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but also environmentally beneficial to human beings. There is a misunderstanding among anti-globalists. As Akin L.M. writes in his article "Poverty and Environmental Degradation", globalization causes rapid population growth and consequently causes deforestation, desertification, biodiversity loss, urban pollution, water pollution and climate change. The opponents simply view globalization as the root of damage to the environment. However, the fact is that, as long as human beings develop in this planet, the negative effects on environment will exist even without globalization. The real root is the development of human beings, and it is inevitable. We should try to solve the problems result from our development instead of criticizing and being against globalization. Since the concept of "Protecting our earth" spread all over the world, more and more people who support globalization have taken steps to counteract the negative effects. According to "Confronting Anti-Globalism" (Business Week, August 2001), Home Depot Inc. has adopted an eco-friendly lumber supply program with Rainforest Action Network; Starbucks Corp. is working with Conservation International to buy coffee from farmers preserving forest. Another argument concerns that globalization drives capital flow to where environmental and labor standards are lowest, and consequently makes environment and labor standards worse and worse. But check the facts. "Investors invest where returns are greatest, which tends to be where labor is most productive, which is where people are correspondingly richer," responded Tom G. Palmer, "and richer people tend to demand better, not worse, environmental amenities and working conditions." Therefore, globalization will eventually cause a race to the top environmental and labor standards in the future.

Generally, people around the world are more inclined to credit globalization for the benefits they are reaping, according to a research "The Pew Global Attitudes Project". Even though globalization is not 100 percent positive, the more than 50 percent benefits are essential for the development of human beings. I would like to give the anti-globalists an old adage: "When goods cannot cross borders, armies surely will." I believe, under the circumstance of globalization, the world will create more and more wealth, and with everyone's concern, globalization will eventually create a beautiful home for us all.

Learn more about this author, Jason Shi.
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