Has Globalization Improved Or Hindered Nation-states’ Capacities To Respond To Environmental Crises?

HAS GLOBALIZATION IMPROVED OR HINDERED NATION-STATES’ CAPACITIES TO RESPOND TO ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES?
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Has Globalization Improved or Hindered Nation-States’ Capacities to Respond to Environmental Crises?
The human race is faced by some challenges that have been done by the current generation all due to globalization. The term ‘our’ refers to the current generation and every person who has contributed to both positive and negative results of globalization. Pierik and Werner use the term, “all-inclusiveness” (2010, p. 2) to all the people who live across the earth, have access to basic needs and whose basic rights are well catered for. This means every person who has the right to clean air or water. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every person on the earth to tackle the positive and negative impacts of globalization. As expressed in World Poverty and Human Rights, Pogge states that “every human being has a global stature as the ultimate unit of moral concern” (2002, p. 169). However, at the moment, the case is a different and environmental issue has become a big problem that needs to be tackled as its effects are still felt and human activities are the main contributors of globalization. Thus, there is a need to discuss whether globalization is the key factor that is hindering or improving the response to the environmental crisis.
In the book, Globalization and Environmental Reform, Mol states that the environmental results from globalization have a relationship to the demand and supply of products and this results to a situation referred as “Global Capitalism” (2001, p. 71). Therefore, global capitalism interferes with how stable the environment is. The key question is whether globalization is eco-friendly. Global capitalism has certainly interfered with the climate system and the entire environment. However, is the distribution of environmental threats related to global capitalism equal all over the globe? And are the effects of greenhouse emissions equal in every country? According to Mol, threats from the environment have been globalized over time and the notion that globalization is all over the world cannot be escaped from (2001 p. 79). However, not every scholar shares the same ideas with Mol. Gray conceptualizes that the more developed countries have come up with ways that help them conserve their environments more than the underdeveloped countries by introducing environmental regulations and are hence exporting pollutants to the other countries (Gray cited in Lofdahl, 2002, p. 9). Thus, this is one of the negative impacts of globalization. Risks from globalization to the environment have not been equally shared which is fair, more so in disposing pollutants to other parts of the world. The environmental risks from globalization should be equally shared across the globe and this will be essential in providing means that could conserve the environment. Similar beliefs have also been shared by David Heater when he states that if it is possible, one should participate in positive conservation and cleansing schemes with an understanding of the most deleterious environmental degradation effects are rarely contained within state boundaries where there is origin of environmental depleting and polluting processes (2004, p. 123).
Globalization resulted in pollution mostly due to the increased processing of goods and the increase in profits from the processing of these goods increased the number of companies making processed products mostly to seek the profits despite the fact that processing of products resulted to the unsustainable practices in many countries. An example is the Bhopal incident of December 1984 whose main cause was the unsustainable practices of the transnational cooperation. The unfortunate event killed fifteen thousand people while those injured were more than two hundred and fifty thousand from the leakage of pipes and over forty thousand tonnes of toxic gases were released to the environment (Fortun, 2009). Bhopal region was not only viewed as a backward region, but the place was also easily accessible not only making a prominent area of operation but also making it a region for inequitable allocation of pollution. The emission of greenhouse gases in the world is made at the expense of living things.
Globalization has also played a role in the environmental changes, as well as the severe climates, experiences more so due to increased greenhouse emissions since the industrial revolution era. According to the environmental agencies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), environmental degradation, as well as global warming, is as a result of the increase in human activities resulting in the increase of C02 emissions over the past few decades (Huwart and Verdier, 2013, p. 112). Globalization is the main contributor to the environmental issues that are being faced currently. Thus, human activities are contributing to the high increase of C02 emissions to the environment mostly from transportation, industrial activities, and deforestation. Huwart and Verdier, (2013) conceptualize that transportation is the leading contributor to the rising levels of C02. Nine percent of greenhouse gases emitted come from the aviation industry and from 1990 to 2004, the aviation industry has contributed to 86% of the increase of greenhouse emissions (p. 113). Although the aviation industry is the most profitable industry, they are doing very little effort to ensure that they reduce their emissions to the atmosphere. In 2016, the International Civil Aviation organization stated that the C02 emissions from the aviation industry in India were approximately 16.4 million tonnes by 2014. The emissions will continue to increase as the aviation industry is increasing the number of the planes they have due to the increase in the number of passengers (Huwart and Verdier, 2013, p. 113). Although there is a need for economic growth, the environmental growth should not be put under jeopardy, because it will all result in global warming.
Environmental pollution is not only caused by transportation but also by other activities like deforestation which greatly contribute to an increase in emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Huwart and Verdier document tha...