INTRODUCTION

Today's environmental problems mostly arise from human activities. Pollution and the depletion
of natural resources, dwindling plant and animal biodiversity, the loss of wilderness, the
degradation of ecosystems, and climate change are all the environmental concerns caused by
humans (Cochrane, 2007).With the help of technology and science human has transformed and
destroyed nature for centuries. However as a result of this destruction, serious environmental
problems threaten the future of his own future. At this point technology is helpless to save the
earth. The deterioration of the environment produced by technology is a technological problem
for which technology has found, is finding, and will continue to find solutions. Hundreds of
millions of dollars have been devoted to improve the quality of the environment and that much
more will be spent in the future. Despite these intense efforts expended in ‘saving the
environment’, it is questionable whether current scientific and technological approaches can be
sufficiently effective in solving numerous environmental crises (Huesemann, 2001: 271-272).

Humanity faces a dire and growing crisis. Technological advances in the past - such as the
mobilization of fossil fuels and the spectacular increases in food production flowing from
improved plant breeding techniques have both raised living standards and imposed unanticipated
and unwanted side effects on the environment (Bowers, 2010). Industry, mass consumption and
the increased energy needs of a growing global population are partly responsible for pollution,
resource depletion and species extinction. Globalization has occurred alongside and sometimes
nurtured these developments. Globalization, which is partly synonymous with rising
international trade, has fostered the rapid production, trade and consumption of material goods in
unprecedented quantities. This has weighted the ecological footprint of human activities around
the world. While it’s still difficult to assess the impact of globalization on the environment, it’s
quite obvious in some areas. Today globalization’s negative environmental effects are more
apparent. For example, increased pollution linked to transport immediately comes to mind
(Huvart and Verdier, 2013). These adverse effects show themselves in cities with pollution,
unplanned urbanization, destruction of historical environment and overpopulation. Before
finding technical solutions to environmental problems, raising environmental awareness of
people should be achieved. Environmental education is a very important tool in this context.

Globalization as a Concept
Globalization is the act of globalizing; from the noun “global“ meaning “pertaining to or
involving the whole world“, “worldwide“, “universal”(Oxford English Dictionary).
Globalization, as a concept, refers both to the "shrinking" of the world and the increased
consciousness of the world as a whole. It is a term used to describe the changes in societies and
the world economy that are the result of dramatically increased cross-border trade, investment,
and cultural Exchange (New World Encyclopedia). Globalization is the intensification of
worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are
shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa (Giddens, 1990: 64). There are
nearly as many definitions of globalization. One review provides a classification of at least five
broad sets of definitions (Najam, Runnalls and Halle, 2007: 4-5):

 Globalization as Internationalization: The “global” in globalization is viewed as simply

another adjective to describe cross-border relations between countries. It describes the
growth in international exchange and interdependence.
 Globalization as Liberalization: Removing government-imposed restrictions on
movements between countries.
 Globalization as Universalization: Process of spreading ideas and experiences to people
at all corners of the earth so that aspirations and experiences around the world become
harmonized.
 Globalization as Westernization or Modernization: The social structures of modernity
(capitalism, industrialism, etc.) are spread the world over, destroying cultures and local
self-determination in the process.
 Globalization as Deterritorialization: Process of the reconfiguration of geography, so that
social space is no longer wholly mapped in terms of territorial places, territorial distances
and territorial borders.

Globalization is defined as the elimination of barriers to trade, communication, and cultural

exchange. The world today has become very different from what it was previously, because of
globalization. With advances in technology and communications, the world becomes
deterritorialized, the constraints of geography shrink and the world becomes more singular and
unified (Abdulsattar, 2013). Globalization is a cover term for a number of the significant social
transformations people have experienced: new information and communication technologies,
reduced transportation costs, and as a consequence of both the compression of space and time,
resulting in an intensification of cross-border economic processes, the weakening of the
sovereignty of the national state, and a restructuring of spatial and social conditions (Haberland,
2009).Covering a wide range of distinct political, economic, and cultural trends, the term
globalization has quickly become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of contemporary
political and academic debate. In popular discourse, globalization often functions as little more
than a synonym for one or more of the following phenomena (Irani and Noruzi, 2011: 216): 

 Economic Liberalization: The pursuit of classical liberal or free market policies in the
world economy,
 Westernization: The growing dominance of western forms of political, economic, and
cultural life,
 Internet Revolution: The proliferation of new information Technologies,
 Global Integration: The notion that humanity stands at the threshold of realizing one
single unified community in which major sources of social conflict have vanished.

