To what extent should I, as a citizen, respond to Globalization?

Globalization has shaped each one of us in so many ways. Now we need to find out how we can help shape Globalization, to make it safe, healthy, and good for all people. That is a tough job, and it's not easy to do. If it were, we would probably have already done it.
How can we help globalization?
Global Warming:
There are many ideas to help stop global warming (recycling, reducing gas emissions, energy efficient light bulbs, etc.). Are you helping to stop globalization? We need do all we can to help.





How can we stop it?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/05/activists.ethicalliving#box

Can 50 people change the world? Maybe...if we help them.

Equality:

By promoting equality among all people, we can help make a more just and fair planet. No one deserves to be left out.
http://www.stop-discrimination.info/28.0.html










Trade:
Fair trade can change lives! Support fair trade by buying fair trade products.

In order for me to be an effective global citizen, I need to be cautious about world problems, consider solutions for these problem, and open to other observations and solutions.

There are many things you can do to help globalization become safe and good for all people. Will you help?

Poverty

Is it even possible to get rid of poverty? Yes. If everyone in the world who had a job, tithed ten percent of their monthly income, we could easily be done with poverty...for a little while.









The money that was tithed would be used up eventually and there wouldn't be enough jobs to go around. Many of those that were in poverty would not be educated and able to get a high paying job. Sooner or later, poverty will creep back into the world, and we will be in the same, maybe even worse, state as we were before. So how do we get rid of poverty? Well, I'm not sure, but I know it doesn't happen overnight. I believe one of the best ways to reduce poverty is to train and educate those that live in poverty. With an education they can get a job. With a job they can a continuous income of money. With money they no longer have to worry about poverty.

Global Citizenship

We're all in this together. Whether we want to or not, the earth is our responsibility to keep clean and healthy. In order to be an effective global citizen, we need to give back to our earth. The earth keeps giving food, clothes, etc. to us. We need to give something back.
Take time to:
-Plant a tree
-Pick up trash
-Recycle
-Ride your bike instead of driving

Solutions...

Globalization is not a simple topic. There are numerous things that we citizens can do to help it. I believe on of the most important things to do would be to help save our earth from pollution. We are not treating our earth as it should be treated. We toss our trash on the side of the rode, chop down trees, pollute water with our sewage, and guzzle nonrenewable resources in our SUVs.

With a healthy earth, we can have a sustainable environment. But one person cannot make much of a difference. We need everyone to help!

Economic Interdependency

Economic interdependency is a great benefit for developing countries. When one company invests or outsources its factories in another country, it begins to care about what happens to and in that country. If the country they are investing in is polluted, or at war, or very poor, they would want to help that country out so that their business in that country remains safe and healthy.

Outsourcing/Foreign Investment

Many people believe that outsourcing brings more negative effects than positive. But really, there are a lot of positive outcomes from outsourcing. Although most of the hired workers get paid low wages, they are still getting a job and much needed money. Without these outsourced businesses, many of the workers would not have jobs, and would be worse off than they are now. Outsourcing also helps the spread of goods and materials, and the connection of different countries. Still, we need to watch how much we outsource.

Foreign investment is one of the best things to bring prosperity to a developing country. When a developed company invests in the infrastructure to produce raw materials in another country, they can open many possibilities for the people living in that developing country. The investors might hire some of the people there, giving them jobs. They might even train them, giving them an education. Some investing companies will build airports and shipping ports in order to ship the material they are investing in to other countries. These acts can bring about a lot of possibilities for the future of the developing country.

Economics

There are many ways in which our economy can be unfair. Many jobs are outsourced to developing countries, and the people there get paid less. Due to an unfair economy, many people are living in poverty.

http://www.faireconomy.org/

There are many ways we can help our economy. Buying fair trade products would be one of them.

Community

A community can be made from a number of different things: religion, traditions, language, neighborhood, city, fan club, sport, hobby, etc. You may even have a virtual community: chat room, blog, instant messaging buddy list, or social networking sites. A community can be as small as a household, or as big as a country.

Some of my communities: my neighborhood, my Canadian citizenship, my household, my sports teams, my church, my school.

What are your communities?

Labour Standards

Labour standards are the standards taken to protect workers and the environment. I believe that there should be:

-freedom from forced labour

-freedom from discrimination in the workplace

-a ban on child labour

-the right to organize and bargain collectively

http://issues.takingitglobal.org/labour

Global Warming/sustainability

Global warming is a subject that brings about lots of controversy. I don't know for sure if global warming is caused by human actions or not, but I do know that we are not treating our planet that way it should be treated.

There are a lot of things you can do to help stop pollution. Here are some suggestions: http://www.earthday.ca/pub/resources/top10.php

Our earth is running out of resources. Humans use and waste too much raw materials. We don't recycle enough. We need to act now before we destroy our planet.

Human Rights

I believe everyone is equal and deserves political rights, civil rights, equality rights, econimic rights, social rights, and cultural rights.http://www.amnesty.org/ Act now for human rights!

Is democracy right for all?

Communication Technologies

Two hundred years ago, there were no communication technologies like we have today. If there was a famine in a country, or an argument about an issue, people would not hear about it for a long time. Things could happen and few would know about it. But in today's day and age, there isn't much that goes on without the media broadcasting it. With this advantage, anyone anywhere in the world can be connected with the events taking place at any moment.
Also, with new and more developed technology, a country/area that would not able to put up telephone land lines can instead use cell phones. By putting up a few towers, these disengaged areas can now access all of the world’s knowledge via Internet, just because of the communication technologies they are using.
I, as a citizen, can respond to globalization by promoting my ideas over the Internet.

To what extent should I, as a citizen, respond to globalization?

This is the question that I will be answering in my blog.


My currant view on this issue is that globalization brings good (wealth, health, etc.) to some and bad (poverty, job loss, etc.) to others. I want to find out how I, as a citizen should respond to globalization, and what I can do to help.