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Module 5: Stewardship and Sustainable Prosperity

Globalization and Environmental Sustainability

What are the perspectives on the role of globalization in sustaining our environment?

In Explore 1 you may have found that opportunities of globalization may drive some people and countries to place economic success above the sustainability of the environment. Is this always the impact of globalization? Is it possible that globalization may aid in sustaining the environment?


Read

Read about the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on page 307 in Perspectives on Globalization. How can globalization respond to issues of environmental sustainability? Record your key ideas in your Notebook.

Internet

Corporations are going green. The Hewlett-Packard (HP) Development Company is one example of a multinational corporation that is attempting to demonstrate a balance between economic benefits and environmental sustainability in a globalizing world. HP is in the business of digital technologies such as computers, cameras, and printers. The environment and Eco Solutions are now features of its business.

  • Go to the HP website and click on “Company Information” and then “Environment.” Explore the “Eco Solutions” web page. View videos on HP’s participation in the environment and the World Wildlife Federation program on climate change.

Is it possible to be green and profitable? What effect do the manufacture, marketing, use, and disposal of digital technologies have on the environment? Record your key ideas in your Notebook.

  • The Global Issues website features articles on sustainable development. Use the website search tool to locate “The Impact of Richer Nations on the Environment.” Find out what Vandana Shiva identifies as environmental impacts in the quote from Stolen Harvest. How has globalization impacted the environment? Record your key ideas in your Notebook.
  • The Global Envision website features an article that explores whether there are environmental benefits to globalization. Use the website search tool to find the 2004 article entitled “The Environmental Benefits of Globalization.” Can globalization encourage environmental sustainability? Record your key ideas in your Notebook.
Research

Select one multinational corporation to research.

  1. What is the environmental track record of this corporation?
  2. What commitments to the environment has this corporation made?

Record your key ideas in your Notebook.

Assignment

Please complete the Globalization and Environmental Sustainability Assignment this time.

Extension

Indigenous groups have strongly called for involvement in identifying strategies for environmental sustainability. Research the Indigenous knowledge that may offer strategies to reverse the negative effects of economic globalization on the environment.