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Blog Post #4: The Impact of Globalization{the side effects} on Polar Faunal Animals

Nowadays, globalization is developing at an unprecedented rate. At the same time, there are side effects that come along with it. Examples of this include: air/water pollution, GHG emissions/ climate change, biodiversity loss/habitat destruction, desertification. We talked about these issues in this week’s class, which are existing phenomena that we need to pay attention to. I know there are many side effects from various dimensions, but I’m going to focus on climate change and biodiversity loss of biodiversity/habitat destruction today. The reason I chose this is because I’m upset that climate change (global warming) and marine pollution causes such horrible consequences to these polar faunal animals after watching a documentary called “Seven Worlds, One Planet” (created & filmed by BBC).

In this recent highly rated BBC documentary, the film crew members said “It’s a really hot day today” (Attenborough, 2019) during the process of filming the Antarctic. They witnessed the impact of global warming on this area and they cried thinking about the future those antarctic animals might face. The temperature rises five times faster in regions within Antarctica than any other place in the world. One of the film crew members also said, “ 30 years ago, the front of the glacier was right down on the beach, it’s retreated a huge amount.” (Attenborough, 2019) 

It’s not only in Antarctica, the Arctic is also becoming warmer year by year. According to a recent article, the glaciers, polar bears’ homes, are slowly melting; the area of glaciers is reduced, the polar bear mother needs to bring her baby and find a place to live in order to survive. (Semeniuk, 2019) They often have to travel thousands of kilometers to find food and a place to live. (Semeniuk, 2019)

Other than global warming, marine pollution has also become a huge factor that destroys animals’ habitat and may cause biodiversity loss. Another article stated that some scientists predict that by 2025, there may be more plastic garbage than fish in the ocean. (Hale, 2019) Today, more than 300 million tons of plastic are produced and consumed worldwide almost every year, and many of these disposable plastic wastes are difficult to degrade. (Hale, 2019) Exclude the sewage disposal, there is tons of plastic dumped into the sea every year. Plastic garbage has become the "killer" of marine animals.

We can see the consequences in the above paragraphs, those results are all caused by globalization. It’s undeniable that globalization is making the world develop faster than before and it brings lots of economic benefits. I’m not saying that we can’t do globalization, but more importantly, we need to pay attention to these side effects. We can still be globalized, but as human beings on earth, we must do something to protect those animals. The actions can be purchasing eco-friendly bags (not using plastic bags anymore), take more public transportation in order to reduce the harmful gas, try to be paperless when people are working, turn off the lights and computers when people are not using them, etc. Let’s protect our “assets” (animals) and make the world better!

APA Work Citations:

Attenborough, D. (2019, October 27). Seven Worlds, One Planet. (n.d.). BBC One. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07dzjwl 

Filming a nature documentary: What could possibly go wrong?. (n.d.). BBC Bitesize. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zf7n6v4 

Hale, T. (2019, August 28). Plastic Pollution In The Ocean Set To Triple By 2025. IFLScience. Retrieved from https://www.iflscience.com/environment/plastic-pollution-in-the-ocean-set-to-triple-by-2025/  

Semeniuk, I. (2019, October 30). What’s happening to the Arctic’s vanishing glaciers? As melting speeds up, we’ll find out soon. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-whats-happening-to-the-arctics-vanishing-glaciers-as-melting-speeds/

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Blog Post #3: Voluntourism may be WRONG for Orphanage

We mainly focused on the topic of performing global citizenship this week, and one of the main concepts here is VOLUNTOURISM. Is voluntourism really helping the world or not? This is a question for me after I’ve done the weekly reading and the tutorial discussion. In the last few days, I did some research about voluntourism. Undoubtedly, I found out that voluntourism is helping the world in some dimensions, however, I think it is wrong to perform voluntourism for the orphanage.

According to an article that has been recently posted in September of this year, the voices from global citizens have mobilized about $48.5 billion worth of commitments and affected almost 880 million of people who lived in extreme poverty (Shah & Gralki, 2019). Voluntourism is one of the actions that helped the 880 million people. We can see it’s undeniable that the voluntourism did bring us a lot of benefits from this data, but in my opinion, I think the orphanage voluntourism is wrong.

