photo essay globalization

Contemporary Filipino Foodways: Views from the Street, Household, and Local Dining

For various historical and geopolitical reasons, the Philippines remains largely distinct in the Asia Pacific and, indeed, around the world when it comes to the uniqueness of its culinary heritage and the practices and traditions surrounding local food production and consumption. While the cuisines of neighboring countries (e.g. Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and China) have enjoyed an elevated status on the global stage for quite some time, Filipino cooking and its attendant foodways has pretty much gone under the radar relatively speaking.

Figure 1. Vegetable sellers, Galvan Street Market, Dagupan City, Pangasinan (2005). Author photo.

Only within the last two decades or so has this kind of benign disregard from non-Filipino audiences slowly given way to a more engaged global focus of what the Philippines has to offer in terms of its viable food culture. Such considerations, tentative though as they might be, reveal a variegated foodscape suffused with myriad complexities and contradictions.

Photos in this essay — taken from 2005 onwards — speak to processes of indigenization that transform and tweak global products to fit the distinct parameters of traditional Filipino palates wherein the sweet and succulent enjoy a privileged position above zesty or dry tastes. Snapped in and around Dagupan City, Pangasinan, as a part of my ongoing ethnographic fieldwork there, these images vividly illustrate the sorts of processed foods and convenience cuisine now equally situated alongside inexpensive street snacks and marketplace fare that collectively comprised ordinary Filipino diets during the 21st century’s first two decades. If any identifiable narrative thread runs through this series of pictures, it probably relates to the variety of snack/mealtime choices available to those living in provincial Philippine cities and surrounding areas.

As a rich mélange of outside culinary influences variously integrated within the enduring fabric of indigenous food culture, contemporary Filipino foodways exhibit an overarching character that is at once decidedly idiosyncratic and yet uncannily familiar to those non-Filipinos either visiting the islands for the first time or vicariously experiencing its meal/snack offerings through today’s all but omnipresent digital technology. Food spaces in the Philippines incorporate a wide range of venues and activities that increasingly transcend social class and public/domestic contexts as the photos in this essay showcase in profound and subtle ways. If anything, the pictures contained herein reveal as much about globalization’s multiscalar impact as they do Filipinos’ long standing ability to adapt and assimilate externalities into more traditional modes of dietary practice.

Effectively transcending whatever overseas origins that characterized their initial penetration of the archipelago years back, these once novel introductions to local life currently occupy an all but equivalent status with their more traditional counterparts. In this way, Filipino foodways represent more than just the sum of their constituent parts. If anything, they stand as a successful melding of indigenous palates with global ingredients, cooking styles, restaurant formats, dining customs, consumer expectations, and aesthetic sensibilities, into something new and highly evocative of local experiences. It is not for nothing that Filipino cuisine is now widely touted among U.S. tastemakers as the “next big thing”, given its so-called status as the “original fusion” fare within the Asia Pacific and wider sphere of regional influence (McNeilly 2017).

How aware or concerned ordinary Filipinos are about such developments remains an open question. In truth, I suspect few really give such matters much consideration. Throughout this essay and, indeed, among many of the daily encounters underpinning Philippine modernity, global/local juxtapositions emerge with such abiding frequency that any novelty they once possessed has long since been honed down into a sort of understated ubiquity that continues to inform myriad aspects of workaday life including those related to local food procurement, preparation, and consumption. Global food conglomerates and their various subsidiaries have doubtless done much to shift local perspectives about what constitutes viable food practices, just as they have significantly transformed established Filipino foodscapes into milieus where street vendors, sari-sari store operators, and carinderia owners ostensibly cede ground within increasingly corporatized food spaces.

Like other Asia Pacific countries, the transnational food industry wields considerable sway across the Philippines’ political economy, especially over the nation’s decidedly syncretic food traditions that extend back to Spanish colonization (1521-1898) and beyond (Cordero-Fernando 1992) . In the Philippines as elsewhere in the Global South, the cultural and socioeconomic practices related to food production/consumption are increasingly informed by the seemingly all-pervasive schema of hyperdrive global capitalism. So much so, in fact, that prospects of divorcing contemporary Filipino foodways from the profound influence of this hallmark feature of 21st century global modernity become less and less viable as its branded and mass-produced products — not to mention the contexts these goods/commodities create — indelibly shape the lived realities of millions nationwide.

In this and other ways, the everyday foods of today’s Philippines remain emblematic of the formative historical experiences and aspirational promises of a society continually striving to (re-)formulate a national identity widely recognized as occupying a sociocultural terrain somewhere between East and West. Abiding predispositions towards outside culinary influences assume real material character in the kinds of food and practices that hold meaning for Filipinos across all social strata. Such preferences resonate beyond matters of simple utilitarian eating or experiencing novel flavors or tastes. They also engage Filipino sensibilities in ways rife with symbolic meaning. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in the processed and convenience fare that is widely consumed in local households and among various peer groups.

Manufactured fare coming from abroad has long captured local imaginations. Early 20th century canned goods imported from the U.S. are deeply evocative of the sort of cosmopolitanism that shaped local perceptions about America’s colonial patronage over the archipelago in the decades both leading up and subsequent to World War II (Elias 2014).

Figure 6. SPAM supermarket display, Dagupan City, Pangasinan (2011). Author photo.

More recently pasalubong -laden balikbayan boxes (Patzer 2018) – replete with all variety of consumables including canned SPAM, Marlboro Reds, Toblerone chocolates, and tubed Pringle cannisters – have been globally deployed to the Philippines from the 10.2 million overseas Filipinos and serve as resonant symbols for all the inherent complexities/ambivalences of today's highly mobile global Pinoy. No less resonant are the multiplicity of fast food restaurants that invariably punctuate the street-level fabric of towns and cities across the Visayas, Mindanao, and Luzon in the years after McDonald’s came to the Philippines in 1981.

For many middle class/working poor (sub-)urbanites, when it comes to meeting simple dining needs, the corporatized contexts of American-style fast food eateries hold just as much viability as public food spaces located along city sidewalks or municipal marketplaces.

Figure 8. Street food vendors, Dagupan City, Pangasinan (2006). Author photo.

The unmatched success of local quick-service brand Jollibee represents a source of genuine national pride for Filipinos across the islands seeing as it has continually bested the Golden Arches in terms of popularity and profitability.

Figure 9. Jollibee window display, Dagupan City, Pangasinan (2006). Author photo.

At the household level, kitchen pantries and refrigerators are stocked with brands familiar to millions worldwide (e.g. SPAM) just as family dining tables serve as convergence points for traditional home-cooked meals or increasingly fast food takeaway.

Figure 10. SPAM and banana ketchup, Dagupan City, Pangasinan (2006). Author photo.

Figure 12. KFC delivery bikes, Dagupan City, Pangasinan (2011). Author photo.

When these individual photos are considered altogether, inclinations to view contemporary Filipino foodways as entirely subsumed within the hegemonic schema of today’s global food industry become quite compelling. While not discounting transnational brands/companies’ prevailing influence over local life, such reductive perspectives fall short in accounting for Filipinos’ longstanding and seemingly effortless ability to indigenize outside influences to create something new and largely representative of Philippine culture. The active participation of Filipino interests and local capital have demonstrated a considerable amount of agency in articulating a viable food culture increasingly validated beyond the archipelago and Asia Pacific (Matejowsky 2018).

References Cited

Cordero-Fernando, Gilda. Philippine Food and Life . Quezon City, Philippines: Anvil Publishing, 1992.

Elias, Megan. “The Palate of Power. Americans, Food and the Philippines after the Spanish-American War.” Material Culture 46, no. 1 (2014): 44-57.

Matejowsky, Ty. Fast Food Globalization in the Provincial Philippines . Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2018.

McNeilly, Claudia. “How Filipino Food is Becoming the Next Great American Cuisine.” Vogue , June 1, 2017. https://www.vogue.com/article/filipino-food-philippines-cuisine-restaurants .

Patzer, Helena. “Unpacking the Balikbayan Box. Long-distance Care through Feeding and Consumption in the Philippines.” Rozpakowując balikbayan box. Troska Na Odleglosc Poprzez Karmienie Oraz Konsumpjca Jedzenia Na Filipinach. Studia Socjologiczne 4 (231) (2018): 131-148.

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Qualitative Research Cafe

Food for thought on interpretive and critical research approaches, photo essays.

