
Another way that globalization impacts the global environment is by stimulating the growth of transportation that is another major contributor to the increase of carbon emissions. In other words, the amount of products and people transported to the variety of directions around the world has added the pressure on the global environment. According to van Veen-Groot, “a wide variety of environmental externalities ranges from ecological footprint problems to global pollution”. Globalization, for instance, greatly contributed to the growth of marine transport since the majority of goods between countries that do not share a land border are moved by ocean. According to McAusland (2010) this type of transport poses the threat to marine life as a result of “dumping of non-biodegradable solid waste into the ocean; accidental spills of oil, toxics or other cargo or fuel at ports and while underway; air emissions from the vessels' power supplies; port and inland channel construction and management” (48). In general, the transport

sector is a significant contributor to local air pollution, noise annoyance, intrusion of landscapes, congestion and high fatality rates (McAusland 46). The carbon emissions by air and ground transports are the ones of the major factors of the ozone depletion that, in its turn, contribute to the global warming. For instance, with the growth of international trade “between 1990 and
2004, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 86%” (Huwart 112). According to
NASA, “carbon dioxide levels in the air are at their highest in 650,000 years”.
Furthermore, globalization has been negatively impacting the environment as it stimulates the rapid growth of tourism industry. To put it another way, globalization has not only blur the borders between countries for the flow of goods but also for the flow of people. The demand for travelling to exotic destinations was growing as people were discovering about them through the internet, TV shows, advertisement, and popular magazines. As a result, more and more land is used for building resorts and other tourist attractions. This trend has many impacts on global environment including “vegetation clearance and loss of wildlife; air and water pollution; and noise, light, and visual disturbance to native fauna” (Buckley 401). Furthermore, the majority of outdoor tourism activities are concentrated in the areas of high conservation value. Because globalization moves information quickly around the globe, the popularity of such unique places increases every year attracting a bigger number of tourists. As a result, the growth of tourists leads to the growth of noise, litter and pollution in the areas of high conservation value that, in its turn, reduces the population of wildlife species and plants (Buckley 404). On a bigger scale, these factors again adds pressure on the global environment leading to the climate change.
Finally, globalization indirectly increased the amount of electricity people use nowadays that again accentuates the greenhouse effect and global warming due to the fact that the electricity generation still largely involves burning coal and oil (Huwart 113). Globalization is

understood as the fast flow of information and ideas which are predominantly moved through the use technology. The way people lived has been changed with the spread of internet and television around the globe that resulted into the constant use of gadgets and watching TV. This trend directly increases the electricity consumption and thus leads to the bigger volume of harmful greenhouse gases.
One way of minimizing the negative influence of globalization on the global environment is by implementing sustainable ideas into the industrial production and transportation. For example, the use of renewable energy, such as solar and wind, would greatly reduce the volume of carbon emissions and therefore would slow the global warming. According to Chel (2010)
“clean development provides industrialized countries with an incentive to invest in emission reduction projects in developing countries to achieve a reduction in CO2 emissions at the lowest cost” (91). Similarly, the reduction of greenhouse gases can be achieved by substitution of fossil fuel to the biofuel. Demirbas (2008) identifies the advantages of using biofuels:
“Biofuels are easily available from common biomass sources; they are represent a carbon dioxide-cycle in combustion; biofuels have a considerable environmentally friendly potential; there are many benefits the environment, economy and consumers in using biofuels; and they are biodegradable and contribute to sustainability.”
Therefore, the use of renewable energy and biofuels will positively impact not only the global environment, but also will benefit the economy by reducing the cost of final products.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that globalization has multiplied the negative effects of human activities on the global environment. In addition, it has expanded the negative effect among developing countries due to the industrialization of them. As a result, the Earth is now facing the major environmental problems, such as the global warming and the reduction of

global biodiversity. These ecological issues pose concerns for sustainable living of future generations, as they directly affect human lives. Global warming, for example, links to the rise of sea levels that will eventually force people to move further into the continent as there will be a risk of floods. The decrease of diversity in flora and fauna can become the reason for lack of food as food chains will be damaged. However, there are ways to reduce the negative impact of globalization. For example, the volume of carbon emissions can be dramatically reduced by implementing renewable energy and biofuels.

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