I’m saying orphanage voluntourism is wrong because of one main reason as well as a sub reason: One, it can break a family directly and two, the orphans become a tourist attraction. As orphanage voluntourism becomes more popular, there is a higher chance that it can break up a family. You may wonder why that is? Almost in every poor country, parents will send their kids to an orphanage because they can’t afford to raise them. On the other hand, children can get food, better health care and education, and specialised services at the orphanage. I’ve read 3 articles which examines this idea that’s used similar data and are all against orphanage voluntourism.

The first article, posted recently in 2018 September, stated that about 92% of children living in the orphanage had a living parent at Sri Lanka in 2005, and Unicef in Liberia found 98% of children living in orphanages were not orphans based on their survey in 2006 (Rosenberg, 2018). In the second article published 3 years ago, a famous British author JK Rowling, who wrote the book Harry Potter, stated “#Voluntourism is one of drivers of family break up in very poor countries. It incentivises 'orphanages' that are run as businesses” (Oppenheim, 2016) on Twitter. The third article, posted recently this year in April, stated “the majority of the 8 million or more children who are housed in orphanages and similar institutions around the world today, are not orphans at all.” (“What is wrong with Orphanage Tourism and VolunTourism?,” 2019).

I’m not against voluntourism in general, I just disagree with how orphanage voluntourism becomes an action that can directly destroy a family. I was shocked when I read those articles because I didn’t know the orphanage voluntourism can bring such bad effects. I’ve never done overseas volunteering, but I personally support voluntourism in general as I’ve done a lot of volunteering at my high school. In the summer, I volunteered at the geracomium. In the winter, I volunteered at the Food Bank. I understand the importance of other people’s help, that’s why I support voluntourism in general. However, orphanage voluntourism violates the purpose of helping others, instead, it harms people’s families in poor countries. The debate of whether orphanage voluntourism is good or bad is still happening around the world, but my position for this particular voluntourism is a disagreement.

APA Work Citations:

Oppenheim, M. (2016, Aug. 23). JK Rowling condemns voluntourism and working in orphanages overseas. The Independent. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jk-rowling-twitter-voluntourism-volunteering-in-orphanages-risks-a7204801.html

Rosenberg, T. (2018, Sept.13). The business of voluntourism: do western do-gooders actually do harm?. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/sep/13/the-business-of-voluntourism-do-western-do-gooders-actually-do-harm

Shah, N., & Gralki, P. (2019, Sept. 28). Your Actions for 2019 Global Citizen Festival Led to Almost $1B in Commitments to End Extreme Poverty. Global Citizen. Retrieved from https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/impact-report-2019/

What is wrong with Orphanage Tourism and VolunTourism?. (2019, Apr. 15). Hope and Homes for Children. Retrieved from https://www.hopeandhomes.org/blog-article/orphanage-voluntourism/

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Blog Post #2: Economic Globalization within the Food Industry

Globalization existed 5000 years ago, but was not as well-known as today. We've been taught about the history of economic globalization, particularly trades and corporations during the class. All major zones of the world were connected by trade in the year 1571, and the multinational corporations began to develop in the 1960s. The earliest evidence that proves globalization existed is the trade between countries. In my opinion, economic globalization is what makes people actually think about the word “Globalization” and its effect.

Economic globalization is normally referring to the globalization of production, market, labour, and corporation. Today, I want to mainly focus on the globalization of the market within the food industry. The reasons why I’m particularly focused on the market are because I love food and I want to explore what makes me enjoy the diversity of food nowadays in the food market. So, if you are someone who loves eating and enjoying food from everywhere around the world like me, I believe you will find this blog interesting!

Let me take a famous multinational food corporation as an example to demonstrate how economic globalization worked in the food market. McDonald’s Corporation was founded in 1940. The first international franchise opened in 1967 in British Columbia and was followed by another in Costa Rica later that year. From there, the chain spread steadily. Over six months in 1971, Golden Arches popped up on three new continents, as stores launched in Japan, Holland and a suburb of Sydney. Recently, McDonald’s opened a to-go location in London and they prepared to add about 1,500 more restaurants in China, Hong Kong, and South Korea in the next five years. 