Photo essays can also be collaborations, multiple photographers/researchers working together. High school students in LA used photography to explore immigration in their communities .

Sophisticated uses of media allow for combinations of photographs, texts, and infographics (including interactive formats), a less static form of photo essay. An excellent example of this is Segregation Now , which looks at resegregation of schools in the U.S. south, Tuscaloosa specifically.

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Globalization.

Globalization is a term used to describe the increasing connectedness and interdependence of world cultures and economies.

Anthropology, Sociology, Social Studies, Civics, Economics

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Freight trains waiting to be loaded with cargo to transport around the United Kingdom. This cargo comes from around the world and contains all kinds of goods and products.

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Globalization is a term used to describe how trade and technology have made the world into a more connected and interdependent place. Globalization also captures in its scope the economic and social changes that have come about as a result. It may be pictured as the threads of an immense spider web formed over millennia, with the number and reach of these threads increasing over time. People, money, material goods, ideas, and even disease and devastation have traveled these silken strands, and have done so in greater numbers and with greater speed than ever in the present age. When did globalization begin? The Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes across China, Central Asia, and the Mediterranean used between 50 B.C.E. and 250 C.E., is perhaps the most well-known early example of exchanging ideas, products, and customs. As with future globalizing booms, new technologies played a key role in the Silk Road trade. Advances in metallurgy led to the creation of coins; advances in transportation led to the building of roads connecting the major empires of the day; and increased agricultural production meant more food could be trafficked between locales. Along with Chinese silk, Roman glass, and Arabian spices, ideas such as Buddhist beliefs and the secrets of paper-making also spread via these tendrils of trade. Unquestionably, these types of exchanges were accelerated in the Age of Exploration, when European explorers seeking new sea routes to the spices and silks of Asia bumped into the Americas instead. Again, technology played an important role in the maritime trade routes that flourished between old and newly discovered continents. New ship designs and the creation of the magnetic compass were key to the explorers’ successes. Trade and idea exchange now extended to a previously unconnected part of the world, where ships carrying plants, animals, and Spanish silver between the Old World and the New also carried Christian missionaries. The web of globalization continued to spin out through the Age of Revolution, when ideas about liberty , equality , and fraternity spread like fire from America to France to Latin America and beyond. It rode the waves of industrialization , colonization , and war through the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, powered by the invention of factories, railways, steamboats, cars, and planes. With the Information Age, globalization went into overdrive. Advances in computer and communications technology launched a new global era and redefined what it meant to be “connected.” Modern communications satellites meant the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo could be watched in the United States for the first time. The World Wide Web and the Internet allowed someone in Germany to read about a breaking news story in Bolivia in real time. Someone wishing to travel from Boston, Massachusetts, to London, England, could do so in hours rather than the week or more it would have taken a hundred years ago. This digital revolution massively impacted economies across the world as well: they became more information-based and more interdependent. In the modern era, economic success or failure at one focal point of the global web can be felt in every major world economy. The benefits and disadvantages of globalization are the subject of ongoing debate. The downside to globalization can be seen in the increased risk for the transmission of diseases like ebola or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), or in the kind of environmental harm that scientist Paul R. Furumo has studied in microcosm in palm oil plantations in the tropics. Globalization has of course led to great good, too. Richer nations now can—and do—come to the aid of poorer nations in crisis. Increasing diversity in many countries has meant more opportunity to learn about and celebrate other cultures. The sense that there is a global village, a worldwide “us,” has emerged.

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Debojyoti Das

October 10th, 2019, photo essay: climate crisis and globalization in the bay of bengal.

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Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

For nearly five years, Debojyoti Das (University of Sussex) visited the Bay of Bengal to try to understand how local coastal communities were being effected by the climate crisis. Here he explains what his visual ethnography reveals about the everyday life of fishing villages on the coast who live at the mercy of the environmental and social consequences of the climate crisis.

Photo: Villagers use bhot bhoti-  retrofitted country boats with double cylender diesel engine to commute between villages in the precarious delta backwaters. Credit: Author

In the 21 st century, the health and wellbeing of coastal communities are at risk as climate change events accelerate the frequency of natural disasters. Growing inequalities and displacement are subsequently pushing coastal populations to migrate to cities across South Asia.

The global discourse on climate change has evolved increasingly into a discussion on how communities can adapt to these changing conditions and resilience, both socio-economic and ecological, is a crucial aspect of the sustainability of local livelihoods and resource utilisation. However, we currently lack a sufficient understanding of how costal societies build an adaptive capacity in the face of climate change and global warming.

Some regions of the world and their ways of life will in years to come be radically transformed if not disappear altogether. The region around the Bay of Bengal is one such area where residents are vulnerable to extreme weather. The most conservative projection reported in the International Panel for Climate Change Fourth Assessment (2014) is estimated at 40cm by the end of the twenty first century. More significantly however, the rise in sea levels in the northern Bay of Bengal, combined with warm sea surface temperatures, will result in more severe storms and cyclone activity with accompanying high water extremes, surges and salt intrusion.

Photo: A family of crab catchers and petty peasant who migrated from Bangladesh in the 1970s now settled in Kumirmari village, Sundarbans. Credit: Author

Threats to the Bay of Bengal

In the Bay of Bengal the magnitude of the consequences of this change is beyond comprehension. Nearly 100 million people will be affected; 10 percent of the fertile agricultural land could be destroyed; farming and fishing livelihood could be completely compromised; and the fragile Sundarbans mangrove forest, with their unique biodiversity, are in danger of disappearing altogether . A rising sea level and reduced production in agriculture pose the biggest threats. Kolkata and Dhaka, whose greater urban areas are home to over 20 million people and rising, face the greatest risk of flood-related damage over the next century. Low-lying Bangladesh is vulnerable to flooding and cyclones in the Indian Ocean, which scientific literature suggests will grow more intense in coming decades. In 1991, a 20-foot storm surge that followed a cyclone  killed nearly 140,000 people  in Bangladesh and left up to 10 million homeless.

Photo: Young village children working as tourist guide and helpers in boats after the Aila cycle on 2009. Villagers see tourism as a livelihood option due to the salinization of their paddy fields by sea water inundation after the cyclone. Credit: Author

Sundrabans 

Sundrabans is a vast forest in the coastal region of the  Bay of Bengal  which is one of the natural wonders of the world. Located in the delta region of  Padma ,  Meghna  and  Brahmaputra  river basins, this unique forest area extends across  Khulna ,  Satkhira ,  Bagerha t , Patuakhali  and  Barguna  districts in Bangladesh and South 24 Pargans in West Bengal (India). The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world and is the home of the endangered Bengal tiger. It was recognised by USESCO as a Natural Landscape World Heritage site in 1987.

Between 2012 and 2017, I undertook several stints of fieldwork in the delta. My fieldwork photographs engage with people’s everyday struggles with a violent climate, human induced economic activities and the consequences it has on the lives of societies who live along the coast.

Photo: A village household showing the compensation they received after the devastating Aila cyclone on 2009. Credit: Author

Living in the Sundarbans delta is like walking the edge of a knife. This amphibious landscape is ecologically fragile and exposed to hydro hazards such as tropical cyclones, floods, and typhoons.

These photos offer a place-based understanding of coastal societies in the Bay of Bengal. The photos also focus on the costal seaboard that connects the rest of Asia across the Indian Ocean trade route. When the East India Company and later the British Crown colonized the Bengal delta through the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793, their sole aim was to expand the revenue base of the Bengal Presidency. (The Bengal Presidency was established in 1765, following the defeat of the last independent  Nawab of Bengal  at the  Battle of Plassey  in 1757. Bengal was the economic, cultural and educational hub of the British Empire in South Asia. It was the centre of the late 19th and early 20th century  Bengali Renaissance  and a hotbed of nationalist movement. The  Partition of British India  resulted in  Bengal’s division  on religious grounds, between  West Bengal  and  East Bengal present day Bangladesh).

European officials who surveyed the region during the later eighteenth century termed the delta archipelago “Sundarban,” meaning “beautiful forest,” in their itineraries and reports. The Sundarbans is a part-land, part-water milieu that supports the world’s largest mangrove megafauna. The liminality of the landscape is marked by vanishing islands that emerge and disappear with geomorphic processes of land formation. In this water-based economy, the riverine communities are socially connected through dispersed village settlements and weekly markets (locally known as haat bazaar ). The rivers are not just channels of water; they carry a thriving trade, transporting people, goods, and ideas from one part of the delta to another.

