Environmental change

Describe one major pollution event affecting more than one country and examine the consequences of and response to this event.


The Minamata Bay Incident

Happened in 1950s, industrial pollution and mercury poisoning occurred in the small town of Minamata, Japan.

A local plastic company Chisso Corporation dumped about 27 tons of mercury into the Minamata Bay for more than 37 years. Since disposal of mercury costs a lot, the company simply dumped the chemicals. The mercury contaminated the water in the bay and formed highly toxic environment that the local fish intake considerable amount of mercury. Living near the bay, the residents of the town in Manamata heavily rely on fish for food. As they ingest those fish with mercury contained, people got poisoned that they became very sick. The sickness killed more than 900 people in total. The disease is called as "Itai-Itai disease". Those people with this disease come up with blindness, smell and hearing impairment, numbness, paralysis, and even death. The mercury in mother were easily inherited to the new born babies.

In 1972, the dumping of chemicals were pronounced to be illegal. However, it did not really help in solving the more serious problem, which is to stop the descending the disease and cure the patients. In the late 1950s, the patients with Itai-Itai Disease organized a "Mutual Help Society" that kept on petitioned in order to secure the right of patients and get supports. Due to its petitions, the Itai-Itai Disease got the attention from media. 

Located in the inner part of Japan, not much of effects were done to the other countries. However, as the South Korea, the country that is the nearest compared to the others, were highly alerted with the chemical dumping and pollution due to mercury of the sea water. However, there was no effect onto the country that the consequences were entirely limited to Japan. 

Today, the mercury waste have been significantly eradicated from the water that there is no negative consequences on human. The people from Minamata started to show their prides about the fact that they have learned to be both environmentally and ethically better than the past. 

Source: 

http://www1.umn.edu/ships/ethics/minamata.htm

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/mercury/review5.php

Economic interactions and flows - Outsource

The companies from today seek for the best efficiency: low cost, good quality, and speedy processes. Therefore, they opt to take outsourcing as their best solution. 

"Outsourcing" refers to the act of getting some jobs done from the outside of the company for several reasons. Those reasons include reduction of costs, improvement of quality, acquirement of technology, and avoidance of health insurance or pensions for workers. 

Outsourcing can result it many both positive and negative outcomes to the world. For instance, outsourcing allows the distant relationship with the workers. It is very depressing that it is easy for the company to fire, replace, or even abuse those people working in the outside of the country, especially of them who are poor. Looking at the case of domestic servants in Saudi Arabia moved in from the outside, so many workers have been exploited physically, mentally, and emotionally. They were very prone to get fired by the hirer or the company. However, the remittences sent back to their country became the major support in maintaing the economy of the families. Outsourcing also taught people from the outside about new skills or technology. 

It is apparent that both the company or individual and the employees from the outside have mutual relationship when it comes to economic aspects. Then, a question arises; what are the challenges of outsourcing in the cultural aspect?

Political outcomes

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN):

Article 1: <Japan pushes own ASEAN trade plan>
From 2002

Summary:
Recently, China has been so committed in achieving the 10-year free trade zone in Southeast Asian countries, which will begin in 2015. Being pressured by China's quick movements toward the achieving the free trade agreement in Southeast Asian nations, Japan takes the first step to join in obtaining the free trade agreement as the world's second-largest economy. The prime minister Junichiro Koizumi signed a joint declaration with the 10 members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).


Link: http://asia.cnn.com/2002/BUSINESS/asia/11/05/china.japanfta.biz/index.html


Article 2: <Japan-ASEAN Meeting With China As A Looming Spectre>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       
          Due to the territorial disputes, China is under serious diplomatic and political tensions with Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and some ASEAN nations. As China has imposed a new air defense zone along with the Senkaku Islands (Japan), military tensions have further increased.


Link: http://www.asiabriefing.com/news/2013/12/japan-asean-meeting-china-looming-spectre/


Article 3: 

Summary:
Japanese and ASEAN countries called on the freedom of the are and sea while urging the territorial disputes of China to be resolved peacefully. The gathered countries expressed the concerns over the military assertiveness of China and raised tensions in disputed the regions.Therefore, the prime minister Abe worked hard to keep the hospitable relationships with the ASEAN countries.


Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/14/us-japan-asean-idUSBRE9BD01F20131214


My thoughts:
These three articles are discussing about the same topic, the discord between ASEAN and China due to the territorial claims where Japanese works to conduct the active trade with ASEAN nations. However, I was able to learn about both the history and present doings of the ASEAN, China, and Japan. The first article was written about 10 years ago where the rests were written recently. The issue was directly connected to the disputes over Spratly Islands. Looking at the Article 1 and 2, the attitudes of China was different. In Article 1, China tried hard to keep hospitable relationship with the ASEAN nations where Japan was busy initiating to establish the projects. In contrast, in Article 2, China was more independent and under territorial disputes with other nations, including the ASEAN nations. I thought that this different attitudes of China represent the changes that occurred to the empowerment of China in global economical market. Throughout the past decade, China underwent exponential growth that the country can be comparatively free from the relationships and trading with the ASEAN nations.

