Ethical Responses to Globalisation

Test your knowledge with free interactive questions on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

Localism

Concerns about unsustainability and a growing awareness of the impacts of a consumer society have led to an increasing movement towards localism.

Sustainability means the ability to meet the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Localism or local sourcing aims to increase sustainability by limiting food miles. Buying food from local producers means that it does not travel to reach its destination and so carbon emissions are lowered.
If food travels less far and produces lower carbon emissions while doing this, then it is meeting today’s needs and ensuring that the planet is protected to meet the needs of future generations.

Transition towns and transition groups are a movement helping to promote local sourcing. They try to get ready for an era after fossil fuels and look to be sustainable now. They promote local schemes and try to avoid using things like oil.
- Totnes is an example of a transition town in Devon. This transition town is a community-driven operation and local charity.
- Totnes wants to support the local economy, but also be environmentally responsible. They try to use things like clean/renewable energy.

Buying goods from local providers may be more expensive and may make people themselves worse off, despite being a benefit for the local producer.
While the carbon emissions may reduce from reduced food miles, if growing the crops locally requires intense resource consumption then this benefit is overset.
For example, growing tropical fruits in England requires a great deal of energy to recreate the ideal temperatures.

Fair trade and ethical consumption schemes are further examples of the impact of increasing awareness of the impacts of a consumer society.

Fair trade and ethical consumption schemes aim to reduce the inequalities of global trade.
They also aim to improve the working conditions for some people by making sure that a fair price is paid to the producer of the product.
They also aim to reduce environmental degradation by increasing awareness of the negative impacts of production.

The Fair Trade Foundation is the most well-known example of a scheme that aims to reduce inequality that results from globalisation.
The Fair Trade logo is placed onto products and ingredients that meet the standards set by the foundation. They seek to make sure that workers’ rights are protected and the environment is protected.

Companies pay the Fairtrade minimum price for products which makes sure that producers are paid a fair amount.
Companies pay an additional Fairtrade Premium which is invested in business or community projects of the community’s choice.
According to their website, £106.2 million was paid to producers in the form of the Fairtrade premium in 2013-2014.

Recycling is another example of an action taken to manage resource consumption. Recycling helps to reduce ecological footprints.

The government sets recycling targets for local councils to meet. Heavy fines are now given to organisations that throw away too much waste.
Different areas recycle different products and the ease of recycling varies greatly across the UK.

The result is that consumers can be confused. A survey in 2016 found that two-thirds of all UK households are not sure which bin to use for one or more items.
In the UK, some areas see households recycle as much as 67% of everything that they throw away.
At the other end of the scale, some households only recycle around a fifth of what they throw away.

Many NGOs are working to increase the amount of recycling that happens in the UK.
- Keep Britain Tidy is an example of a charity. They aim to cut litter, end waste, improve public places and educate future generations.
- They run several different campaigns to achieve these aims.
- One example is the Great British Spring Clean where people across the country clear up the litter around their local area.