Photo: A tribal village resident in Kumirmari sharing his narrative of rising tides and cyclones. Credit: Author.

In recent decades, the lives of communities in the coastal belt have been conceded by state-driven development projects such as the Rampal thermal power plant proposed jointly by India and Bangladesh. The project has triggered several protests across Bangladesh and raised many pressing questions on the environmental sanity of such capitalist and state-driven corporate projects. Meanwhile, the powerful ship recycling industry in Chittagong is creating a massive livelihood crisis in Bangladesh’s Sitakund coastal seaboard, among the traditional fishing community, as toxic litter pollutes the coastal water, and depleting fish catches.

During my yearlong fieldwork in the region, I took hundreds of photographs of the port depicting the defenseless everyday life of fishing villages who live at the mercy of tropic cyclones and ship breaking mafia who grab community owned land to expand their dangerous business. Most of the labour recruits come from the stripped fisherman families who have very little education and have limited opportunities for work and livelihood beyond the toxic ship breaking yards.

The photographs capture their hopes and aspiration for a better future. By contrast in the Indian part of the Sundraban delta communities have opened up their village spaces to the influx of domestic tourists and international backpackers after the devastating Aila cyclone of 2009. Villagers depend on outsiders who visit the island by working as night guards, cooks, porters and open air theater ( jatra and pala ) entertainers. The inflow of tourists into the delta’s fragile ecology looking to spot the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger has quadrupled. This unregulated entry of boats from Calcutta to Dhaka has caused oil spills which have polluted the pristine backwaters.

Photo: Villagers taking part in a history telling workshop in Kumirmari village. Credit: Author.

The increase in tourists has created a demand for guesthouses, camping sites, lodges and hotels in the delta, generates litter that have added to the vulnerability of the fragile delta ecology. Besides this, shrimp aquaculture, once a thriving business on the coast, has significantly damaged the mangrove forest. Both in India and Bangladesh, human intervention and changing state policies in favour of neoliberalization and globalization have adversely affected the coastal environment.

Photo: A degraded island and nature of river bank erosion. Credit: Author.

The demand for crab from China, particularly during the Chinese New Year, has added a new transnational dimension to the global interconnectedness of the delta and the demand and supply for seafood in the glocalised economy. The growth in crab export has replaced the booming shrimp aquaculture of the 1980s and has become the new hope of marginal farmers who earn small profits from traders and exporters who manage the demand and supply chain of the business.

These images communicate the community’s everyday struggles with their environment and their aspirations for improvement, local beliefs, customs, festivals, and local tradition. Besides this, the photographs show the connected history of the region—Islamic religiosity that has developed with the expansion of rice cultivation invigorated by Sufi prophets who came to spread the message of Islam from the 12th century onwards. These mystics have been portrayed through scroll paintings by local craft artists known as potuas , which are kept in their community and family-held museum depositaries. While the national and international audiences have been introduced to literatures illustrating the delta’s flora and fauna, the visuals showcasing human societies’ relation with nature and culture have escaped scholarly attention.

This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of the South Asia @ LSE blog, nor of the London School of Economics.

The blog is a short epilogue to the photograph representation of the delta and its vulnerable future that the author featured in five major photo exhibits held at the Indian Museum Kolkata, India 2013; South Asian University, Delhi 2013, Nehru Centre, London 2014; Sussex University 2016; Yale University 2017. The author has used a select group of photographs in this blog from the exhibits.

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About the author

Debojyoti Das is an Anthropologist of South Asia focusing on the borderlands of Eastern India and the India Ocean world. He is the author of the book The Politics of Swidden Farming: Environment and Development in Eastern India (2018) and is the recipient of the 2018-19, Social Science Research Council, US, Inter Asia Context and Connections New Paradigm Grant. He has held fellowships at Yale, Bristol, University of Sussex and University of London.

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South Asia @ LSE welcomes contributions from LSE faculty, fellows, students, alumni and visitors to the school. Please write to [email protected] with ideas for posts on south Asia-related topics.

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World History Project - Origins to the Present

Course: world history project - origins to the present   >   unit 7, read: introduction to globalization.

• READ: International Institutions
• READ: Rise of China
• BEFORE YOU WATCH: Eradicating Smallpox
• WATCH: Eradicating Smallpox
• BEFORE YOU WATCH: Global China into the 21st Century
• WATCH: Global China into the 21st Century
• READ: Goods Across the World
• BEFORE YOU WATCH: Globalization I - The Upside
• WATCH: Globalization I - The Upside
• BEFORE YOU WATCH: Nonviolence and Peace Movements
• WATCH: Nonviolence and Peace Movements
• READ: Population and Environmental Trends, 1880 to the Present
• READ: Is the World Flat or Spiky?
• Global Interactions and Institutions

First read: preview and skimming for gist

Second read: key ideas and understanding content.

• What late twentieth-century trends, according to the author, led people to create the term “globalization”?
• What are some historical trends that accelerated globalization before the late twentieth century?
• What are some impacts of globalization in terms of migration and economics?
• What are some positive impacts of globalization, according to the author?
• What are some negative impacts of globalization, according to the author?

Third read: evaluating and corroborating

• What does globalization look like from your perspective? How does it affect your family and community? Do you think it has been a good thing for you? Why or why not?
• Globalization looks very differently studied through each of the three course frames. Pick one of the three course frames and describe the effects of globalization on your home town or neighborhood using only that frame narrative. How would your results have been different if you had chosen a different frame?

Introduction to Globalization

What is globalization, globalization’s effect on communities and economies, the pros and cons of globalization, want to join the conversation.

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Globalization: Definition, Benefits, Effects, Examples – What is Globalization?

• Publié le 21 January 2019
• Mis à jour le 25 March 2024

Globalization – what is it? What is the definition of globalization? Benefits and negative effects? What are the top examples of globalization? What famous quotes have been said about globalization?

What is Globalization? All Definitions of Globalization

A simple globalization definition.

Globalization means the speedup of movements and exchanges (of human beings, goods, and services, capital, technologies or cultural practices) all over the planet. One of the effects of globalization is that it promotes and increases interactions between different regions and populations around the globe.

• Related: Traveling Today And Tomorrow: Cities And Countries With More Travelers

An Official Definition of Globalization by the World Health Organization (WHO)

According to WHO , globalization can be defined as ” the increased interconnectedness and interdependence of peoples and countries. It is generally understood to include two inter-related elements: the opening of international borders to increasingly fast flows of goods, services, finance, people and ideas; and the changes in institutions and policies at national and international levels that facilitate or promote such flows.”

What Is Globalization in the Economy?

According to the Committee for Development Policy (a subsidiary body of the United Nations), from an economic point of view, globalization can be defined as: “(…) the increasing interdependence of world economies as a result of the growing scale of cross-border trade of commodities and services, the flow of international capital and the wide and rapid spread of technologies. It reflects the continuing expansion and mutual integration of market frontiers (…) and the rapid growing significance of information in all types of productive activities and marketization are the two major driving forces for economic globalization.”

• Related: Planet VS Economy: How Coronavirus Is Unraveling A Dysfunctional System

What Is Globalization in Geography?

In geography, globalization is defined as the set of processes (economic, social, cultural, technological, institutional) that contribute to the relationship between societies and individuals around the world. It is a progressive process by which exchanges and flows between different parts of the world are intensified.

Globalization and the G20: What is the G20?

The G20 is a global bloc composed by the governments and central bank governors from 19 countries and the European Union (EU). Established in 1999, the G20 gathers the most important industrialized and developing economies to discuss international economic and financial stability. Together, the nations of the G20 account for around 80% of global economic output, nearly 75 percent of all global trade, and about two-thirds of the world’s population.

G20 leaders get together in an annual summit to discuss and coordinate pressing global issues of mutual interest. Though economics and trade are usually the centerpieces of each summit’s agenda, issues like climate change, migration policies, terrorism, the future of work, or global wealth are recurring focuses too. Since the G20 leaders represent the “ political backbone of the global financial architecture that secures open markets, orderly capital flows, and a safety net for countries in difficulty”, it is often thanks to bilateral meetings during summits that major international agreements are achieved and that globalization is able to move forward.

The joint action of G20 leaders has unquestionably been useful to save the global financial system in the 2008/2009 crisis, thanks to trade barriers removal and the implementation of huge financial reforms. Nonetheless, the G20 was been struggling to be successful at coordinating monetary and fiscal policies and unable to root out tax evasion and corruption, among other downsides of globalization. As a result of this and other failures from the G20 in coordinating globalization, popular, nationalist movements across the world have been defending countries should pursue their interests alone or form fruitful coalitions.

