Globalization and Its Environmental Effects in India, China, and Nigeria

by Zoe B. Class of 2021

For my Global Scholars Capstone Project, I wrote an extensive research paper about environmental injustices and how globalization facilitates the disproportionate burdens of capitalism on poorer and minority peoples. In a capitalist society, the questions “who pays?” and “who benefits?'' become more relevant with every passing day. As large corporations profit and minority communities suffer, the correlation between the exploitation of land and the exploitation of people becomes more apparent. In Nigeria, I researched how the oil industry has infiltrated and corrupted the Nigerian government through company regimes and how that has detrimental effects on the local economies, communities, and environments— all of which disproportionately affect those without the privilege or resources to relocate. For China, I discovered that it is common for foreign countries to export their waste to China for processing through globalization and how the state-run coal companies create a monopoly so that the people bearing the health and environmental consequences of rudimentary coal mining do not profit economically. For India, I concluded that without precautious environmental laws and regulations during economic booms and industrial expansion, local people surrounding production areas suffer the health consequences due to pollution— as seen in the air quality of India’s slums and the disastrous pesticide plant spill in Bhopal, India. On a global scale, the capitalist exploitation of the lower classes has evolved into a modern day colonialism where foreign enterprises call the shots whilst reaping the benefits, and the local people living there suffer from the consequences of pollution, corruption, and political turmoil.