Globaleyes

Globalization in the age of Climate Change

By Carol Thiessen

This is the second in a series of articles on economic globalization sponsored by the Peace Ministries Program of MCC Canada. The writers are young adult Canadians who are studying and thinking about globalization and seeking to make a difference.

 

Remember globalization? If you cast way back in your memory you might just dredge up some images of the early '90s, and those high-profile anti-globalization demonstrations in Seattle, Quebec City and even Genoa.

These days most of us have grown used to the idea of our hyper-interconnected world, and economic globalization is just part of it. Sure, a few stalwarts still question how well the poor do under international trade rules, but most accept globalization is here to stay.

You could be forgiven for thinking that the globalization debate is long over. That's because the headlines you're reading these days are all about climate change: Polar bears extinct in 25 years. Melting ice could submerge London (and New York). Forecast for Prairies: drier than a dust bowl. Climate change and pollution kill millions. And that's just a sampler.

The world's scientific community is now virtually unanimous that climate change is real, and that its roots are in human behaviour. Our polluting industries, frequent air travel, hop-in-the-car mentality all have an impact - and climate change is its name.

Globalization fuels climate change

Which brings me back to globalization. What seems lost in the conversation surrounding climate change is the link between the two. Surely, globalization is a significant factor in the rising crisis of climate change.

Let me suggest a few ways that globalization exacerbates climate change. A key component of globalization is the lowering of national barriers to trade and investment. This has a clear impact on climate change. After all, transportation is Canada's leading source of those greenhouse gas emissions that are fuelling rising temperatures. Canada's international trade is now equivalent to more than 70 percent of Canada's GDP. I'm not suggesting that trade is bad in itself. It would be a huge waste of resources, with attendant ecological costs, if each country produced every product they used. But my point is that trade does come with an environmental impact.

Moreover, much of our trade is not about specializing in what we do best. It's just crazy trade. For example, in a recent report on the UK's interdependence, the New Economics Foundation think tank found that in 2004 Canada exported 42,842 woven wool scarves and shawls to Britain, but then turned around and imported 38,952 of those very same items from Britain. How wasteful is that?!

Then there is just-in-time manufacturing, first developed by Toyota. Thousands of suppliers feed parts into assembly factories on a daily basis, to cut down on overproduction and decrease warehouse costs. But it's hugely transportation intensive. Furthermore, with globalization's emphasis on freedom of movement for capital and investment, it is common for separate plants in different parts of the world to manufacture components, and then transport those components to another factory for final assembly. These policies ramp up our society's carbon emissions, and exacerbate climate change.

Travel, which goes hand-in-hand with globalization, is also a factor in climate change. According to Friends of the Earth, air travel is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases in the world. Aviation generates nearly as much carbon dioxide annually as that from all human activities in Africa. Air travel is also much more polluting than sea or land transportation. Right now, emissions from airplanes are responsible for approximately 10 percent of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere, but that's expected to rise.

What can we do?

So globalization is greasing the wheels of climate change. What can we do about it?

Well, first of all we need to realize that climate change is most detrimental for the poor and marginalized of the world.

In reports by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the mantra is repeated in increasingly desolate tones: those who are most affected by climate change are the poorest people. Those would include millions of Africans residing in that continent's vast drylands, the 30 million Bangladeshis who live at less than 3 metres above sea level, the Chinese peasants living near the ever encroaching Gobi desert, or even the Inuit of the Artic, whose villages are sinking as permafrost melts. These are among the most vulnerable populations to climate change.

There are enormous implications for MCC whose mission is to work with the poor and marginalized of the earth. There are also serious implications for we Canadian Christians who aren't on the frontlines of development work. We too are called to give water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, and clothes to those in need. To do so, we need to sit up and pay closer attention to these twin issues of globalization and climate change. Our daily actions have impacts on the lives of the poor half a block away, and half a world away.

We've all read about personal actions we can take to lessen our carbon emissions - driving less, flying less, buying local, buying less, paying more for what we do buy. We also need to call on our government to take firm action on climate change. And let's start talking about globalization again, and how we can make it work for all people.

So the next time we read another apocalyptic headline on climate change, perhaps we could spare a thought - and preferably some actions - for those twin losers of climate change and globalization.

 

Carol Thiessen is a freelance writer living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She recently completed a M.Sc. in Global Ethics at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

 

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