How Do We Make Globalization More Just?

The ability of countries to rise above narrow self-interest has brought unprecedented economic wealth and plenty of applicable scientific progress. However, for different reasons, not everyone has been benefiting the same from globalization and technological change: wealth is unfairly distributed and economic growth came at huge environmental costs. How can countries rise above narrow self-interest and act together or designing fairer societies and a healthier planet? How do we make globalization more just?

According to Christine Lagarde , former President of the International Monetary Fund, “ debates about trade and access to foreign goods are as old as society itself ” and history tells us that closing borders or protectionism policies are not the way to go, as many countries doing it have failed.

Lagarde defends we should pursue globalization policies that extend the benefits of openness and integration while alleviating their side effects. How to make globalization more just is a very complex question that involves redesigning economic systems. But how? That’s the question.

Globalization is deeply connected with economic systems and markets, which, on their turn, impact and are impacted by social issues, cultural factors that are hard to overcome, regional specificities, timings of action and collaborative networks. All of this requires, on one hand, global consensus and cooperation, and on the other, country-specific solutions, apart from a good definition of the adjective “just”.

When Did Globalization Begin? The History of Globalization

For some people, this global phenomenon is inherent to human nature. Because of this, some say globalization begun about 60,000 years ago, at the beginning of human history. Throughout time, human societies’ exchanging trade has been growing. Since the old times, different civilizations have developed commercial trade routes and experienced cultural exchanges. And as well, the migratory phenomenon has also been contributing to these populational exchanges. Especially nowadays, since traveling became quicker, more comfortable, and more affordable.

This phenomenon has continued throughout history, notably through military conquests and exploration expeditions. But it wasn’t until technological advances in transportation and communication that globalization speeded up. It was particularly after the second half of the 20th century that world trades accelerated in such a dimension and speed that the term “globalization” started to be commonly used.

• Are we living oppositely to sustainable development?

Examples of Globalization (Concept Map)

Because of trade developments and financial exchanges, we often think of globalization as an economic and financial phenomenon. Nonetheless, it includes a much wider field than just flowing of goods, services or capital. Often referred to as the globalization concept map, s ome examples of globalization are:

• Economic globalization : is the development of trade systems within transnational actors such as corporations or NGOs;
• Financial globalization : can be linked with the rise of a global financial system with international financial exchanges and monetary exchanges. Stock markets, for instance, are a great example of the financially connected global world since when one stock market has a decline, it affects other markets negatively as well as the economy as a whole.
• Cultural globalization : refers to the interpenetration of cultures which, as a consequence, means nations adopt principles, beliefs, and costumes of other nations, losing their unique culture to a unique, globalized supra-culture;
• Political globalization : the development and growing influence of international organizations such as the UN or WHO means governmental action takes place at an international level. There are other bodies operating a global level such as NGOs like Doctors without borders  or Oxfam ;
• Sociological globalization : information moves almost in real-time, together with the interconnection and interdependence of events and their consequences. People move all the time too, mixing and integrating different societies;
• Technological globalization: the phenomenon by which millions of people are interconnected thanks to the power of the digital world via platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Skype or Youtube.
• Geographic globalization: is the new organization and hierarchy of different regions of the world that is constantly changing. Moreover, with transportation and flying made so easy and affordable, apart from a few countries with demanding visas, it is possible to travel the world without barely any restrictions;
• Ecological globalization: accounts for the idea of considering planet Earth as a single global entity – a common good all societies should protect since the weather affects everyone and we are all protected by the same atmosphere. To this regard, it is often said that the poorest countries that have been polluting the least will suffer the most from climate change .

The Benefits of Globalization

Globalization has benefits that cover many different areas. It reciprocally developed economies all over the world and increased cultural exchanges. It also allowed financial exchanges between companies, changing the paradigm of work. Many people are nowadays citizens of the world. The origin of goods became secondary and geographic distance is no longer a barrier for many services to happen. Let’s dig deeper.

The Engine of Globalization – An Economic Example

The most visible impacts of globalization are definitely the ones affecting the economic world. Globalization has led to a sharp increase in trade and economic exchanges, but also to a multiplication of financial exchanges.

In the 1970s world economies opened up and the development of free trade policies accelerated the globalization phenomenon. Between 1950 and 2010, world exports increased 33-fold. This significantly contributed to increasing the interactions between different regions of the world.

This acceleration of economic exchanges has led to strong global economic growth. It fostered as well a rapid global industrial development that allowed the rapid development of many of the technologies and commodities we have available nowadays.

Knowledge became easily shared and international cooperation among the brightest minds speeded things up. According to some analysts, globalization has also contributed to improving global economic conditions, creating much economic wealth (thas was, nevertheless, unequally distributed – more information ahead).

Globalization Benefits – A Financial Example

At the same time, finance also became globalized. From the 1980s, driven by neo-liberal policies, the world of finance gradually opened. Many states, particularly the US under Ronald Reagan and the UK under Margaret Thatcher introduced the famous “3D Policy”: Disintermediation, Decommissioning, Deregulation.

The idea was to simplify finance regulations, eliminate mediators and break down the barriers between the world’s financial centers. And the goal was to make it easier to exchange capital between the world’s financial players. This financial globalization has contributed to the rise of a global financial market in which contracts and capital exchanges have multiplied.

Globalization – A Cultural Example

Together with economic and financial globalization, there has obviously also been cultural globalization. Indeed, the multiplication of economic and financial exchanges has been followed by an increase in human exchanges such as migration, expatriation or traveling. These human exchanges have contributed to the development of cultural exchanges. This means that different customs and habits shared among local communities have been shared among communities that (used to) have different procedures and even different beliefs.

Good examples of cultural globalization are, for instance, the trading of commodities such as coffee or avocados. Coffee is said to be originally from Ethiopia and consumed in the Arabid region. Nonetheless, due to commercial trades after the 11th century, it is nowadays known as a globally consumed commodity. Avocados , for instance, grown mostly under the tropical temperatures of Mexico, the Dominican Republic or Peru. They started by being produced in small quantities to supply the local populations but today guacamole or avocado toasts are common in meals all over the world.

At the same time, books, movies, and music are now instantaneously available all around the world thanks to the development of the digital world and the power of the internet. These are perhaps the greatest contributors to the speed at which cultural exchanges and globalization are happening. There are also other examples of globalization regarding traditions like Black Friday in the US , the Brazilian Carnival or the Indian Holi Festival. They all were originally created following their countries’ local traditions and beliefs but as the world got to know them, they are now common traditions in other countries too.

Why Is Globalization Bad? The Negative Effects of Globalization

Globalization is a complex phenomenon. As such, it has a considerable influence on several areas of contemporary societies. Let’s take a look at some of the main negative effects globalization has had so far.

The Negative Effects of Globalization on Cultural Loss

Apart from all the benefits globalization has had on allowing cultural exchanges it also homogenized the world’s cultures. That’s why specific cultural characteristics from some countries are disappearing. From languages to traditions or even specific industries. That’s why according to UNESCO , the mix between the benefits of globalization and the protection of local culture’s uniqueness requires a careful approach.

The Economic Negative Effects of Globalization

Despite its benefits, the economic growth driven by globalization has not been done without awakening criticism. The consequences of globalization are far from homogeneous: income inequalities, disproportional wealth and trades that benefit parties differently. In the end, one of the criticisms is that some actors (countries, companies, individuals) benefit more from the phenomena of globalization, while others are sometimes perceived as the “losers” of globalization. As a matter of fact, a recent report from Oxfam says that 82% of the world’s generated wealth goes to 1% of the population.

• Related: Globally, Business And Government Lack Trust, A New Survey Shows

The Negative Effects of Globalization on the Environment

At the same time, global economic growth and industrial productivity are both the driving force and the major consequences of globalization. They also have big environmental consequences as they contribute to the depletion of natural resources, deforestation and the destruction of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity . The worldwide distribution of goods is also creating a big garbage problem, especially on what concerns plastic pollution .

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• Are Avocados Truly Sustainable?

Globalization, Sustainable Development, and CSR

Globalization affects all sectors of activity to a greater or lesser extent. By doing so, its gap with issues that have to do with  sustainable development  and  corporate social responsibility  is short.