The process of globalization, which has been evolving over several centuries, has been greatly
amplified over the past two decades by the transnational economic reshaping of world trade and
investment, as free market economics has achieved ideological and political ascendancy. The
concurrent revolutions in human mobility and electronic communications have contributed to
this interconnectedness (McMichael, 2000: 1121). On the other hand, globalization presents a
mixed blessing for the environment. It creates new opportunities for cooperation but also gives
rise to new issues and tensions. For example, liberalized trade may generate economic growth,
which, in turn, may translate into increased pollution, including Tran’s boundary spillovers of
harm and unsustainable consumption of natural resources (Esty and Ivanova, 2003). This
situation exerts a tremendous pressure on the environment. The destruction of nature that comes
with urbanization reaches dimensions that threaten the future of all living beings. Therefore,
cities become more and more away from being livable in each passing day.

Environmental Impacts of Globalization on Cities

Cities have multiplied and expanded rapidly worldwide over the past two centuries. Cities are
sources of creativity and technology, and they are the engines for economic growth (McMichael,
2000: 1117).

Cities make up only two percent of the earth’s surface, yet they are home to over half of the
world’s population. In Europe, the proportion of urban dwellers is even higher. Today, nearly
75% of Europeans live in cities and urban areas, and by 2020 this is expected to rise to 80%
(European Union, 2010). The growth of cities and the continuing strength of older urban areas
like New York, London and Paris is no accident. Globalization and new technologies attract
people to big cities, by increasing the returns to urban proximity (Glaeser, 2009). Urbanization
pressures on the environment lead to major environmental problems. Globalization generates
new challenges in preparing strategies for urban development because globalization threatens to
exacerbate urban environmental pollution and natural resource degradation. Urban
environmental problems are threats to people’s present or future wellbeing, resulting in human
induced damage to the physical environment in or borne into urban areas. Urban environmental
issues are raised by urban development initiatives and are related to environmental problems.
They are (Suresh, 2003: 558-559):

Localized environmental health problems like inadequate potable water and sanitation facilities,
indoor air pollution and excessive crowding

City regional environmental problems like ambient air pollution, inadequate and inefficient
waste disposal management, pollution of water bodies and loss of green areas.

Extra urban impacts of urban activities like ecological disruption and resource depletion and
emission of chemicals and green house gases.

The urban impacts of regional or global environmental burden that may arise from activities
outside the city’s geographical boundaries, but will affect people living in the city.

Global modes of production and accumulation are intimately linked to environmental

degradation (e.g. extraction of natural resources and multiple forms of pollution via commodity
production) (Jorgenson and Kick, 2003: 196). Urban populations interact with their environment.
Urban people change their environment through their consumption of food, energy, water, and
land. And in turn, the polluted urban environment affects the health and quality of life of the
urban population (Torrey, 2004). The expansion of urbanization is a cause of globalization,
because globalizations promote industrialization for higher demand of global market system.
This is created environmental problems or threats to people’s present or future wellbeing,
resulting in human induced damage to the physical environment in cities. Urban environmental
issues are raised by urban development initiatives and are related to environmental problems.
They are: Localized environmental health problems like inadequate potable water and sanitation
facilities, indoor air pollution and excessive crowding.

Environmental Problem

City regional environmental problems like ambient air pollution, inadequate and inefficient
waste disposal management, pollution of water bodies and loss of green areas. Extra urban
impacts of urban activities like ecological disruption and resource depletion and emission of
chemicals and green house gases. The urban impacts of globalization and environmental burden
that may be arise from outside of the cities’ geographical boundaries. It will affect all the living
beings in cities. So the better urban practices and governance could help to reduce these
environmental problems (Ullah, 2014: 19). However, despite all measures these problems
continue to increase. Yet despite four global environmental summits (in 1972, 1992, 2002 and
2012) and a proliferation of multilateral environmental treaties and domestic environmental laws
over the past forty years, the global environment has continued to deteriorate (Christoff and
Eckersley, 2013: 2). Strict laws, dissuasive penalties can be effective up to a point. However,
radical changes in society should be made first regarding environmental awareness of people. At
this point, changing people's attitude towards environment is of great importance. Environmental
education activities can be able to guide people in this regard because people's behavior and
attitudes can only be changed through education at desired level.

Environmental Education and Its Role in Solving Environmental Problems

Environmental Education (EE) is a process aimed at developing a world population that is aware
of and concerned about the total environment and its associated problems, and which has the
knowledge, attitudes, motivation, commitment, and skills to work individually and collectively
toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones (Matarasso and Dung,
2002: 4). In 1977, the goals of environmental education were agreed in the Tbilisi Declaration at
the Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education held at Tbilisi. They were
amended at UNESCO meetings in the Asia-Pacific region in order to capture the notion of
sustainability. The three goals of environmental education agreed upon are (Institute for Global
Environment Strategies, 2004):

To foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political and economic
interdependence at local, regional, national and international/global levels;

To provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes,
commitment and skills needed to protect and improve the environment;

To develop and reinforce new patterns of environmentally sensitive behavior among individuals,
groups and society as a whole for a sustainable environment.

