The various impacts of globalization are economic, social and environment impact.

The first impact concerns the positive and negative economic impact. By participating in globalization, many people have experienced an improvement in their living standards as a result of increase in income level. As countries trade and open their doors to foreign investment, they earn more revenue which governments make use for education, health, defence, housing and transportation. With free trade, consumers can purchase a variety of foreign goods besides local goods. Thus the increase in lifestyle choices leads to a better quality of life.

Globalization also leads to more intense competition. Transnational corporations seek out locations for reasons such as lowering the cost of production. Governments in turn compete to attract these corporations to invest in their country. Countries that are able to offer incentives to foreign investors will be more successful as compared to others, leading to further growth in the country when infrastructure is more developed. However, developing countries is less successful in attracting foreign investments due to poor infrastructure and political instability. Therefore, they are trapped in the poverty cycle.

With globalization, people who are highly skilled are presented with the opportunity to find employment in another country. An increase in workers’ mobility may lead to a situation of brain drain. Moreover, globalization also rapidly increased the income gap between the rich and the poor counties. This has caused some countries to be very rich, but caused spread of poverty in other countries, and shown that globalization is a ‘two-edged’ sword.

Social impact is another factor. Through globalization, people have become more aware of different cultures. For example, a person can learn about the history, culture and way of life of people around the world through traveling, surfing the internet and watching foreign movies from the comforts of their homes.

However, the negative part is that it causes a loss of local culture. Global brands such as Starbucks and Mcdonald’s dominate the consumer market in developing counties. In this way, these corporations have created a largely homogenous culture across the world. It has also led to the spread of pop culture across the globe, such as rap music. These cultures have influenced their youths negatively as they lose interest in the local culture, thus many people perceive these countries to be forcing their beliefs, cultures and languages upon the rest of the world.

The third impact concerns the environment. Rainforests in many countries have been cut down to make way for the development of industries, agriculture, housing and transportation. Some government allows trees to be cut down at a rapid rate so that economic activities such as forestry, mining and cattle ranching can generate revenue for the country. The clearing of forests has resulted in many environmental problems such as soil erosion, extinction of flora and fauna, increase in flooding and haze. Haze has caused countries to incur heavy losses in terms of tourism.

Globalization has also worsened global warming. Movement of goods contributed to global warming as aeroplanes and ships produce large quantities of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Factories and different modes of transportation around the world emit an enormous quantity of fumes into the atmosphere every day. This has led to an increase in the average global temperature.

The good thing is that there is an increase in awareness of environmental management. Countries are aware that sustainable development is the key to further growth. By preserving the environment, future generations can continue to use the resources and to generate income and hence continuing to enjoy high standards of living. At the same time, there is a need to have a sustained supply of power. Alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal power can provide some of the energy needed. Today, these sources account for a small proportion of the world’s energy needs as there are problems associated with the use of these alternative sources. Thus, the challenge is for countries and organizations to source for alternative energy sources and find ways to generate power using such sources that are available for them.



-Fabian

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