By promoting large-scale industrial production and the globalized circulation of goods, globalization is sometimes opposed to concepts such as resource savings, energy savings or the limitation of greenhouse gases . As a result, critics of globalization often argue that it contributes to accelerating climate change and that it does not respect the principles of ecology. At the same time, big companies that don’t give local jobs and choose instead to use the manpower of countries with low wages (to have lower costs) or pay taxes in countries with more favorable regulations is also opposed to the criteria of a CSR approach. Moreover, the ideologies of economic growth and the constant pursuit of productivity that come along with globalization, also make it difficult to design a sustainable economy based on  resilience .

On the other hand, globalization is also needed for the transitioning to a more sustainable world, since only a global synergy would really be able to allow a real ecological transition. Issues such as global warming indeed require a coordinated response from all global players: fight against CO2 emissions, reduction of waste, a transition to renewable energies . The same goes for ocean or air pollution, or ocean acidification, problems that can’t be solved without global action. The dissemination of green ideas also depends on the ability of committed actors to make them heard globally.

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The Road From Globalization to Regionalization

Regionalization can also be analyzed from a corporate perspective. For instance, businesses such as McDonald’s or Starbucks don’t sell exactly the same products everywhere. In some specific stores, they consider people’s regional habits. That’s why the McChicken isn’t sold in India, whereas in Portugal there’s a steak sandwich menu like the ones you can get in a typical Portuguese restaurant.

Politically speaking, when left-wing parties are in power they tend to focus on their country’s people, goods and services. Exchanges with the outside world aren’t seen as very valuable and importations are often left aside.

• Related: Why Is It Important To Support Local And Small Businesses?

Globalization Quotes by World Influencers

Many world leaders, decision-makers and influential people have spoken about globalization. Some stand out its positive benefits and others focus deeper on its negative effects. Find below some of the most interesting quotes on this issue.

Politic Globalization Quotes

Globalization quote by the former U.S President Bill Clinton ??

No generation has had the opportunity, as we now have, to build a global economy that leaves no-one behind. It is a wonderful opportunity, but also a profound responsibility.

Globalization quote by Barack Obama , former U.S. president ??

Globalization is a fact, because of technology, because of an integrated global supply chain, because of changes in transportation. And we’re not going to be able to build a wall around that.

Globalization quote by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former International Monetary Fund Managing Director ??

“We can’t speak day after day about globalization without at the same time having in mind that…we need multilateral solutions.”

Globalization quote by Stephen Harper , former Prime Minister of Canada ??

“We have to remember we’re in a global economy. The purpose of fiscal stimulus is not simply to sustain activity in our national economies but to help the global economy as well, and that’s why it’s so critical that measures in those packages avoid anything that smacks of protectionism.”

Globalization quote by Julia Gillard , Prime Minister of Australia ??

“My guiding principle is that prosperity can be shared. We can create wealth together. The global economy is not a zero-sum game.”

Other Globalization Quotes

Globalization quote by the spiritual leader Dalai Lama ??

“I find that because of modern technological evolution and our global economy, and as a result of the great increase in population, our world has greatly changed: it has become much smaller. However, our perceptions have not evolved at the same pace; we continue to cling to old national demarcations and the old feelings of ‘us’ and ‘them’.”

The famous German sociologist Ulrich Beck also spoke of globalization ??

“Globalization is not only something that will concern and threaten us in the future, but something that is taking place in the present and to which we must first open our eyes.”

Globalization quote by Bill Gates, owner and former CEO of Microsoft ??

“The fact is that as living standards have risen around the world, world trade has been the mechanism allowing poor countries to increasingly take care of really basic needs, things like vaccination.”

Globalization quote by John Lennon, member of the music band The Beatles ??

Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion, too. Imagine all the people. Living life in peace. You, you may say I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one. I hope someday you will join us. And the world will be as one

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This article was contributed by Amanda Lenhardt in support of The Overseas Development Institute.

Growing up in a small town in Northern Canada, climate change wasn’t something I thought of often. And once I did learn about the global impacts of a changing climate a little later in life, the topic seemed too daunting to fully process. I tend to think of myself as an optimist, of the opinion that through thoughtful action we can see the positive changes we want for the world. The environment was always my one exception though, and while I’m typically up for a good challenge, I chose to work on global poverty issues because this seemed more within the realm of the possible than anything related to climate change.  

It wasn’t until a recent trip to Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in West Africa, that some light was shed on my gloomy outlook for the future of the planet. It was there, at the front lines of the fight against climate change, that I witnessed people taking up the task that I had been too timid to even consider. 

Amidst all the talk of climate change, for most people dominating the discussion, climate change is a distant concept - either it's something of concern for the future, or something experienced elsewhere. For farmers in Northern Burkina Faso on the edge of the Sahel desert though, climate change is a daily reality.  The temperaments of the climate dictate whether the season’s crops will yield enough food for families to eat, and whether enough will be produced to sell in order to afford to send kids to school or attend to health needs.

Last year, like many years in recent memory, the rains came late. Uncertainty has become the new normal for those living off of an unforgiving landscape where population pressures, deforestation and unsustainable farming practices have paved the way for the Sahel desert to creep ever closer. 

But farmers in Northern Burkina Faso are not sitting idly as the climate changes around them. For many years they have been adapting farming techniques to conserve water and regenerate soil in an effort to reclaim land from the desert and to adapt to changing weather patterns. 

Over the last 25 years, around 200,000 to 300,000 hectares of desertified lands have been reclaimed in Burkina Faso through the labour and investments of smallholder farmers, and with the support of national NGOs, international donors and government services. 

The use of improved farming techniques has meant that more food is produced and that families’ periods of food shortage have been significantly reduced. Although drought remains a threat year-on-year, the devastating famines experienced in the 1970s have so far been averted.  

However these gains are fragile, and many of the poorest farmers are unable to take on any further investment or dedicate any additional labour to continue to help the region adapt. More needs to be done to translate promises made by the world’s leaders into practical and effective support for families on the front lines of the fight against climate change.  

I left Burkina Faso feeling both humbled by the tireless efforts of people who are combatting desertification and climatic change, but also with a newfound optimism for the efficacy of actions towards a more sustainable world.  For those of us feeling overwhelmed by what that task might entail, one way to start is to extend support to those who’ve already taken up the challenge, as their fight is also our common fight. 

To find out more about how farmers in Burkina Faso are finding solutions to climate change, take a look at this short film:

Defend the Planet

Photo Essay: The real faces of climate change

Nov. 26, 2015

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In Maryland, female migrant laborers face an uncertain future as sea levels rise – photo essay

For the women who pick and prepare Maryland’s famous crab, the once profitable work is far more uncertain – and the climate crisis has had a damaging impact

In the evening light, Maribel Malagón stepped outside into a rain storm.

It was late October and Malagón, 53, had worked all day picking crab off the eastern shore of Maryland . That night, she and a handful of other seasonal workers walked to a neighbor’s house for an evening of prayer. On the way, Malagón clutched a pendant of St Judas, the patron saint of lost causes, that hung around her neck; she hoped he would hear her prayers for more work.

About an hour later, when the women were ready to call it a night, the coastal waters had risen so high that the road leading back to their house was completely submerged.

“We didn’t know which way to go. We were afraid that we would fall into the ditches,” Malagón said in Spanish, thinking back on that night two years ago. To make it back home, the women waded through knee-high murky waters. “The island is changing every year.”

For more than 20 years, Malagón has been coming to work in crab processing plants on Hoopers Island, one of the many island communities in the Chesapeake Bay.

Hoopers Island, a chain of small islands linked by causeways, has been the center of the state’s seafood industry since the early 1900s. Due to its low-lying nature, the region has faced erosion and destructive storms over the years.

But rising sea levels are increasing the frequency of flooding, creating uncertainty for the village’s watermen and their families, who have long depended on the seafood industry for their livelihoods. The situation is especially worrying for female migrants such as Malagón, who have limited job prospects back home in Mexico and wonder how long they will be able to work on the island.

Twenty-four years ago, when Malagón first arrived on the island, her output was prolific. With the precision of a machine and a sharp tiny knife in hand, she would break off the claws, crack open the shells, remove the legs, and scrape out the white meat into containers in seconds. She estimates picking between 40 and 48lb of crab meat in her eight-hour shift.

Now, she says 10 hours could go by, and she’ll only have picked 30lb. She suspects the crab population has decreased in number and size over the years.

