Contemporary Crises in the Environmental Sphere - Assignment Example

Running Head: EXAMINATION (TAKE HOME) - Contemporary Issues and Crises EXAMINATION (TAKE HOME) - Contemporary Issues and Crises Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor's Name November 01, 2009 Question 1 Globalization has a great impact on the environmental health of the planet influencing and transforming social, political, cultural and economic spheres of life. Innovations in transportation have been complemented by the swift development of communication technologies. The 20th-century arrival of mass circulation newspapers and magazines, film, and television further enhanced a growing consciousness of a rapidly shrinking world. Globalization transforms economic system of the world brining new opportunities to less developed countries; it changes cultural and political spheres popularizing democratic values and principles and promulgating western style of life. Still, globalization transforms natural environment and cultural spheres of all countries brining new threats and financial capitals. There are different views and understandings of the problem of global warming, its significance and threat for the population (Friedman, 2000). The progress of globalization increases environmental degradation and extension of wild life. Improved transportation facilities and immigration led to occupation of new territories and lands. The world has yet to face a more important environmental policy decision than that to be made about controlling greenhouse-gas emissions. Striking a balance between the implied threat and those immense costs is an imposing challenge. The relationship between pollution and global warming is a complex one (Bengtsson and Saito 2003). The progress of globalization leads to technology exchange and increased production. The result is increased pollution in all geographical areas of the world. Assessments of the impacts of global climate change are frequently based on estimates of biophysical changes, particularly potential changes in agricultural yields and water resources. The direct approach traces the impact of a specific change in a physical input variable (such as temperature) on yields or biomass, and then, through a series of steps, to impacts on economy and society. This type of assessment relies on (and is often limited to) physical models of the climate, water balance, and vegetation growth. The main problem is that this policy would deepen economic differences between the countries and worsens the situation in developing countries. Concerns over the ramifications of the flexibility mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol remain, less developed countries have become less skeptical and more receptive as the structure of the mechanisms evolves and as understanding of the mechanisms and their potential benefits to less developed countries becomes clearer. The principal concern appears to revolve around the possible imposition of emissions targets or other additional obligations on less developed countries. Meanwhile, less developed countries called for unremitting efforts to combat climate change by adhering to the established principles and goals, and implied that less developed countries would welcome an agreement on the implementation of the Kyoto mechanisms. The central piece of the Kyoto Protocol is, of course, its legally binding emission commitments for Annex I Parties which, assuming compliance, will together lead to a reduction in emissions from 1990 levels for that group of parties of around 5.2 per cent (Wade et al 2006). The worldwide publicity that proposed carbon taxes are drawing merits some special attention. From at least one standpoint, a tax strategy in the climate context is easier to defend than taxes in the more familiar contexts of domestic water or air basin pollution. As we saw, in those situations taxes were complicated by the fact that damage from the same chemical agent can vary considerably, depending on the point of release-whether upwind or upstream of a large population center, for example. By contrast, the risks of ozone depleting agents and greenhouse gases are roughly cumulative and independent of source. But when it comes to constraining greenhouse gases, there is even some conceivable net benefit from some degree of warming (Friedman, 2000). Question 2 Large population and overpopulation 8is a curse for modern world as it increases economic and social burden. While there is no doubt that the overpopulation of the South continues to be a threat to the environment interest, few people realize in the North that adding just one new child in their countries amounts to, in consumption terms, an extra hundred newborns in a country. The notion of global carrying capacity is no more dependent on technological breakthroughs than on our acceptance of a limit to which we might restrict ourselves in respect of consumption-that is to say, avoiding the squandering of our limited global resources. The resolution of the conflict between the environment interest and the legitimate national interest may in fact lie in restricting the consumption pattern to a "realistic level" in developing countries. Thus the challenge of sustainable development of countries is not confined to the localized parameters inside the country itself (Bengtsson and Saito 1992). They are only the sub-sets of a much wider global set, and thereby intimately related to the issue of the sustainable development of the Earth as a whole. Whether cutting down on the consumption patterns of the North to a realistic level is practical in the context of modern consumer world trends is a different issue, but the fact remains that the carrying capacity of the planet can only be determined, ultimately, on an objective global basis and not through ideological bravado. Large population demands more food, cloths, healthcare institutions and education facilities. So, countries have to spend billions of dollars on social sphere and welfare programs in order to support its populations. The dependence of families on regular wages raised the problems also of what should be done during bad weather. It was foreseen from an early stage that the people would have to be paid or fed but the government failed to give any decision on the matter (Crus and Meyer 1992). Large population demands the improvement of road communications, as important a part of economic development including railway building. Their effect would have been felt in subsequent years and the millions of dollars which were wastefully expended would have been diverted to increasing the production of the country. Poverty and destitution are the main consequences of large population. The opportunity to improve the country is lost, and the effect was to increase the demands on already heavily mortgaged property by leaving a heavy debt to be repaid out of rates. Poverty and inequality are the main problems affected the world today. Overpopulation and poverty manifest themselves most dramatically and visibly in the housing conditions of the cities. Those unable to afford regular housing, or to purchase undeveloped land, congregate in illegal or squatter settlements (shantytowns), especially around the major metropolises (Crus and Meyer 1992). The main consequences of large population are different economic development of the nations, legal and social problems and inability of small governments to fight diseases and improve medical services. The poverty that affects the urban poor is particularly felt by women, whose health and psyches are closely tied to their roles as wives and mothers. Violence, calamity, and fear have become part of the life of many urbanites in recent decades. Wars between nations, civil wars, revolutions, riots, and protests have all complicated life in the cities and compounded already pressing urban problems. The lack of alternative economic modes also serves to perpetuate it. As such, the informal sector can be defined as a special economic niche within a unitary but structurally diverse economic system, rather than part of a parallel or dual system. The crisis facing modern population is reflected in the health and nutritional status of their residents. Although economists may argue that household incomes are the most unambiguous measure of household well-being, many planners also consider health and nutritional status as key summary indicators of quality of life (Crus and Meyer 1992). References Bengtsson, T. Saito, O. (2003). Population and Economy: From Hunger to Modern Economic Growth. Oxford University Press. Crus, M.C., Meyer, C.A. (1992). Population Growth, Poverty, and Environmental Stress. World Resources Institute. Friedman, Th. (2000). The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization. Anchor; 1 Anchor edition. Wade, R., Kambhampati, U. S., Guista, M. D. (2006). Critical Perspectives on Globalization. Edward Elgar Publishing. Read More