POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF GLOBALIZATION

            Globalization existed since ancient times, but its process was completed with the collapse of Soviet Union in 1989 when the United Nations was created. The expression “globalization” was first used in 1983 by Levitt Theodore; he said “Globalization is the changes in social behaviors and technology that allowed companies to sell the same products around the world”. In simply words, globalization is when people share attitudes and practices. In this way, it is important to say that globalization affects everyone in the world, in good or bad aspects. In brief, globalization affects the world; the important is to know how it affects and how it has to be managed.

            First of all, the positive aspects of globalization are based on development; indeed, this development begins with the export and improvement of: technology, productive techniques, dress forms, consumption patterns, medicine and all the sciences that support a good life style. Life conditions became better with the industrial revolution that started to improve the topics that were mentioned before, so, the globalization started to give people better options to complement their lives. For example, the export of goods gives all markets different options to consume. The export of knowledge had improve the science like medicine, giving to humans more life expectancy. Also, the export of knowledge gave to companies an instrument to improve their forms of production; as a result, managers had created perfect process to all the kinds of productions, creating work, stability and satisfaction. In brief, globalization opens frontiers to the exchange of: goods, cultures, information, and money; globalization improves live conditions, giving people a lot of choices to complement their lives, actions and customs.

            The negative aspects of globalization are involved with the environment, big economic differences and, in some cases, the Cultural Revolution that ends with some cultures. First, the fashion trends that are created by big companies change and destroy a lot of cultures making them lose their identity. For example we can see how people in Ecuador appreciate the imported fashion trend more than the local form of dress. Then, talking about the big economic differences; the documentary “Home” talk about: 20% of population that are using the 80% of the resources and that military expenditures are twelve times higher than the help to underdeveloped countries; on the other hand, one milliard people do not have access to potable water and one milliard people suffer from hunger. There also exists labor exploitation, globalization make people from United States buy a product made in Indonesia by children. And at last, we can see how the excessive exploitation of natural resources is making an environmental catastrophe. We can see in this last point the information that the documentary “Home” gives: “40% of the arable land is degraded, each year disappear 13 million hectares of forest, different species of animals become extinct at a rate a thousand times greater than natural, three-quarters of fish stocks are on the verge of being depleted, in average temperature in the last 15 years was the highest ever recorded, glaciers have lost 40% of its thickness in 40 years and before 2050 there could be more than 200 million climate refugees.” In brief, mismanagement of globalization ago in negative aspects, those are very destructive for everybody.

            Last, it is important to talk also about some ways to make some of the negative aspects turn into neutral aspects. There are ways to manage the globalization, constructing a better world, for example we can see a lot of NGOs that are working with support from a lot of different countries to improve the lives of many people. The topics that are important to consider for a good manage of globalization are: making important places become natural reserves or natural heritage of humanity, making a world with peace, making reforestation programs, reduce military expenditures and increase invest in education, preservation of territories and ecotourism, controlled tree felling allowing forests to regenerate, fair trade, responsible consumption, controlled extraction of resources, increase the use of renewable energy forms decreasing the use of fossil energy, restraint, conscience and generosity.

            In conclusion, globalization is the exchange of goods and knowledge and it has positive and negative aspects. These positive and negative aspects can be managed in a better way to be improved and useful for everybody in the world. Globalization is an instrument that can afford with development; on the other hand, it can destroy the environment and increase the economic differences. The way to use globalization in a good way is know how every aspect of it affects to every part of the world and have the restraint, conscience and generosity to manage all the aspects to a better form of globalization.