“The crab was huge in my first years here. Our hands would hurt from how big they were. We produced a lot of pounds, but unfortunately, we were paid $2 a pound back then,” said Malagón, who works for one of the five crab houses that remain.

Aubrey Vincent, the owner of Lindy’s Seafood, a processing plant on the island, said wages have significantly increased for her employees. They make about $16 an hour, compared to four or five years ago when they made $7.52 an hour, she said.

Some employers pay workers per pound, so the more abundant the catch and meatier the crabs, the more money the women can send home.

“For the past five or six years at least, the work is not 100% consistent every season, and it seems to sometimes vary across workplaces,” said Julia Coburn, director of projects and special initiatives at Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (CDM), an advocacy group that supports workers in the region.

“The workers are coming with certain expectations about what they can pick in a season and how much pay they can take home, and that’s changing. It’s having a widespread impact on their families beyond their immediate circumstances.”

Vincent said the unpredictable nature of the work has to do more with shifting environmental conditions and weather than any fluctuations in crab availability. She described an industry at odds with numerous economic conditions.

“You’ve got a certain amount of costs [of doing business] that have gone up, just like everybody else’s expenses,” she said.

Crab populations fluctuate yearly and have always been difficult to predict. But recent years have raised concerns among the state’s seafood houses, which have relied on the temporary worker program since the 1980s, to stay open.

Each winter, when crabs are in semi-hibernation, Maryland and Virginia conduct a survey to estimate the number of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. In the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, there was a dramatic decline in the blue crab population. Biologists, as well as the federal and state governments, believed that the problem was due to overfishing and poor water quality, causing a decline in habitat and food, which ultimately led to restrictions on the number of crabs caught for commercial sale in 2008.

The 2022 survey estimated 227 million crabs, the lowest ever recorded in the survey’s 33-year history . This led to new limits on the number of male and female crabs watermen could harvest. In 2023, the population bounced back to 323 million , a 40% increase; while these figures are encouraging, scientists urge continued vigilance based on low numbers of juvenile crabs.

Today, researchers believe overfishing is less likely to be the sole contributing factor, and instead argue that factors related to the climate crisis could be affecting blue crab reproduction and survival.

“We’re certainly seeing evidence in the data that reproductive success is declining,” said Tom Miller, a professor of fisheries science at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences who studies blue crab populations.

The climate crisis could affect the blue crab population in other ways. With shorter winters, crabs could face a longer fishing period, meaning more of them would be caught, said Miller. However, he added that the impact is unclear and an active area of research. Ocean acidification may also contribute to the shells of blue crabs becoming less strong, making them more susceptible to predators.

Conservationists also believe pollution and the recent decline in the Bay’s underwater grasses is probably contributing to low blue crab numbers. Another factor could be the presence of the invasive blue catfish in the Chesapeake Bay.

“They’re going to be doubly impacted by not only shorter winters, but the shells will become less strong than they once were. There’s a lot changing in the world for crabs,” said Miller.

The 2024 blue crab winter dredge survey results will be released in May .

Despite the unpredictable and temporary nature of the work, many women in central Mexico vie for these positions when recruiters come to towns, hoping to score work authorization.

“What we make here in a day would take us a week to make back home,” said Elia Ramírez Rangel, a crab-picker from Hidalgo.

For women in particular, there is a dearth of job opportunities in their communities in Mexico and abroad in the US. For some, crab-picking is their best chance of finding sustainable work, said Coburn.

“There is no source of work back home,” a laborer working on the island for 14 years said in Spanish. She spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity for fear of employer retaliation.

In 1996, she left Mexico to make a living picking crabs in the Carolinas. She described having to make the arduous decision to leave her two children, aged nine and 11, in the care of her sister and family friends. Over the years, with her earnings and faith in God, she said she was able to afford a house and basic necessities like food and clothing for her children, who are now grown.

“It’s been very difficult for me to be far away from them. Even though they’re grown up, I still feel like there’s a void,” she said in Spanish. “When I left them, I didn’t see their achievements, for example, in school. I missed their birthdays.”

In 2021, women made up just 12% of H-2B visa recipients to the US . On Hoopers Island, these women often describe coming to the US for work out of necessity. For nine months out of the year, they report leaving their families and children behind for a steady, albeit seasonal, paycheck.

Some workers, like Malagón, come to Hoopers Island year after year to work in the local seafood industry, so long as their seasonal work visas are granted. Her father spent decades picking under the hot sun in California’s farmlands as a bracero. At the age of 22, she said poverty and desperation led her to follow in her father’s footsteps; later, she switched to picking crabs, a job her father described to her more suited for women.

Over the course of the 20th century, crab-picking in the US became gendered and racialized work. Research shows picking crab meat was work delegated to women based on beliefs that their hands are typically smaller and more nimble. Some scholars argue hiring immigrant workers was a way to pay women less for the work.

Crab houses say they have turned to workers from Mexico in recent decades because of a local labor shortage. In order to obtain visas, they need to prove local workers are not able to fulfill those jobs. Before the 1980s it was low-paid work largely carried out by Black women .

The journey from central Mexico to Maryland involves an arduous three-day journey by bus. For Malagón, the biggest sacrifice has been the time spent away from her sisters, mother and son.

“Leaving was horrible,” said Malagón, who sends money home to her ageing father. Seasons spent laboring abroad have allowed her to transform her family’s once-dilapidated property in the countryside of Guanajuato into a comfortable living space.

“The grace of God has given me license to build everything I wanted. I have comforts that I didn’t have before,” Malagón said in Spanish. “We used to sleep on the floor when we were kids, but now, thank God, we have beds. We’ve got a fridge, we’ve got a TV.”

With the rising cost of living and less predictable hours, some women report earning less than they once did.

Previously, working 10-hour days six days a week could earn them $280 a week, but now, with workers reporting dwindling crab harvests, they sometimes only work three to four days a week and for shorter periods of time. Vincent said women have the opportunity to earn above their hourly rate if they are more productive.

Other crab-house owners acknowledge that workers may take home less pay depending on the harvest. Jay Newcomb, the former owner of Old Salty’s, a popular crab house and restaurant on the upper island, said his employees make $5 a pound or $17.50 an hour.

“That can fluctuate due to the quality of crabs, males versus females, the size of the crabs. Some days it may be better but we have to pay whatever is the highest,” said Newcomb, who downsized his operations in 2021 and sold Old Salty’s to open a smaller restaurant on nearby Taylors Island.

The federal average rate is currently $16.42 an hour.

To fill their idle hours, many of the women make phone calls home, watch TV together, or look for ways to earn extra income. Currently, workers in Maryland’s seafood industry are exempt from minimum wage and overtime protections under state law .

Without public transportation, they often pay or rely on favors from acquaintances to drive them 40 minutes to the nearest city of Cambridge for errands.

Over time the repetitive hand motion of picking crab can result in arthritis, back pain, allergies to crab meat, and cuts to their hands from working quickly with the knives used to cut the shells open, according to CDM. Vincent acknowledged that crab picking, like other production jobs, can be physically demanding.

The advocacy group also said that women are disincentivized from reporting work-related issues or take sick days because their immigration status is tied to their employer, making them susceptible to labor abuses. Vincent said she provides an anonymous tip line where employees can report issues.

Despite the challenges, the women emphasize that they are grateful for the opportunity to work and note that there have been some improvements over time.

Today migrant workers have successfully gained more labor protections in part due to laborer testimony and a coalition of groups such as CDM, which have fought for policies that improve working conditions.

Some women have begun organizing a Comité de Defensa, where they discuss ongoing issues such as Covid-19 vaccine information, accessing healthcare in this remote region, and how to report work-related injuries. Part of that work also involves disseminating information about their rights with other women on the island and their families, many of whom are also contractors.

The view from the cabin where Malagón rents from her employer overlooks the Honga River estuary and distant pine forests. A tree directly outside the house that once provided shade and a place to hang dry clothes was swept away in a storm recently, leaving only a small stump behind.

This three-and-a-half-mile stretch of land known as Hoopersville is the middle island of the three that make up Hoopers, dividing the Honga River from the Chesapeake Bay.

Surrounded by a lush ecosystem of marshland, wildlife and tall seagrass, the women are also geographically and socially isolated.

Nestled in Dorchester county, a tight-knit community with predominantly conservative values, the women say they turn to their faith in God and seek solace in each other’s company while away from home.