Socio-cultural exchange

Choose either the concept of cultural diffusion (voluntary/consented change in culture)or cultural imperialism (enforced/pressured change in culture) and using specific examples explain how transnational corporations either intentionally or unintentionally spread consumerism through your chosen concept.


     Our cultures reveal the identities and the communities where we belong. However, this culture does not always stay the same; it is constantly changing. Cultural diffusion is one of the reason why our culture are keep on changing.

     Cultural diffusion refers to the spreading of cultural ideas or traits from their place of origins to the others (regions, countries, groups). Cultural diffusion can happen in several ways: through migrants, tourists, warfare, trade, intermarriage, commodities (music/movies), and so on. Today’s cultural diffusion mainly occurs through the communications technology and mass media.     

     The case of Coca Cola clearly shows how does cultural diffusion happen. It is a transnational corporation that intentionally spreads consumerism through cultural diffusion. Consumerism is the behaviors, attitudes, and values being done to protect of promote the interests of consumers toward the products. Coca Cola is located in more than 200 countries in the world. In order to spread consumerism, Coca Cola used involve numbers of affective marketing strategies.

     First of all, long since the past, the advertisements of Coca Cola widely reflected the cultural values and trends such as feminism and environmentalism. For instance, Coca Cola set the polar bears as the company’s mascot in advertisement. Polar bears are the animals with their lives threatened due to global warming. This is a significant and well-known global trend.     

     Second, Coca Cola implants the thoughts that drinking coke makes people happy. The company has its main slogan that reads the following: Be happy and open happiness. Coca Cola refers the coke as a happiness that is being consumed by the consumers. Coke cannot be the happiness itself so does for drinking coke. However, Coca Cola company encourages people to buy their products by reflecting on the universal agreement that everyone wants to be happy with their lives. 
  

     Third, Coca Cola promotes environmental activities such as recycling, providing drinkable water to rural areas, protecting polar bears, and sustainable packaging. By doing so, Coca Cola company gain positive image of the company itself and get the media attention, which further promote the products. 

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/sustainability/world-protecting-the-environment
   
  These marketing strategies and movements established by the company contributes to cultural diffusion as the people become more aware of the products and the company itself also. Drinking coke becomes acculturated in the world that result in cultural diffusion. Due to the cultural diffusion taking place by Coca Cola company, the world get to be more exposed to the western culture and opened to the other foreign cultures. In this sense, drinking coke becomes a connection among the people from different countries.

Pros and Cons of Globalization

"Globalization refers to the growing interdependence of countries through the increasing variety and volume of cross-boarder transactions in goods and services and international capital flows and through the rapid and widespread diffusion of technology."


Advantage

• Due to the extended scale of market throughout the world, the companies get to have access products from different countries.
• There can be a flow of money in the LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries) as the companies get the labour forces and resources from the less developed countries. Therefore, globalization can support the economy of the people from LEDCs.
• Active communication among the countries take place, which can result in further collaboration and globalization. This active communication can also benefit the countries by maintaining stable political relationship with the other countries. 
• Throughout globalization, exchange and sharing of cultural value take place. Therefore, people under globalization get to experience variety of cultures in the world and know better about the world. 
• As the corporations with technology work in the countries/areas without any technology but with labour force and resource, those countries/areas get to obtain new technology from the corporations. This can contribute in promoting the development of the nations/areas as whole since they get to have technology to generate further profits from what they have (resource and labour). 

Disadvantage

• The people from MEDCs (More Economically Developed Countries) do not get to receive proper amount of income since their jobs can be replaced with the cheap labour forces that are mostly from LEDCs.
• There is a possibility of incursion of communicable diseases and social degeneration. 
• Due to the heavy investment from certain corporations, those corporations gain power that they can rule the world.
• Over extraction of resource in especially of LEDCs can happen since the companies with money tend to obtain their resources from the LEDCs. 
• Globalization can result in loss of cultural identity or culture especially of Eastern values. 
• Globalization makes the economy, especially, of LEDCs to be dependent on the economy of MEDCs. This is because MEDCs generate further profits out of the cheap resources and labors provided by LEDCs. Under this trend of globalization, the gap between the economy of LEDCs and that of MEDCs get widen as the time passes.