Globalization on Climate Change

As a nation grows and modernizes, they incorporate ideas and technologies that are
known to be effective from other countries around them. This overall idea of globalization has
benefits and negative effects to it. A major negative effect that must be addressed is the impact
that globalization has on climate change. My thesis is that the process of globalization in Europe,
America, and China have all had an impact on climate change. Globalization, as defined by
Steger, is the expansion and intensification of social relations across world time and world space.
Mike Hulme states how climate change is likely a result of our energy usage. Energy usage
increases as the global population continues to increase, so too does the need for higher energy
production and distribution to new areas of the world.
For the context of my paper, America is defined by the United States, Europe is the more
developed western region of the continent, and China is the region we know as the Peoples
Republic of China today. Globalization is a result from development and technological progress
as new inventions allow easier sharing of culture, people, products, and resources as well as
making these transactions less time consuming. These developments coincide with the creation
of greenhouse gases, which is the leading cause of climate change. Europe and the United States
developed much earlier than China, with the respective industrial revolutions starting in the
1760s for both regions. Despite industrializing earlier, Europe and America still find themselves
behind China in pollution emissions.
According to Rana Mitter, China has lived traditionally with confucian ideals, and did not
start expanding towards the west until the late 1970s. China is now trying to modernize by
urbanization and globalization, however it is also taking a toll on the environment. The main
issue China faces in their attempt to catch up to Europe and America with respect to
industrialization is their population. Only 1/10 citizens in China own a vehicle whereas 8/10 in
America do. Recently there has been so much pollution that the smog in Beijing called for a city
shut down.
America and Europe are considered two of the top developed countries, development that
I would contribute to globalization. Due to their global relationships, they are large contributors
to climate change despite having much smaller populations than China. Globalization isn't only a
result of these areas industrialization, but the industrialization is a product of globalization.
Machine parts, car parts, etc are actually made in other countries, and assembled elsewhere to
later be shipped to the final destination to be sold. Without the resources and labor provided
through globalization, many technologies would not exist. Technologies that do in fact contribute
to climate change.
Release of greenhouse gases has become such a problem that it has led to the creation of
the Conference of Parties, COP 21, which brings countries from all around the world together to
discuss solutions to climate change. The existence of COP21 alone shows that countries are
starting to acknowledge the adverse effects of globalization in that we are slowly destroying our
own planet. Historians such as Peter Laslett have discussed the concept of a world we may have
lost through industrialization. In this world, there are no steam engines, power plants or factories
emitting greenhouse gases leading to climate change. To them, the simpler times are more
desirable without artifacts of industry and the impacts they bring with them. Another writer,

Langdon Winner, states that these artifacts of industry are now inherently political. Citizens are
increasingly concerned with a presidential candidate's stance on environmental issues. This pays
homage to the fact that these objects of industry that directly affect climate change have
secondary effects in modern politics.
Some may argue that globalization is not a contributor to climate change, and would even
go so far as to say humans are not a contributor to climate change. The opposition claims that the
planet is simply going through natural cycles that have occurred over time and that the
temperature can be expected to stabilize with no action taken by the human population. However,
as Hulme has stated, our energy profile is not sustainable, and climate change is in fact a relative
risk. Science has shown the correlation between pollution and global temperature. Numerous
studies by renowned science groups across the world have yielded results showing a concrete
relationship between industrialization and increased climate change.
Most technologies are developed with good intentions, such as improving quality of life
or making a process easier. While these developments continue to ease the process of
globalization, it is clear that increasing industry has had negative environmental impacts, namely
climate change. The biggest offenders are seen in the three mostly developed regions I discussed,
in that China, Europe and America have all contributed to climate change with all of their
emissions as byproducts of development. These three regions may just be the beginning.
Applying this paradox of development leading to pollution to other growing nations, one must
wonder about the fate of climate change as more countries industrialize. Although it has
happened on different time scales, globalization in America, Europe, and China have contributed
to the issue of climate change.