Is Globalization Good or Bad for the Environment?

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Is Globalisation Good or Bad for the Environment?
Globalisation is a complex combination of economic, cultural, and political processes that function to increase the interconnectedness of life in the contemporary world (Pacione, 2009). The question whether globalisation is good or bad for the environment is a very broad topic, in which I shall refine by providing an overview of certain interrelated economic, social and environmental aspects. There are opposing viewpoints in regards to the effects that globalisation has upon the environment. These viewpoints will be examined in relation to the Environmental Kuznets Curve. In this essay I shall then focus on what I believe are the negative implications globalisation has upon the environment. I will introduce the Environmental Kuznets curve that conceptualizes the relationship between globalisation and environmental sustainability. As topic this is very broad I will focus on one particular case study being Brazil, which will provide supportive evidence about the confrontational implications of Amazonian development and land-use intensification. I will detail the importance and natural value of the Amazon rainforest and economic incentives behinds its development. Which will be followed by a detailed discussion into the processes that drive the rapid conversion of natural rainforest to agricultural landscapes, and detail the impacts this land conversion has upon the region’s environment. I shall then summarise the gathered information and conclude as to why globalisation is bad for the environment.
Globalisation and environmental sustainability is encapsulated with Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC) which are commonly used to consider macro-changes in environmental quality resul...

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...nd-use intensity are driven by economic incentives. These economic incentives have been brought about by Brazils shift from local, national to global markets where demand provide significant motivations and rationality to the destructive often irreversible land use practices that characterize the Amazonian cattle industry. Despite the extensive damage and degradation to the environment is does not seem evident that any required change or alterations are being made in order to mitigate the adverse effects that are currently ongoing. As globalisation brings about new and often lucrative economic incentives, the environment largely goes unconsidered and often completely ignored in terms of the outcomes of such extensive landscape altering practices. The way in which profits outweigh sustainability makes a strong believer that globalisation is bad for the environment.

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