The above goals were better defined 20 years later by 5 objectives which were outlined in
UNESCO-UNEP Environmental Education Newsletter. These objectives are to improve:

 Awareness: To help social groups and individuals acquire awareness and sensitivity
towards the environment as a whole, and issues, questions, and problems related to the
environment and development.
 Knowledge: To help individuals, groups, and societies gain a variety of experience in,
and acquire a basic understanding of, what is required to create and maintain a
sustainable environment.
 Attitudes: To help individuals, groups, and societies acquire a set of values and feelings
of concern for the environment, and the motivation to actively participate in protection of
the environment.
 Skills: To help individuals, groups, and societies acquire the skills for identifying,
anticipating, preventing, and solving environmental problems.
 Participation: To provide individuals, groups, and societies with an opportunity, and the
motivation, to be actively involved at all levels in creating a sustainable environment

Environmental globalization

The increase in the global flow of people, capital, products, and services was demonstrated by
the economic aspect of globalization. The production and movement of commodities between
continents are growing along with these activities. As science and technology have advanced and
given rise to inventions like the Internet, telephones, ships, and airplanes that have accelerated
global communication and travel, they have also brought to light the detrimental effects that
industrial and capitalistic activities have been having on the environment. Since poverty is a key
source and impact of global environmental concerns, environmental challenges are linked to
globalization and development. “Ecology and economy are becoming ever more interwoven
locally, regionally, nationally, and globally into a seamless net of causes and effects,” according
to a UN report on Our Common Futures (1987). The idea of environmental limits originated in
1972 at the Stockholm Conference when the Club of Rome unveiled the concept of “Limits to
Growth,” is one of the core ideas of environmental globalism .

The majority of the world’s population expansion is predicted to occur in impoverished

countries’ urban regions over the next 30 years, making rapid, unplanned, and unsustainable
urban development patterns the main source of new environmental and health risks [10, 11]. The
World Health Organization states that socio-environmental factors are a major contributing
factor to the burden of death, sickness, and disability, especially in poor nations. Poor water
quality, availability, and sanitation; vector-borne infections; poor indoor and outdoor air quality;
hazardous compounds; and global environmental change are the main sources of risk Unsafe
water, indoor smoke from solid fuel use, malaria from poorly designed irrigation and water
systems, inadequate housing, poor waste disposal, and water storage, deforestation and loss of
biodiversity, traffic, lead exposure, climate change, and unintentional poisonings from improper
use of toxic chemicals and pesticides are the most significant environmental-related causes or
conditions that lead to global deaths. Therefore, the poor and vulnerable populations in
developing countries are most adversely affected by environmental concerns in terms of health.
However, it is also possible that the poorest people are more reliant on natural resources for their
livelihood and well-being, making them more vulnerable to the effects of unsustainable resource
extraction and depletion.

Air pollution

The World Health Organization (WHO) lists the following as the main human activity-related
sources of air pollution: • Fuel combustion from motor vehicles, such as cars and heavy-duty
vehicles • The production of heat and power (such as boilers and oil and coal power plants). •
Industrial facilities, such as mines, oil refineries, and factories that manufacture goods. •
Residential cooking, heating, and lighting with polluting fuels; • Municipal and agricultural
waste sites and waste incineration/burning.

Differing standards

Developing countries still struggle to meet their most basic requirements, including those for
food, water, energy, hygienic conditions, healthcare, and education, and lack the resources,
capital, and organizational capacity to put environmental, labor, and health norms into effect.

Global warming

There is another essential component of environmental pollution, aside from the detrimental
impacts of air pollution on human health. This is the case with CO2 emissions and other
greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), which are significantly influencing the Earth’s atmosphere’s
CO2 concentration.

Social and cultural globalization

Globalization of the environment has a significant impact on humanity, yet a nation’s culture and
traditional values also constitute a form of social capital. Keohane and Nye define social and
cultural globalism as the long-distance flow of people, ideas, information, and images.

One crucial component of social globalism is isomorphism, which is the replication of a

society’s structures and practices by another. Srivastava and Khan define cultural globalism as
the spread of ideas, meanings, and values around the world by extending and deepening social
ties [18], which is similar to Keohane and Nye’s concept of social and cultural globalism.
According to Srivastava and Khan, the common consumption of cultures disseminated through
the Internet, popular culture media, and foreign travel is indicative of the progress of cultural
globalization.

On the one hand, without the global movement of capital, goods, and services that facilitate
cross-cultural interaction, social and cultural globalism would not be feasible

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