ABSTRACT
In late November 1999, trade ministers from 135 countries assembled in Seattle to launch a new round of global trade talks. But things did not go according to plan. Instead, delegates to the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting were greeted by tens of thousands of demonstrators from around the world who delayed the start of the talks through a massive street protest that kept delegates from the convention hall. Sadly, the event turned violent when a handful of renegades used the occasion to launch a spree of random violence, and police sprayed tear gas and fired rubber bullets at the protesters. By the end of the week, hundreds of demonstrators were in jail, mainly for the relatively innocuous offense of blocking public streets. But the official meeting was also in tatters, with delegates scurrying for airplanes without having agreed even to a pro forma official dec1aration.l
The "battle of Seattle," as it was quickly dubbed, may have marked a critical turning point. "If there is any clear message coming through the clouds of tear gas and broken glass in Seattle this week, it is that the terms of the debate
about free trade have changed," reported the Washington Post. "It is no longer a debate about trade at all, but rather a debate about gIobalization, a process that many now understand affects not only traditional economic factors such as jobs and incomes but also the food people eat, the air they breathe.. .and the social and cultural milieu in which they live." Concern about the environmental implications of the WTO and broader globalization trends were high on the list of the concerns of the protesters2
As the controversy swirling around the Seattle meeting made clear, "globalization" has become a contentious process. Part of the conflict stems from the fact that the term means vastly different things to different people. To some, globalization is synonymous with the growth of global corporations whose far-flung operations transcend national borders and allegiances. To others, it signals a broader cultural and social integration, spurred by mass communications and the Internet. The term can also refer to the growing permeability of international borders to pollution, microbes, refugees, and other forces3
Globalization is used here to refer to a broad process of societal transformation that encompasses all of the above, including growth in trade, investment, travel, computer networking, and transboundary pollution. (See Table 1-1 .) This book explores the collective impact of these phenomena on the health of the planet's natural systems4
Today's integrated world is the result of a process that can be traced back 1 million years, when early humans first migrated out of Africa throughout Eurasia. It was not until the 1500s, however, that people living several continents apart came into contact as a result of the European Age of Exploration. The late nineteenth century brought the development of steam-powered ships and railroads, which dramatically expanded international commerce and exchange. Two World Wars and the Great Depression slowed global-
ization dramatically in the first half of the twentieth century. But the second half brought globalization back with abandon, as trade rebounded and widespread international air travel and the use of personal computers revolutionized links between countries and culture^.^
Growth in trade has consistently outpaced the expansion of the global economy since World War 11. The world economy has grown sixfold since 1950, rising from $6.7 trillion to $41.6 trillion in 1998. But exports increased 17-fold over this period, reaching $5.4 trillion in 1998. (See Figure 1-1.) While exports of goods accounted for only 5 percent of the gross world product in 1950, by 1998 this figure had climbed to 13 p e r ~ e n t . ~
In recent decades, international investment by multinational corporations has also exploded. Over the 1980s, foreign direct investment flows grew twice as fast as trade-increasing 15-fold between 1970 and 1998, from $44 billion to $644 billion. The number of transnational corporations (TNCs) has also soared in recent decades, increasing from only 7,000 in 1970 to more than 53,000 in 1998. And not only companies are now investing abroad. Some 44 million U.S. households have at least some money in mutual funds, up from only 4.6 million in 1980. Their dollars are increasingly invested overseas: the assets of U.S.-based international and global mutual funds climbed from just $16 billion in 1986 to $321 billion at the end of 1996.7
The globalization of commerce in recent decades has internationalized environmental issues. Trade in natural resources such as timber and fish is soaring. Common trappings of daily life-a teak coffee table, for instance, or a salmon dinner-can affect the well-being of people and ecosystems on the other side of the world. And international investments are giving millions of people an influence, albeit often unwitting, on environmental developments in distant corners of the planet.8
