Just sharing on what i have come across, I have read an article (
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402E7D81E3EF93AA1575BC0A9629C8B63)
that did not really focused on globalisation, but it mentioned this:
"On the plus side, it is becoming clear that the heedless polluting that accompanied 20th-century industrialization is unlikely to be repeated by today's industrializing countries. Globalization, often portrayed as an environmental villain, may help, some experts say, because multinational corporations, setting up factories in poor countries, tend to set higher environmental standards, prompting local communities to demand similar standards for home-grown industries. China, far and away the most important of the developing economies, is already pushing to reduce sooty emissions.
Increasing urbanization should also help the environment. Almost all of the extra three billion or so people expected by midcentury will live in or around cities, according to studies by the United Nations and the National Academy of Sciences. City dwellers tend to use energy and other resources more efficiently, and have less direct impact on untrammeled landscapes like forests.
Much depends, however, on how those urbanites live, and think. ''An end to growing population pressure in rural areas could be good for protection of the environment,'' said Dr. Joel E. Cohen, the director of the Laboratory of Populations of Columbia and Rockefeller Universities. ''But only if the people who live in the cities understand that it's of interest to preserve watersheds, agricultural lands and wildlife areas.'' Reflections:
I am not that sure of how substantiated is the statement "it is becoming clear that the heedless polluting that accompanied 20th-century industrialization is unlikely to be repeated by today's industrializing countries". It seems that countries like China and India is perpetually and perennially ridiculed for causing pollution. 16 out of 20 polluted cities are said to be found in China. However, China is indeed motivated to do more now. I think while globalisation MAY "help because multinational corporations, setting up factories in poor countries, tend to set higher environmental standards", we can also notice that sometimes its not within the control of external influence to do much. We can look at the case study of Hong Kong, it has for the past years suffered from severe pollution partly due to pollution from mainland, although
"a local nonprofit group, Civic Exchange, shows that most of the pollution in the densely populated heart of [Hong Kong] comes from local sources." "Donald Tsang has called on Hong Kong companies to do more to limit pollution from companies they own on the mainland." This is quite in congruent with the statement made, about MNCs (although very much bigger in scale) , foreigners to introduce more environmentally friendly measure. However, the environmental problem in China still persists. MNCs, the result of globalisation may be able to help more of a motivation as suggested by the statement rather than directly reducing the emissions directly, in cases like China, i think that the second part of the statement, "prompting local communities to demand similar standards for home-grown industries." is resulting. The demand for better and cleaner air can now be observed in china, when I was in Beijing, there were news reports daily on the number of days blue skies were observed, targets for clear skies were also set! Of course, besides factors like MNCs, the Beijing Olympics is also a main reason for striving for better air. I feel that environmental problems however will ultimately be only resolved with stringent regulations and
implementation of these laws. Cases of pollution of both air and water, for instance the Taihu lake, which was reduced to a polluted cesspool are still prevalent.
Wee Zhen Yi
8:56 AM