responses to globalisation

• sustainability concerns=increased localism


  sustainability= managing the ways we meet needs today without comprimising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs
• ethical concerns

  • growing development gap between the worlds richest consumers and poorest producers of goods
  • poor health- industrial pollution
  • exploitation of workers in primary industries as pressure to meet demands rise
• environmental concerns

  • constant desire for newly manufactured goods creates industries that contribute to climate change
  • high levels of resource exploitation occurs to create new goods- habitat and biodiversity loss
  • increasing pressure on water and energy supplies
• localism

  • prioritises local production and consumption of goods over global market
  • embraces local cultures and promotes local identities
• different groups involved in promotion of localism

  • groups of consumers may boycott goods that have high food miles, choosing instead to buy those produced locally- local sourcing (supermarkets responding to this by sourcing and marketing local food
  • non government organisations encourage businesses to source local food as well as run campaigns such as 'love food hate waste'to support sustainable use of food resouces
• costs of localism

  • locally sourced goods can be more expensive
  • poorer nations economies may rely on exporting food thus may lose income if more people in developed countries buy locally produced goods
  • farmers may be encouraged to use environmentally unsustainable farming methods so they can farm more and meet demand
• benefits of localism

  • local producers more likely to use organic production methods which are better for soil and ecosystem health
  • profits from selling goods stay local to area in which they are produced, strengthening local economy
  • local food needs less chemical processing to remain fresh while in transit to markets
• ethical consumption

  • when consumers consider the impact the money they spend will have on people, animals, environment
  • more concern= more companies promote social responsibility agenda eg primark, member of ethical trading initiative, requires all suppliers and factories to meet standards of hygeine and safe working conditions
  • safe working conditions, fair wages and measures to reduce environmental degradation-difficult to enforce
• recycling


  can help manage resources sustainably

  • help reduce the consumption of resources needed to produce new goods
  • however- takes large amount of energt to recycle so expensive- recyclables often shipped to other countries that can better process them making carbon footprint bigger
  • recycling forms part of a larger circular economy- continue to extract value from resource after it has had its initial use