Reader Response: The Double Edge of Globalisation

The article written by Nayan Chanda (2007), ‘The Double Edge of Globalization’ argued that globalization has led to negative and positive impacts. These impacts focused on environmental as well as the global awareness. As the world intertwined, it led to inevitable consequences affecting the environment due to the rise in global demand. This thus worsens the global warming effect.

In this globalized world, world trades are expanding across many countries which thus contribute to the global warming. Although it was said that the United States should be held responsible as it is the main contributor of greenhouse effect, however, every nation involved in trading across borders, regardless of its population, plays a part too. All nations contributes to the environment problems to fulfill their own needs and encourage economic growth, US is thus not the only one to be blamed.

As mentioned in the article, “As world trade grows and millions of factories join the global supply chain, as mines are exploited and timber is felled to meet rising consumer demands, increased pollution is often the price.” (Chanda, 2007), depicting a trade-off in economic benefits and the rise in environmental problems. China is used as a case study for Chanda’s article, it is a classic example of how nation sacrifice the world environment for the benefit of its own.   Similarly, India is also one nation which carries out such unethical act due to industrialization.  

In conclusion, it is important for all nations to be fully aware of the consequence of their action and eventually come as one to work towards a goal in making the world a healthier one.

Final Summary: The Double Edge of Globalisation

Globalization had been viewed as a negative contribution to the global environment due to the movement of operations to weaker countries. However, it is the size of potential market in a country which promotes such investment. Despite its indirect cause of deforestation, globalization also crippled the ability for reforestation due to its nature to promote consumption. It is expected that the global economy may be close to similar as it is during world wars and the Great Depression due to the uprising issue of global warming. The US is held accountable for being the main contributor to global warming yet decline the signing of the Kyoto Protocol to deal with the issue. There is however attempts for nations to reduce their efforts in contributing to deforestations due to the increase in awareness. Thus, it is important for governments of all nations involved in globalization to work together to deal with the global challenges.

Summary for The Double Edge of Globalization

 

Globalization had been viewed as a negative contribution to the global environment due to the movement of operations to frailer countries. However, it was the size of potential market in a country which promotes such investment. Despite its indirect cause to deforestation, globalization also crippled the ability for reforestation due to its nature to promote consumption. It is expected that the global economy may result to be comparable to the world wars and the Great Depression due to the uprising issue- global warming. The US is held accountable for being the main contributor to global warming yet declined the signing of Kyoto Protocol to deal with the issue. There is however attempts for nations to reduce their deforestations due to the increase in awareness. It is important for governments of all nations involved in globalization to work together to deal with the global challenges.

Summary for Scary Oil

The rise of oil price had affected the global economy. The military conflict between Israel and Iran caused fear to arise. The political tension in Middle East has led to global recessions which further deteriorate the issue on the surge in oil price. The latest recession in 2008 is also a result of such. US decided on using force to attack Israeli embassies if the attempt to stop the making of nuclear weapons fails. This might result in a rise in tensions within boarders and spike an increase in oil price, thus initiating another recession eventually.

Paraphrasing and summarizing

 

1.  In this short excerpt from David Crystal’s English as a Global Language, take note of the way that power relationships rather than the number of speakers influenced Latin   language use.

 

“Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful.”

 

My Paraphrase

According to David Crystal (1997), Latin was widely adopted by the Roman Empire despite the fact that the Romans were not the dominating peoples.

 

2. "Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It is much more to do with who those speakers are. Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful. And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power – the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism.”

 

Source: Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

 

My Summary

 

The strong power of the Romans had directly affected the usage of Latin in Roman Empire.

Question:
 

I felt that both my paraphrase and my summary for these 2 paragraphs are very similar, am I doing it the right way? Hmm..

 

 

 

 

 

Why is english important to me?

Hi,

I was born in Malaysia and since young my parents have been speaking to me in either Mandarin or Hokkien. Thus, I am used to communicate in my most comfortable language -Chinese. In primary school, my English was just barely over the passing line and I was often laughed at by my friends. I find it hard to pronounce certain word and my paper are always full of red markings on my grammatical errors and fragmentation of sentences. I know the importance of writing and speaking well in English as I would need to do presentations and write essays. I think it is really time for me to put in effort in improving my English. However, it takes time and effort to do so. I am now trying to pick up the habit on reading news online and I hope it helps. Most importantly, I will keep an open mind in learning and try to reap as much as I can in this module (:

 

Yy