The narrow bridge connecting the middle to the upper island routinely floods in high tide, leaving the women trapped. Lower Hoopers Island, formerly Applegarth, became uninhabitable due to erosion, and a hurricane washed away the bridge in 1933.

Malagón vividly remembers the first time she saw the bay’s waters encroaching on the doorstep of the house in 2006. “When I looked outside, I was terrified,” she said. “We had never seen the tide rise that high. Now we see it as more normal.”

Flooding has become routine in recent years, threatening the daily lives and futures of locals and women alike.

The Chesapeake Bay has risen by about one foot during the past century, which is nearly double the global average. By 2050, sea levels are projected to rise by as much as two feet. Climate models predict that over half of Dorchester county, the third-largest county in Maryland by land area, could be underwater by the end of the century.

Vincent said she has an emergency management plan for a major flooding event during work hours, where she would evacuate her employees, but says there’s only so much she’s responsible for as an employer.

CDM argues there is a pressing need for climate adaptation measures from both governments and employers to safeguard seasonal workers’ wellbeing in the long run.

“With roads washing out, the communication lines go down – it just increases all these layers of vulnerability,” said Coburn.

“The truth is it’s very beautiful living here – except when the tide rises,” said the laborer who has worked on the island for 14 years. During a recent grocery trip to Walmart, 40 minutes away, she said her housemates were unable to return to the island because the bridge was closed due to flooding.

Language barriers can make it difficult for women to stay informed and they often rely on word of mouth from other workers about the bridge flooding.

With every passing season, the grueling nature of the job and looming precarity can take a toll emotionally and physically – some of the women question whether it’s worth coming back.

“As long as we’re here, we’re going to make the most of it,” said Clara Ramrez, a worker at GW Hall & Son, one of the crab processing plants on the island. (GW Hall & Son did not respond to requests for comment.)

Some owners share a common sentiment.

“We just do the best we can with what we’ve got, and ultimately, everybody’s goal is the same: to try and make a living,” said Vincent.

Back at the house, a group of women started to arrive for the new crab season that started on 1 April.

This year more visas have been made available , and Vincent scored 80 visas for her employees through the lottery system. Speaking via WhatsApp from Mexico in early April, Malagón said she was getting ready to make the trip to Maryland via bus. If all goes well, she and the other workers from Lindy’s will arrive by 15 April.

Newcomb, the former owner of Old Salty’s, said he won 23 employee visas this season, up from the roughly 18 or 20 he’s gotten in previous years.

AE Phillips & Son, another crab house on the island, was unable to obtain visas and will not be operating this season, a major setback for the company and its employees.

Malagón says she has put her faith in God for a bountiful season, with hopes of returning every year to have enough money to retire. Still, she worries for the future of the industry and the region itself.

“If God allows it, my goal is to work for 10 more years. But if there’s no crab, what will we do then?”

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Essay on Globalization for Students and Children

500+ words essay on globalization.

Globalization refers to integration between people, companies, and governments. Most noteworthy, this integration occurs on a global scale. Furthermore, it is the process of expanding the business all over the world. In Globalization, many businesses expand globally and assume an international image. Consequently, there is a requirement for huge investment to develop international companies.

How Globalization Came into Existence?

First of all, people have been trading goods since civilization began. In the 1st century BC, there was the transportation of goods from China to Europe. The goods transportation took place along the Silk Road. The Silk Road route was very long in distance. This was a remarkable development in the history of Globalization. This is because, for the first time ever, goods were sold across continents.

Globalization kept on growing gradually since 1st BC. Another significant development took place in the 7th century AD. This was the time when the religion of Islam spread. Most noteworthy, Arab merchants led to a rapid expansion of international trade . By the 9th century, there was the domination of Muslim traders on international trade. Furthermore, the focus of trade at this time was spices.

True Global trade began in the Age of Discovery in the 15th century. The Eastern and Western continents were connected by European merchants. There was the discovery of America in this period. Consequently, global trade reached America from Europe.

From the 19th century, there was a domination of Great Britain all over the world. There was a rapid spread of international trade. The British developed powerful ships and trains. Consequently, the speed of transportation greatly increased. The rate of production of goods also significantly increased. Communication also got faster which was better for Global trade .

Finally, in 20th and 21st -Century Globalization took its ultimate form. Above all, the development of technology and the internet took place. This was a massive aid for Globalization. Hence, E-commerce plays a huge role in Globalization.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Impact of Globalization

First of all, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increases at a great rate. This certainly is a huge contribution of Globalization. Due to FDI, there is industrial development. Furthermore, there is the growth of global companies. Also, many third world countries would also benefit from FDI.

Technological Innovation is another notable contribution of Globalization. Most noteworthy, there is a huge emphasis on technology development in Globalization. Furthermore, there is also technology transfer due to Globalization. The technology would certainly benefit the common people.

The quality of products improves due to Globalization. This is because manufacturers try to make products of high-quality. This is due to the pressure of intense competition. If the product is inferior, people can easily switch to another high-quality product.

To sum it up, Globalization is a very visible phenomenon currently. Most noteworthy, it is continuously increasing. Above all, it is a great blessing to trade. This is because it brings a lot of economic and social benefits to it.

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At the Masters, Champions Past, Present and Future

Golf enthusiasts regard a trip to the Masters Tournament as the stuff of dreams. Here are photos from this year’s tournament.

Scottie Scheffler at the 16th hole. Credit...

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Photographs by Doug Mills

Text by Alan Blinder

Reporting from Augusta, Ga.

• April 14, 2024

Seventy-five years ago this past week, Sam Snead won the Masters Tournament and became the first champion to receive one of Augusta National Golf Club’s green jackets.

Until he died in 2002 , the jacket was his to wear every time he returned to Augusta. These days, it is a sartorial symbol of how, beyond a freighted history and marvelous azaleas and golf’s geopolitical machinations and gallery roars that ripple from Amen Corner to the clubhouse, Augusta National is more enchanted by champions than most places.

Since the start of the month, Lottie Woad has captured the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Eight children were named champions of a junior golf competition after playing at Augusta. More than 30 past Masters winners gathered for dinner to honor Jon Rahm , last year’s champion, and Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson hit tee shots to start this year’s tournament. Many of their brethren played afterward, because they are allowed to for life. On Sunday, Scottie Scheffler, who was already familiar with the locker room reserved for past champions, won the 88th Masters.

There may be no place in men’s golf where hope, dazzle and ambition are as abundant as Augusta.

But this past week, all of the possibilities seemed to be on greater display than usual. There was the solar eclipse on Monday, when fans peered skyward, just as Ben Crenshaw and Nick Faldo did here, too. Later on, Tiger Woods , 48 years old and two years removed from the last time he finished a major tournament, made his record 24th consecutive Masters cut. But he faded on Saturday.

Higher up the leaderboard during the third round, players like Ludvig Aberg, Nicolai Hojgaard, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele hunted for their debut major title, while Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Smith looked to build on the magic that had made them champions elsewhere not all that long ago. Scheffler occasionally stumbled, but on Sunday, he dominated and locked down his second Masters victory before the birth of his first child.

Golf enthusiasts often regard a trip to the Masters as the stuff of dreams. It certainly is for players. The Masters represents a shot at becoming one of those champions written into history, with the green jackets and the possibility of forever enchanting Augusta.

Doug Mills has been a photographer in the Washington bureau of The Times since 2002. He previously worked at The Associated Press, where he won two Pulitzer Prizes. His Instagram is @nytmills . More about Doug Mills

Alan Blinder is a national correspondent for The Times, covering education. More about Alan Blinder

Inside the World of Sports

Dive deeper into the people, issues and trends shaping professional, collegiate and amateur athletics..

What We Saw at Augusta: Golf enthusiasts regard a trip to the Masters as the stuff of dreams. Here are photos from this year’s tournament .

A Dizzying 3 Weeks: At times, Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s biggest star, seemed in danger of being tainted by a gambling scandal , before his longtime interpreter was charged with fraud.

A Soccer Team With Free Matches: When Paris F.C. made its tickets free, it began an experiment into the connection between fans and teams , and posed a question about the value of big crowds to televised sports.

Minor League Baseball’s Real Estate: The fight over a new stadium for the Eugene Emeralds  highlights a wider challenge for cheaper alternatives to big-league live sports.

New York’s Favorite Soccer Team: Some people splurge on vacations, fancy shoes and motorcycles. A group of dozens of friends, neighbors and co-workers decided to try something better (or maybe worse): They bought a middling soccer team in Denmark .

