In the modern world: Globalization and Global Citizenship
In the modern world, globalization—the blending of people, goods, services, information, worldviews, and cultures—has resulted from the interconnection of nations around the world. Each person consequently feels a sense of obligation and duty to the entire world. Many refer to this as “global citizenship.” As a result, every individual’s identity, function, and responsibility transcend national and geographic boundaries for the simple reason that any activity, no matter how tiny, has an effect on the rest of the globe. In this instance, everyone should be concerned about the global issue of climate change. Notably, the topic of deforestation has sparked discussions and disagreements among governments, businesses, and people. Recognized as one of the major contributors to climate change and global warming, deforestation is at the moment a global concern. However, various arguments have been raised concerning deforestation.
Arguments on Deforestation
On one side, there is the opinion that extensive cutting of trees has taken place since historical eras yet the climatic changes are insignificant. This worldview seems to suggest that this practice is not a leading cause of world climate change and therefore a challenge that can be easily solved by replanting of trees. According to Ferretti-Gallon and Busch (2014), deforestation also offers the opportunity for expansion particularly with the increasing population worldwide as well as the need for this natural resource for the manufacture of products and construction among other uses. On the other hand, natural resource advocates and scientists acknowledge that deforestation has devastating effects on the environment and the global climate as a whole. This is due to the ability of trees to use and store carbon, a major component of the greenhouse gases that lead to global warming. Keeping in mind the fact that deforestation and global climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases by industries and also individuals, it is crucial for all people to embrace the aspect of global citizenship and work together to deal with such issues which affect everyone on earth. A collective action in this matter is, therefore, an indicator of good global citizenship.
Current Position on the Issue
Trees play a crucial role in the absorption and storage of carbon, one of the elements which are responsible for the global warming effect and thus climate change in various parts of the world. This, therefore, means that when trees are cut, then carbon is released into the atmosphere where it combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide which prevents heat trapped within the earth’s surface from escaping back into the air. In this way global warming takes place, and deforestation accounts for the second largest cause of this phenomenon. Ferretti-Gallon and Busch (2014) insist that while deforestation on its own may hold few significant advantages including the provision of building materials, raw materials for industries, a source of labor and space for expansion, its great global effects outweigh the somewhat localized advantages. Furthermore, deforestation also leads to the destruction of ecosystems hence disturbing the growth and sustenance of various plants and animal species all of which have their roles in the environment. For this reason, solutions to the deforestation problem lie in the utilization of alternative materials for construction, enforcement of strict policies, preventing agriculture and infrastructure development on forests, encouraging tree planting and finally, protecting forest areas as well as allocating sufficient resources for developing programs that support the conservation of ecosystems.
Reflection
The main obstacles during the research revolve around the selection of relevant materials that are not only authentic but also up to date. This issue is quickly resolved by specifying the year of the search. The challenge of validity and authenticity of material is also handled via the use of government and institution databases for the information. As such, the most relevant journal article is “Deforestation: Causes, Effects and Control Strategies” by Chakravarty et al., which incorporates the impacts and solutions to deforestation on climate change using a global perspective. In this way, it is an article that covers the issue in discussion adequately. On the other hand, the most useful access tool is Google, a search engine that offers an extensive list of resources that are specifically related to the search terms. One major issue during the conduction of research is the selection of articles, particularly when both address the same subject but using different perspectives altogether. In such instances, it is not an easy task deciding which one to use and which to discard.
Information Literacy, Lifelong Learning, and Global Citizenship
Information literacy is described as the capacity to comprehend the use of information and thereby search, identify, evaluate, select and utilize the resource to address the issue in question. Lifelong learning, on the other hand, is concerned with self-motivation to seek knowledge and information purposefully for the enhancement of citizenship, professionalism, competitiveness, and most of all self-sustenance. Lastly, global citizenship deals with the rights and responsibilities that an individual possesses simply by being a citizen of a particular country. These three aspects are related in a manner that they are prerequisites of each other. This is because a person with lifelong learning motivation must be able to exercise information literacy and thus apply this knowledge for the collective good of their interest, the nation, and the world as a whole, hence applying global citizenship.
Bibliography
Campbell, Patricia J., Christy Stevens, and Aran S. MacKinnon. 2010. An Introduction to Global Studies. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost.
Chakravarty, Sumit, Ghosh S. K., C. P. Suresh, A. N. Dey, and Gopal Shukla. 2012. “Deforestation: Causes, Effects and Control Strategies.” Intechopen 4-27.
Ferretti-Gallon, Kalifi, and Jonah Busch. 2014. Stopping Deforestation: What Works and What Doesn’t. Briefs, Washington: Center for Global Development.
Rudel, Thomas K. 2013. “The national determinants of deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 1-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0405.
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. 2014. Global Citizenship Education: Preparing learners for the challenges of the twenty-first century. Publication, Paris: UNESCO.
