Samantha Robyn Kurdas

Gaku Tsuda
ASB 378- Summer A
June 24th, 2016

Nurturing Is Not Maturing

It is the twenty-first century yet we are cycling through our problems as though the world
was birthed yesterday. International organizations, such as United Nations or World Health
Organization, lead conquests in attempt to pause the nature of globalization and all of its
inevitable consequences. But temporary solutions provide nothing for the future. Regulations and
need-based programs are intermittently successful and ultimately empty in promise. What needs
to be realized is that these apparent problems" are not a result of globalization. Social,
economical, environmental and health-related issues are not a direct effect of the global marketplace. They exist out of ignorance. Manifesting by sheer neglect. Be it politician, corporation or
consumer the entire world has managed to sit idly by as the world expands. We do not need to
pity ourselves or the state we are in. We need to grow up.
The illusion of problems that have resulted from globalization have led many people to
believe that there must be a solution. Well, there is none. There are no solutions, no fixes and
certainly no answers. All there can be is an understanding for what globalization is and how we
can adapt as an international community. The maturation process, at this point, will take a unified
effort that is fundamentally expected to adapt with time and growth. The key elements to this
novel, bold way of thinking are; education, innovation and integration. No one element is of
lesser importance than the other and all three should be continuously stimulated and developing.

Educate
If there is one thing that has been made clear, it is that people know nothing (Tsuda,
Lessons 1-6). And that they are fine with this. But they are content, mainly because they do not
know that there is something to learn. Ignorance can be blissful, yes. Quite literally, it is no
longer sunshine and daisies when global warming finally sends its dark cloud over head. This
compliance has to change from the root of our societies. As a mass, we have the right to know
that we do not know. We have a right to information and unlimited transparency from every
level of production. Students should not be the only ones to learn, consumers of every age should
be able to seek information easily and find answers fast. With knowledge is power and this
power is placed directly in the consumers hands and out of corporations, with their marketing
strategies and advertising campaigns.
There are several ways to promote transparency and public education of consumption.
Aside from public schooling, there should be lectures available to the public for free, given by
local universities or even in supermarkets. Professionals do not have to run these events,
volunteers that support the cause can simply update consumers. News outlets should be expected
to update regularly on the global welfare of the shared market, visiting every topic and aspect of
production/sales in an unbiased, information-based fashion. Social media can be used to spread
awareness, placing links on ads that will lead consumers to educational pages on individual
products. It should become a mandatory practice for all businesses to connect in this web. If
information is not provided in one sector, all sectors should be effected. For instance, there is a
coffee shop that uses beans from India and gets milk from Wisconsin. They would have
information available to the public on not only these products and the sourced companies, but
also where their espresso machines are manufactured. Be it on their website or on a tablet in their

store, customers will be able to follow the link to one of these that will lead them to the other
company involved. Using the milk, if they select the link to learn more, they may be led to a
small farm that takes pictures of their cows or a factory farm that has a live video feed. Either
way, now the consumer has been educated on what they are going to purchase and consumer.
Having this information readily at their fingertips gives them the opportunity to chose wether or
not they want to support this coffee shop. Someone who wishes to be mindful of their carbon
footprint might not get coffee from this shop if they condone industrialized farming methods.
This loss in business may ultimately change the coffee shops values, too. This example can be
applied to any product; leather handbags, laptop computers or even pets. Ideally, the
transparency of the product, unveils the rawness of other corporations which can greatly effect
the way consumers view their needs and desires. We must gift the international community
knowledge, educate them on how to use informed decision and release power to consumers.

Innovate
Educating the entire population of this world may sound impossible but only when
technology is forgotten. Bill Gates reminds us of the strides we have taken with technological
advancements, We've got cell phones to get information from the public and get information out
to them. We have satellite maps where we can see where people are and where they're moving.
We have advances in biology that should dramatically change the turnaround time to look at a
pathogen and be able to make drugs and vaccines that fit for that pathogen. (Bill Gates, TED).
There is an obvious pattern of progress but we are failing to apply it in the right ways. Especially
when regarding motions towards a more impactful globalization movement. Innovation is the
element that not only utilizes but promotes further growth and development of technologies

through various outlets. Firstly, as discussed before, there is the use of technology in education.
Creating a world-wide-web that is actually world-wide will need a platform that is accessible,
affordable and applicable to the nature of the Educate element (available to everyone; consumer,
corporation, ect.). Using tablets, computers and online applications, this vision can be achieved.
Beyond coding and the production/distribution of technologies are the steps that corporations
need to take to ensure safe and environmentally friendly production. This aspect of innovation
holds corporations responsible for their means of production. As it is today, many corporations
have built manufacturing facilities in landscapes that are chosen based off of financial
reasonings. Much of the work is outsourced to countries where government regulation are at a
minimum. Corporations are then free to manipulate the land and its people; destroying
environments, placing workers in inhumane conditions and without fair pay. The current view on
these practices is to place blame on the corporation or attempt to enact social change within a
local government. All of these actions occur after-the-fact (Tsuda, Module 5, Presentation 1).
There are no preventive measures taken to assure the safety of local peoples or future
generations. A matured globalized market would not separate these states or need to place blame
on a corporation. An innovative globalized market would enforced analysis and planning before
the construction of a new manufacturing plant. Environmental factors would be considered a first
priority while any concern for human rights would be neutralized with the support of educated
consumers.
Incorporate
Environmental threats are not only pinned on industrial facilities but on the transportation
of produce and materials. We should not just combat this by buying locally but redesign our
expectations around what that means. Sustainable development is termed to describe how

using renewable energy and farming organically increasing local self-sufficiency and
undertaking radical political decentralization" (LeLe 2007: 1103). The idea that this endeavor
should be decentralized is a primitive way of thinking. Locally sourced food can work to
promote a healthier environment and robust economy but it is impracticable at this day in age.
We must think and live globally while utilizing what we have locally. We need to incorporate
these sustainable models with the promotion of eduction and innovation. Back to the example of
the coffee shop, say they like to make and sell apple pastries. But apples are only locally in
season for a few months out of a year. A business today might say that they will just outsource
their apples for the remainder of the year. But what good is that? When our society can embrace
the concepts of educating their consumers, we can then embrace the beauty of an incorporated
marker-place. Now, the coffee shop can offer apple pastries in one season, and maybe blueberry
pasties in the next. The concept is to move with the times, not be structured by them.
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With the promotion of education, innovation and incorporation, globalization will no
longer seem like a threat. It will be what it has been all along: our future. Our society will begin
to flourish and grow, not dwell on political, social or environmental inhibitions. We are destined
to mature. We are destine for greatness beyond our wildest imaginations. That is what these
three key elements unlock for us. Translucent communications that tap into infinite consumer
knowledge, equal power and sustainable resources.