to reflect on the sustainability of globalisation...
TRANSCRIPT
‐ Starter: How can we, in the UK stop this from happening?
Aim: To reflect on the sustainability of globalisation & explain how fair trade, ethical consumption & recycling may reduce the negative impacts of globalisation.
Qu: Can we consume more ethically? 8/5/17C/W
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/24/bangladeshbuildingcollapseshopswest
ContextThe last lesson in enquiry question 3 (and the unit yay!) looks at a variety of schemes aimed at reducing the impact of globalisation: ethical consumption, fair trade, recycling and local NGOs. The ecological footprint is one way of measuring resource consumption. The ecological footprint is a measure of the land area that each person needs in order to produce what they need to consume. Generally, developed countries have a larger ecological footprint than developing countries. You need to consider the role of fair trade, ethical consumption, recycling and NGOs in reducing the impacts of globalisation socially and environmentally. Fair trade aims to give producers a bigger share of the profits – the Fairtrade brand has been successful, particularly for cocoa and coffee markets, but can be criticised. Fair trade coffee is a particularly good example to use to bring out both bits of detailed content. Ethical consumerism is on the rise, partially as a result of highprofile tragedies like the Rana Plaza collapse. Recycling tends to vary across local authorities, but the national trend is that we recycle more every year. NGOs can act as pressure groups and campaign for behavioural or governmental change. Note that there are wide difference in recycling rates between local authorities, and that recycling rates are plateauing.
Cornwall revision sheet
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In a nutshell....
We started the unit looking at how there had been too many losers from globalisation and various commentators (Obama, Trump and May) wanted to give globalisation a 'course direction'. This lesson looks at ways that we as individuals can go about this through making careful decisions about what we buy, consume and waste.
It is important to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies though in terms of reducing environmental degradation, improving working conditions and reducing inequality between people and places.
Ethical Shopping
Recycling
http://www.sita.co.uk/wasteasaresource/recyclingintheuk
The Ecological Footprint measures the amount of biologically productive land and water area an individual, a city, a country, a region, or all of humanity uses to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates with today's technology and resource management practices.
Fairtrade
How effective is fairtrade?
Fairtrade
Fairtrade:
The scheme aims to give producers a fair price for the goods that they produce and also a guaranteed price, that is not susceptible to fluctuations in global commodity prices.
In general Fairtrade products like chocolate, coffee, wine, football and jeans cost a little more, but consumers in HICs are increasingly willing to part with their cash, knowing that the producers are not being exploited.
However there are many criticisms of fairtrade (as you'll see). While it has undoubtedly done some good, the extent to which it can address the 'inequalities of world trade' are questionable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLKTGWH398Q
The world's poorest countries should make greater efforts to create wellpaid jobs for the underemployed and those trapped in lowsalaried work, or risk rising social or political instability, according to a UN report.
A country is considered least developed when income per head is $992 a year. Most LDCs are in Africa (34) and include countries such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Niger. Asian LDCs include Bhutan, TimorLeste and Yemen.In an increasingly familiar argument, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) says economic growth that does not create enough decent jobs is unsustainable. From 2000 to 2012, LDC employment growth was 2.9% a year – slightly above the population growth rate of 2.3%, but well below LDCs' average GDP growth rates for the period of 7%. In other words, LDCs experienced more than a decade of jobless growth.
The
The report identifies two strategies to bolster growth with jobs. The first is to become more than just providers of natural resources. LDCs could add the making of copper products to the mining of copper, for example. Similarly, agriculture can be the basis for developing valueadded industries such as food processing, geared mainly to domestic and regional markets.
The agricultural sector accounts for the majority of jobs. In 2000, it accounted for 71% of total employment in LDCs; and by 2018, it is expected to account for 63%. Industry accounted for 7% of total LDC employment in 2000, and will reach 10% by 2018. Services accounted for 22% in 2000, and will increase to 27% by 2018. Only in the services sector has employment risen substantially. This reflects a shift of labour out of lowproductivity activities – mainly agriculture – to lowproductivity services activities in urban areas.