McDonald’s creates around 1200 - 1400 job positions when they open a store, which undoubtedly solves the unemployment pressure from people(Economic benefits). Also, as McDonald’s enters the market, it stimulates the local economy by creating competition in the food sector. McDonald’s is one of many examples, other examples include Taco Bell (Mexican food), Sukhothai (Thai food), and Doo Roo Ae (Korean food), and even Teriyaki(Japanese food), the one located at the student center. All of those restaurants create more competition, more job positions, and the availability invites people to try different food cultures when they economically globalized their brand. These restaurants also generate tax revenue for the government to increase the economic profit that a country can receive.

I analyzed a lot of economic changes under globalization within the food industry in my above paragraphs, but on my own, I want to say the biggest economic benefits that I received is that without paying an airfare, I can enjoy the food from all around the world. The Teriyaki which located at the student center is the best proof for my previous sentence. That’s something I can enjoy only because of globalization in the food industry. 

In conclusion, I want to say thanks to the economic globalization within the food industry! Thank you for letting me enjoying different food from the world!

APA Work Citations:

Our History. Retrived from https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca/about-us/our-history.html

James, R.(2009,October 28).McDonald's Abroad. Retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1932839,00.html 

Fast Food Globalization. Retrived from https://schoolworkhelper.net/fast-food-globalization/ 

Zillman,C.(2016, March 31).McDonald's Wants to Open More Than 1,000 New Restaurants in China. Retrived from https://fortune.com/2016/03/31/mcdonalds-restaurants-china/ 

Morgan, B. (2019, August 22). A Sign Of The Future Restaurant: The New McDonald's To-Go Location. Retrived from https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2019/08/22/a-sign-of-the-future-restaurant-the-new-mcdonalds-to-go-location/#37e0183e3d7f 

Phillips ,L. (2006). Food and Globalization. Retrieved from http://www.urbanlab.org/articles/Phillips,%20L%202006%20Food%20and%20globalisation.pdf

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Blog Post #1: The Impact of Globalization on Worldwide Web [YouTube] and My information database

Nowadays, as an individual who enjoys the unprecedented fast development of technology and telecommunication, I feel so lucky. I can grab information immediately from the websites whenever I want to. All kinds of videos (news, funny videos, movies, TV shows, etc.) on YouTube have made me globalized. The following picture of the videos that showed up on my top YouTube page stands out for me right away!

A couple of decades ago, the world was still using a transmitter to transfer news or information back and forth between people or countries. What makes it so fast and convenient today at delivering the news or messages to people? My answer would be globalization. In my opinion, one of the key characteristics of globalization is the technology innovation on those webs.

In class, we’ve discussed what makes us globalized, and a symbol that represents us being globalized in daily life. Some students’ answers are the food they are eating, the clothes they are wearing, etc. My answer is YouTube videos. You may wonder why that is. YouTube videos have given me knowledge and awareness about what’s happening every day, every hour, and even every minute around the world; especially through live news. For instance, last year the US President Donald Trump announced that he will negotiate a new trade agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico. There was an update almost every 24 hours and constantly notifying me, of course I was paying close attention to it during that period. Finally, the US, Canada, and Mexico signed the new trade agreement called “USMCA”. We are “forced” to give away part of our dairy market to the US, which created a lot of debate for people during that time. Without this video-sharing website, people around the world wouldn’t have that many debates during the trade negotiation period and I probably wouldn’t have paid that much attention to it either. 

I saw a pretty interesting fact in the textbook that explains what happens in an “Internet Minute” on YouTube, “every internet minute, there are 2.78 million video views and 300 hours of video uploaded” (Steger, 2017, p.19). Knowing what’s happening around the world is remarkably essential for the people who are interested in economics or politics, such as me. I would say we won’t be able to see and know the information shared by people without the technological innovation on the web (those video sharing websites) by participating in Globalization. Without this innovation, we probably will not have the videos or articles such as “The Speech to the Canadian Parliament” by Barack Obama as one of our teaching materials for this course. 

Up until here, I’d like to say thank you to Globalization! Thanks for letting us learn and know how diverse this world is in a fast and convenient way!

APA Work Citation:

Steger, M.B. (2017) Globalization: A Very Short Introduction -- Chapter 2. New York, NY: Oxford University.