Urbanization & Globalization: Impacts on World's Natural Resources - Essay Sample

Introduction

Urbanization is the movement of people from the rural to the urban areas, which is mostly experienced in the developing countries, as it is part of a developing society, but it has its downside, especially on the world's natural resources. On the other hand, globalization describes the interdependence of the world's cultures, economies, populations mostly brought about by cross-border trade (Giddens, 2003). The main contributors to urbanization and globalization include population growth and industrialization, which in turn contribute to the depletion of the worlds natural resources because of their effects on the environment. People move to the urban in search of jobs, which are specially offered in the factories that emit toxic chemicals to the waterways and into the atmosphere, which are harmful to the environment and those living in it. Urbanization also leads to the creation of more machinery, mode of transport increase. The modes of transportation also contribute to the depletion of natural resources by using fuel (Leitao, 2013).

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On the other hand, globalization allows countries with resources to fund urbanization in exchange with resources present in their countries thus leading to the depletion of natural resources. In the economically developed countries such as the U.S, there are environmental threats such as air and water pollution, loss of wildlife habitats and forests, and accumulation of waste materials that cannot be recycled that can felt directly due to globalization and urbanization.

Who are the Process's Social Winners - in the Sense of Subsidized Profits and Consumption - as well as losers in the Global Economy?

Taking into consideration the subsidized profits and consumption, the process's social winners are those people who are nowhere near where urbanization is taking place. Since they have the power to influence their surrounding neighborhoods to their predilections, they only benefit from their power, and the change that occurs happens at the expense of the natural resources and the environment (Giddens, 2003). However, there are also losers in this scenario who have no say, low income, not good health benefits, and people who struggle for ends to meet. One of the examples was Apple Company where it used to outsource workers to other countries such as China. The other case was Nike Company outsourcing to Vietnam where they were accused of paying the workers an insignificant amount since there was no set guideline. In this case, the workers are the losers since they do not value for their work done which is benefiting the owners of these businesses.

How can we Take Action as Global Citizens in the Short Run to Mitigate the Environmental and Social Damage, and in the Long Run to Make a Decidedly Better World?

It is essential to educate the public, to mitigate social and environmental damage, One thing is the fact that the public is delightfully ignorant on the mess caused by urbanization and to combat the depletion of natural resources they have to be made aware that there is such an issue. After that, it will be simple to develop environment-friendly technology among other practices such as using grey water or inventions like electric vehicles. Besides, regulations should be set and effected to limit those factories contributing to the damaging the environment and the workers compensated well according to the work they do so that they are not losers anymore. Primarily, it should be a group effort to mitigate social and environmental damage like adopting alternative energy such as solar panels.

References

Giddens, A. (2003). Runaway world: How globalization is reshaping our lives. Taylor & Francis.

Leitao, N. C. (2013). Carbon dioxide emissions, urbanization and globalization: a dynamic panel data. Economic Research Guardian, 22-32.