Negative Effects of Globalization on the Environment - Michael Evans

In my sociology class we have been talking about globalization and its effect on countries, regions, and nations around the world. For the most part politics and economics have taken precedent, but environmental concerns have also started to rise in our readings. It would seem that globalization is causing adverse effects on our environment and causing further dilapidation of our ecosystems. Globalization is defined as the transfer of goods, services, money, ideas, technology, and more across national boundaries. It is exactly this transfer that causes environmental problems. For one, transportation has increased causing more exhaust and fossil fuel emissions that pollute the air and amplify the greenhouse effect. This obviously causes increased Earth temperatures that could lead to extinction of species causing a decrease in diversity and chain reactions of environmental problems. Also, more and more companies are moving overseas and clearing more lands to build more factories. They are therefore cutting down nature in order to set up facilities that will pollute it further. This, coupled with the fact that increased transportation has caused the transfer of non-indigenous species to foreign ecosystems proves that globalization is causing severe problems with the environment.