Here Comes Padel: The sport is played with a racket on a court with a net, but watch out for those bouncing shots from the back wall. Reporters take a look at the padel scene in New York City .

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization Essay

When discussing the drawbacks and benefits of globalization, essays tend to be on the longer side. The example below is a brief exploration of this complex subject. Learn more in this concise globalization pros and cons essay.

Introduction

• Benefits and Disadvantages of Globalization

Reducing Negative Effects

In today’s world, globalization is a process that affects all aspects of people’s lives. It also has a crucial impact on businesses and governments as it provides opportunities for development while causing significant challenges. This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of globalization using evidence from academic sources. The report also suggests how governments and companies may implement to reduce the negative impact of the process.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Globalization

Globalization is a complex concept that can be defined by the process of interaction between organizations, businesses, and people on an international scale, which is driven by international trade. Some people may associate it with uniformity, while others can perceive it as the cause of diversification. The reason for such a difference in public opinion is that globalization has both advantages and disadvantages that should be analyzed.

The most significant positive aspects of globalization include global economic growth, the elimination of barriers between nations, and the establishment of competition between countries, which can potentially lead to a decrease in prices. Globalization supports free trade, creates jobs, and helps societies to become more tolerant towards each other. In addition, this process may increase the speed of financial and commercial operations, as well as reduce the isolation of poor populations (Burlacu, Gutu, & Matei, 2018; Amavilah, Asongu, & Andrés, 2017).

The disadvantages of globalization are that it causes the transfer of jobs from developed to lower-cost countries, a decrease in the national intellectual potential, the exploitation of labor, and a security deficit. Moreover, globalization leads to ecological deficiency (Ramsfield, Bentz, Faccoli, Jactel, & Brockerhoff, 2016). In addition, this process may result in multinational corporations influencing political decisions and offering unfair working conditions to their employees.

Firms and governments can work on eliminating the negative effects of globalization in the following ways. For example, countries should work on microeconomic policies, such as enhancing opportunities for education and career training and establishing less rigid labor markets. In addition, governments can build the necessary institutional infrastructure to initiate economic growth. To solve the problem of poor working conditions, it is vital to establish strict policies regarding minimum wages and the working environment for employees. A decrease in the national intellectual potential may be addressed by offering a broad range of career opportunities with competitive salaries, as well as educating future professionals on how their skills can solve problems on the local level.

Companies, in their turn, may invest in technologies that may lead to more flexible energy infrastructure, lower production costs, and decrease carbon emissions. They can also establish strong corporate cultures to support their workers and provide them with an opportunity to share their ideas and concerns. Such an approach may eliminate employees’ migration to foreign organizations and increase their loyalty to local organizations. It is vital for companies to develop policies aimed at reducing a negative impact on the environment as well by using less destructive manufacturing alternatives and educating their employees on ecology-related issues.

Globalization has a significant impact on companies, governments, and the population. It can be considered beneficial because it helps to eliminate barriers between nations, causes competition between countries, and initiates economic growth. At the same time, globalization may result in a decrease in the national intellectual potential, the exploitation of labor, and ecology deficiency. To address these problems, organizations and governments can develop policies to enhance the population’s education, improve working conditions, and reduce carbon emissions.

Amavilah, V., Asongu, S. A., & Andrés, A. R. (2017). Effects of globalization on peace and stability: Implications for governance and the knowledge economy of African countries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change , 122 (C), 91-103.

Burlacu, S., Gutu, C., & Matei, F. O. (2018). Globalization – Pros and cons. Calitatea , 19 (S1), 122-125.

Ramsfield, T. D., Bentz, B. J., Faccoli, M., Jactel, H., & Brockerhoff, E. G. (2016). Forest health in a changing world: Effects of globalization and climate change on forest insect and pathogen impacts. Forestry , 89 (3), 245-252.

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IvyPanda. (2023, October 29). Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization Essay. https://ivypanda.com/essays/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-globalization/

"Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization Essay." IvyPanda , 29 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-globalization/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization Essay'. 29 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-globalization/.

1. IvyPanda . "Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-globalization/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-globalization/.

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In Photos: Inside Cambridge's Historic Tower Clock

More than 130 years after its installation atop the Cambridge City Hall, a mechanical tower clock — wound by hand each week — continues to chime. Crimson photographers followed David W. Graf, the clock’s steward for the past 30 years, as he wound the clock for the last time before the building undergoes a 15-month facade restoration.

Nestled in a nearly 160 foot tower, the clock is the second largest model to be made by E. Howard & Co., and its pendulum descends 14 feet beneath the mechanism itself. The bottom of the pendulum — which weighs around 200 pounds — can be seen encased in wood and supported by a structural beam.

Rusted and completely nonfunctional at the time, the clock was commissioned for restoration in 1994 — almost exactly one century after it was first installed. Graf, a craftsman specializing in tower clock restoration and repair, was hired by the City of Cambridge to restore the clock to working condition.

To bring the clock back to life, Graf manufactured more than 150 missing pieces by hand, precisely designing and machining them to replicate original parts.

In addition to repairing the internal mechanics, Graf also restored the clock frame, pinstriping and hand-painting the original flower motifs to restore its color and character.

While restoring the tower clock, Graf used the South Station clock — also made by E. Howard & Co. — as a reference, taking photographs and making measurements to design missing pieces.

The double three-legged gravity escapement mechanism, coupled with the pendulum, keeps the clock running precisely. Built to be impervious to external forces, the structure is composed of iron and steel. Inside the pendulum shaft, a hollow brass sleeve expands and contracts in response to temperature changes, maintaining a constant center of gravity.

The center shaft keeps the minute hand of the clock running at one minute per revolution, while a set of 1:12 reduction gears drives the hour hand.

Following the clock’s restoration, Cantabrigians were surprised to hear the bell return to its normal ringing schedule. After residents complained about the sound keeping them awake at night, Graf installed a mechanism that stopped the clock from ringing between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. without altering or damaging the clock’s existing structure.

Above, a metal tube extends from the internal mechanism to one of the four clock faces that adorn the tower.

Since finishing the clock’s restoration in 1995, Graf has returned to the Cambridge City Hall each week to wind the mechanism and make sure that it is running smoothly. For the past 25 of these years, Graf has been commuting from his home in Maine, also stopping to wind other clock towers in Cambridge, Belmont, and Arlington.

The manual winding of the clock’s weights each week powers the gravity escape mechanism, which converts the gravitational force of the weights into rotational motion.

The bell, located just above the clock mechanism at the top of the tower, weighs two tons.

The weekly winding also powers the hammer of the bell, which strikes on the hour and reverberates across the city.

As Cambridge City Hall begins a facade restoration project, the tower clock has been temporarily stopped. Graf will be re-gilding the clock tower face as part of the restoration.

When the restoration is complete, the clock will resemble its original self more closely than ever before. Still, its future remains uncertain, as a move towards electrification and declining interest in tower clocks endanger their continued preservation.

But for now, Graf will continue to keep the tower clock tolling.

Photo Essay: CSUN’s 39th Annual Assistive Technology Conference

Disability rights lawyer Haben Girma presented the keynote address at the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference on March 19, 2024 the Anaheim Marriott.

Photo credit: Chris Robertson Photo Deli LLC.

There were hundreds of presentations and sessions on a variety of topics having to do with accessibility and new technology designed to help those with disabilities.

The exhibit hall is always a main attraction where people can interact with cutting-edge technology and learn more about up-and-coming assistive devices.

Many attendees have been coming to the CSUN Conference for years. Between information sessions, the hallways become a place to visit and catch up.

A conference attendee in the exhibit hall at the 39th Annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference.

CSUN’s premier forum on cutting-edge assistive technologies once again attracted thousands of people from all over the world to Anaheim this spring. The 39th Annual CSUN Assistive Technology Conference or the “CSUN Conference” as it’s often called, took place March 18-22 at the Anaheim Marriott. The event features  speakers and workshops  as well as a very popular  exhibit  hall where people can experience new tech innovations designed to assist in education, workplace and social settings.

This year’s keynote speaker was Haben Girma, a human rights lawyer and advocate for disability justice. She is the first Deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School and was named a White House Champion of Change by former President Barack Obama. Next year’s conference takes place March 10-14 at the Anaheim Marriot. Check out scenes from this year’s event in this photo gallery.

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