Globalization, Resources and Sustainability

Globalization's impact on sustainability: Individual consumption choices affect the world; sustainable production is essential.
Key questions:
- Resource production/consumption patterns.
- Supply chain organization.
- Environmental effects.
- Attaining sustainable resource use.

Natural resources: Materials from Earth used by humans.
- Basic needs: Water, air, food
- Industrial use: Minerals
Two categories:
- Renewable: Can be reused (e.g., solar, wind, water, soil, plants).
- Non-renewable: Limited supply (e.g., fossil fuels, minerals).
Renewable resources:
- Can be replenished within the ecosystem.
- Require management to prevent depletion.
Non-renewable resources:
- Finite; cannot be renewed in a human timeframe.
- Includes fossil fuels, minerals, and some water stores.

Primary production: Extracting industries (e.g., mining, farming).
Secondary production: Manufacturing (raw materials to finished goods).
Tertiary production: Services (e.g., trade, banking, transport).
Mineral resources:
- Dependent on geology.
- Concentrated deposits enable major production and export as reserve.

Material Footprint (MF): Total raw materials to produce goods.
Figure 5.9 Material Footprint of raw materials required for the export of goods and services for selected countries in 2008 (totals and per capita).
Economic growth:
- Post-1950 global growth led to increased consumption.
- Factors: market economies, globalization.
Increased consumption:
- Meat consumption increase from 33 kg (1993) to 43 kg (2013).
- Electricity consumption doubled from 1995 to 2015.
- Car sales rose significantly, especially in Asia.
Factors determining global natural resources consumption:
- Population growth
- Increasing living standards

Spatial distribution: Production and consumption vary globally (resource-producing countries).
Economic development: Richer countries depend on resource-producing countries.
Figure 5.11 Average real GDP per capita across countries and regions, 2016.
Figure 5.12 Oil production by country, terawatt-hours (TWh), 2012.
Figure 5.13 Oil consumption by country, terawatt-hours (TWh), 2012.
Figure 5.14 Meat production by country, tonnes, 2011.
Figure 5.15 Meat supply per person by country, kilograms per year, 2011.
Figure 5.16 Capture fisheries production by country, tonnes per year, 2011.
Figure 5.17 Fish and seafood consumption per capita by country, 2011.
Figure 5.18 Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita by country, cubic metres, 2012.
Figure 5.19 Agricultural water withdrawals by country, 2010.

Multinational corporations (MNCs):
- Headquarters in one country, operations in others.
- Adapt products/services to local markets.
Transnational corporations (TNCs):
- Similar to MNCs, headquarters linked to R&D.
- Direct control from home country.
- Reduce costs via economy of scale and cheaper labor.
Agribusinesses: Control farming stages; affect prices and systems.

MNCs and TNCs contribute to global shipment of resources.
Modern transport: container ships, jet aircraft.
Resources: maize, wheat, oil, minerals in containers or carriers as in Figure 5.24.
Exponential growth: Consumption/exploitation increased since 1960s.

*Table 5.6 Typical values for the volume of water required to produce common foodstuffs, from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers

Food production in major rainforest biomes: Brazil, DRC, Indonesia.
Impacts of global food production on tropical rainforests: Brazil/DRC/Indonesia.

Household consumption: 60-80% of planet impact.
Poorer countries: energy, basic food are main causes.
Richer countries: housing, mobility, manufactured food make up three-quarters of household consumption
Figure 5.32 A woman cooking on an open fire, Jaisalmer, India
Figure 5.33 Home appliance shopping in Japan
Industrialized economies: largest ecological footprints.
Food Consumption: Rich countries consume more meat, dairy produce and processed food, all of which have a significant impact on the planet's natural resources.