Geogrraphy

1.      Economic Inequality

The end of the Second World War ushered in a new era where a concerted effort to globalize the economy was made by global powers. As a first step, United Nations was formed to foster global integration both socially and economically. However, the disparities amongst the member countries proved to be extensive, thus the hindrance to the faster inequality gap bridging. In fact, the gap was further widened by the presumed greed from the already industrialized economies to quickly tap into the unexplored resources and wider market in the developing countries in Africa, Middle East and the Southern part of the America. Most notably, a number of countries located in the African continent were yet to become independent from the colonization powers. As a result, there were a weaker and poorly developed policies and instituted strategies with which to engage in a globalized economy. Therefore, the western capitalist powers effectively exploited this weakness; evident through the takeover of the resource exploitation by foreign firms. Ultimately, the inequality gap was further widened.

At the height of the cold war, the two main superpowers carefully enacted policies that would ensure that each of them stays ahead of the economic race. Some of the policies were repressive to the smaller dependent economies, especially that they were unfairly aimed at widening the scope of influence and dominance by the major economies. For instance, the United States indirectly dictated its allies to quickly adopt a capitalistic economic structure. Hurriedly, the political elite individualized the ownership of the public property. In turn, the citizens of the countries were robbed of their legal entitlement. On the other hand, the subsequent fall of the communist Soviet Union led to the observed unfair distribution and privatization of the state properties both in Russia and the countries which at the time had adopted communist and socialist economic structure. The main benefactors of such development were a small league of the former officials from the communist and socialistic era, plunging millions of citizens to abject poverty. In the modern times, there is constant prevalence in equality both socially and economically more so in former communist states such as Vietnam and North Korea.

Use of different currencies for globalized business transaction further contributes to the observed inequality in economies due to globalization. Fluctuations in the exchange rates commonly favor the currency of the bigger economies like USA and China due to the status as a reserve currency, thus leading to losses to the smaller economies. Additionally, the instabilities amongst the developing economies make them vulnerable to economic shocks. Resultantly, inflations arise, hence rapid loss of value in the country’s currency. Therefore, the rate of widening of the economic inequality is propelled through the frequency of such occurrences.

In light of the above discussion, I, therefore, agree that both the article and the film allude to the wider effects of inequalities resultant from globalization.

2.      a) Environmental Injustice and Environmental Privilege.

It is true that environmental injustice and environmental privilege are the two opposites of the same coin. Whereas environmental injustice is instigated by the inevitable inequality in the enjoyment of protection from both the environmental and health concerns, the environmental privilege is geared towards exclusive environmental rights towards a higher social class in the society. Therefore, racial, color and class discrimination is at the heart of both the injustice and privilege concerning environment. It is widely argued that such societal decays, as observed in Rocky Mountains in the state, mainly results from the greed by the upper class which is a representative of a tiny fraction of the entire population.

If left unchecked, the rise of the environmental injustices witnessed in Aspen sets a wrong precedence to other parts of the country thus the possibility of a future trigger to more serious cases of racial discrimination than those observed in the country centuries ago. Ironically, some of the rich populations living in the Colorado region include the owners of the industries that hugely contribute to the environmental degradation; nullifying the claim that the immigrants are the main cause of the environmental woes. While this claim may be true to an extent, the long-term solution to the problem involved laying down concrete strategies to contain the core source to the problem. Notably, it will not be easy, given the elite population’s influence and power on government matters.

b) Environmental Problems

There are several factors that cause the environmental degradation; unchecked population is just one of them. Other factors include industrialization, human activities and use of nonrenewable energy. In essence, a claim by the Aspen residents that immigration to the area by the minority groups is a fabrication and distortion of the underlying facts on the ground. In fact, it is a clear portrayal of the attempt by the mainly rich population to suppress the minority groups based on their race and social class.

History proves that the higher social class in Aspen region has preferred non-racial contamination as well as the private lifestyle usually achieved when the society is kept at a minimum. Therefore, the unprecedented influx of the non-white minority to the region is wrongly viewed as a threat to the privacy and a stability of the region by the residents. The environment agenda is brought up as a cover up if the deeply settled racial discrimination intentions by the upper class mostly white residents.