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'Fairtrade'
Other view:
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/may/17/ethicalshoppinghighstreetfashion
ActivitiesPearspn pg 214215.
1. Take notes on the different strategies to reduce environmental degradation and reduce inequality. You should cover: a.) Ethical consumption b.) Fairtrade c.) Recycling (inc Keep Britain Tidy)
2.) Now read Oxford Pgs 190/191 to consolidate. If you come across anything useful, jot it down. Downsides of ethical shopping for example. Waste and Recycling stats.
3.) 8 reasons fairtrade doesn't work sheet. Point 1 and the highlighted section on the back would do.
4) Keep Britain Tidy handout
5.) BBC Waste article
6.) Fill in any gaps with Hodder 210/211.
1. Fairtrade maintains the status quo, trapping people in LICs in the low profit primary sector. Growing food or coffee doesn't pay well, even with fairtrade. If people inLICs are really going to develop then they need to move away from the primary sector and in to secondary (manufacturing) industries which pay more. Encouraging fairtrade just keeps people in low profit work but makes us feel better as consumers.
2. Fair trade attracts bad beans. Every crop contains some beans that are of higher quality than others. If the market price for the lowquality beans is below $1.40 and the market price of highquality beans is above $1.40, then the fairtrade system incentivizes growers to dump their bad beans into fairtrade channels.
3. Fair trade imposes significant costs on impoverished growers. The University of California study estimates that fairtrade certification costs about $0.03 per pound. This doesn’t sound like much, but in some years it is greater than any price benefit brought by the higher fairtrade price.
4. Fair trade doesn’t help the poorest growers. In a recent study in Costa Rica, economists found the modest benefits generated from fair trade to be concentrated among the most skilled coffee growers. They find no positive impact on coffee laborers, no positive impact on children’s education, and negative impacts on the education of unskilled coffee workers’ children.
5. Relatively little fairtrade coffee originates from the poorest countries. The poorest coffeegrowing countries LICs are in Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Fairtrade exports from these countries represent less than 10 percent of coffee marketed through fair trade, while the share of fairtrade coffee from NEEs such as Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia is many times higher.
6. Purported benefits of the fairtrade system lack transparency. Although fair trade pays a $0.20 premium over the world coffee price to growers for “social and economic investments at the community and organizational level,” how this money is actually spent in the home country is vague at best.
7. The fairtrade system is inefficient at transferring coffee consumers’ goodwill to producers. The median coffee drinker is — amazingly — willing to pay a premium of 50p for a cup of fairtrade coffee. However, even in the bestcase scenario for fair trade, when world prices are at their lowest, the maximum amount a fairtrade grower from that same cup of coffee would receive is only one third of a cent.
8. Fairtrade coffee fails to address the root of poverty issues. Core poverty issues in developing countries suggest thoughtful, strategic interventions in areas such as health, education, infrastructure, entrepreneurial activity, and governance. If these core issues can be effectively addressed, a new array of occupational choices will open to the poor, allowing them to lift themselves out of rural poverty. Instead of providing credible evidence of impact in any of these key areas, fairtrade coffee incentivizes production of more coffee.
8 Reasons why Coffee doesn't work (Huffington PostJan 2016)
Plenary
"Assess the extent to which ethical consumption schemes can minimise the environmental and social costs of globalisation. " [12]
Final thoughts...
• You studied a lot. Play to your strengths. Link things together. Everything links together in these units.This is called being synoptic.
• Manage your time. Go for 1 mark per minute then allow 25 for the 16 mark synoptic Q.
• Ignore sections on Diverse Places and Glaciers
• Explain points fully less is more. It's better to fully develop a few points than be superficial with lots. The 'so what?' factor.
• Evaluate and Assess the extent to which are 'yeah but no but' Qs. You must address both sides of the Q.
• In regenerating places use Plymouth and Bath as named examples wherever possible.
• Study sources carefully and refer to them in your answer.
• Support points with PSI and key terms
• Make sure you're up to date with SMH
Test
28
28
18
16
Section A (Glob)
Section B (RP)
Skills/fieldwork
Synoptic Q