Brandi McElroy
Introduction and Rationale
Students will examine the consumption patterns and the impact of globalization. In doing so, they will consider specifically the lifecycles of two common items: Nike shoes and iPhones. Students will explore the economics of such items and the role of developed and developing countries in their production, use, and disposal. I would like students to be able to answer the following essential questions: How do American consumption patterns affect people and the planet? What have been the costs and benefits of globalization?
This topic is typically not attractive to my students, so I have decided to focus on making this lesson more student focused. I want students to be able to understand, which is why I have to make these more real-life examples for them. This will allow me to get buy-in and let them dive deeper into understanding the consumption patterns and the impact of globalization.
Demographics
The demographics of my students range from 10-12 years of age and 6th graders from various socioeconomic backgrounds and multiple racial experiences. This unit fits my students precisely because they don’t realize how much consumption patterns and the impacts of globalization influence their daily lives. For example, the cell phones they use every day and rely on throughout the day are impacted by how the world, in general, purchases cell phones and demands from the global economy. Not to mention, the shoes, clothes, and food they eat daily are also impacted by globalization. The students don’t realize that they have an impact on this and how it affects the world around them.
Since 81% of our students in our school/district are economically disadvantaged, socioeconomic status will have a meaningful impact on the students’ learning. Thoreau, one of seven lottery magnet school programs, allows students from all socioeconomic statuses to come together and learn from each other’s experiences, helping them learn and become more informed human beings. The life skills we instill in each student with our community guidelines help foster an open and collaborative environment. Teachers in our building help to use ethical practices and professional and instructional learning strategies to encourage learners to develop a deep understanding of content areas and their connection and collaboration in every lesson via a hands-on activity to allow them to build the life skills they need to succeed in life.
Unit Content
How does globalization impact consumption? We have to first look into the meaning of globalization and consumption. Globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale (5). Often, we hear “fears about the increasing globalization of the world economy” but don’t truly understand. We also need to understand that consumption is the using up of a resource—which is why we hear that “industrialized countries should reduce their energy consumption” for fear that we will someday run out (6). Developing sustainable consumption requires recognizing that overconsumption and underconsumption are linked in the global system.
Understanding how total energy consumption impacts the world is key to understanding this global issue. Energy consumption varies across the world, but the largest energy consumers are Iceland, Norway, Canada, the United States, and wealthy nations in Middle East such as Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The average person in these countries consumes as much as 100 times more than those in some of the poorest countries. The below interactive map provides you with the different energy consumption around the world: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-energy-use (1).
Currently, my students understand that around them everyone is talking about how global energy consumption is increasing year to year. However, they don’t fully understand why the increase on demand is not being improved or offset with technology. They feel that technology has positive and negative effects to our use of energy over the years (such as coal, oil, gas, or grid electricity) and that we are considered a developed country (2). They realize that there is a relationship to energy consumption rising in many countries where incomes are also rising, and populations are growing. However, they don’t understand why many countries’ energy consumption is not falling, especially the richer countries as they try to improve energy efficiency (2).
We took a look at total electricity generation so that they understand that electricity is just one component of total energy consumption. The students discussed how they can make small changes (turning the lights off when they leave a room, turning water off when they brush or wash their hands, using cold water to wash clothes in, limiting their screen time on phone and television as well as other devices) to impact their lives and family’s but on a global scale its just not enough to make a great impact to changing our high energy consumption rates (3). They looked at the per capita electricity generation maps to see that in the smallest and poorest countries in the world, people consumed very little electricity, as little as, about 100 kilowatt-hours per person (4). However, for my sixth graders who did this introduction without digging deeper into the details where with how to make the real-life connection. Details such as how much of the energy comes from fossil fuels versus low-carbon sources and how sources are changing over time are factors they ultimately need to understand before they can apply it. However, when we used the map to identify the different sources of energy based on area helped them to understand the importance of the lesson.
Energy consumption introduction will be used to help students understand that process impacts consumption. However, I will need to get my students to understand this at a more foundational level. Therefore, I want to have them find data on something they consume regularly. Something that they don’t think a lot about the benefits or level of use of the product or service. Therefore, I will challenge my students to follow the process of a product that they purchase as a consumer often, Nike shoes, through the production and disposal of the products life cycle. Students will learn to realize how their purchase impacts the world on a global level. Most students just buy Nike’s for the brand name, popularity, look and style they create. However, most are not used to their potential because students often throw away their shoes after they have been creased at the toes because they no longer look new. I want students to understand that things they take for granted can be used to help others.
Nike Shoes
For a real-life example, I researched how Nike shoes are produced. Nike is the world’s largest supplier of sports shoes. Nike doesn’t manufacture their products on its own. Instead, production outsourced to different vendors located in different countries. Almost all Nike shoes are manufactured outside of the United States (7). Of course, there are strict guidelines and protocols to be followed. There are about 600 factories located in 46 different countries that exclusively manufacture Nike shoes. About 36 % of the Nike vendors are in China and Vietnam, but 22% are in Indonesia and 6% in Thailand of the Nike shoes that are produced (8).
Nike has a two-step integrated process for manufacturing their shoes. This helps to keep the process the same no matter which vendor factory processes the request. The first step is receiving the raw materials to process the shoes. Raw materials required for manufacturing Nike shoes are Organic cotton, leather, rubber, recycled polyester, and PVC (9). Other materials used to make these shoes are PVA foam, mesh fabric, and lightweight plastic. All these materials are either sources from around the factories or different parts of the world and shipped to Nike wholesale vendors for the production process.
The second step is the actual manufacturing process of the shoes. They use the cold cement assembly process with is currently more labor-intensive. They want to move to a less labor-intensive model soon. However, currently they are still using the cold cement assembly process which takes seven different steps including a final quality check before the shoes are packed and shipped.
Step-by-step process of manufacturing Nike shoes (10):
- Machines are used to cut foam sheets into desired shoes for the soles, like cookie cutters. These soles are separated into different sizes. This method is known as a stock-fitting cookie clicker.
- Other pieces of fabric are cut into different shapes to form the main body of the shoe. Materials like mesh fabrics, leather, and PVC are used in this step. The final look of the shoe depends entirely on the work done in this step.
- The part of the shoe built-in step 2 comes together with the sole prepared in step 1. Both these parts are joined using water-based glue. Machines apply mechanical force to join these two parts together firmly, to provide structural strength and durability to the product.
- The upper sole of the shoe is the final part that is joined with the body of the shoe prepared in step 3. This part is heated in a plastic mold to give it shape before it joins the rest of its body. At the end of this stage, the product looks a lot like a shoe but is not complete yet.
- The product is given final stitching all around to give it strength and keep all the pieces together. At this stage, the shoe is tested for wear and tear.
- After the initial quality check, final embellishments on the shoe are attached, like the logo, shoelace holes, other embellishments, etc.
- After a final quality check, the shoes are packed and ready to be shipped.
Now if for some reason the shoe is shipped and it’s not in good condition, which would make it not eligible for donation. Nike recycles the shoes right away. “Nike Grind” is their state-of the art grind machine which produces the scraps that come from the unused materials or end-of life products. After it is grinded up, it is then separated by material type (rubber, foam, or textile fluff) so that it can be used for new items. Nike has been incorporating Nike Grind into products, retail spaces and workplace environments, athletic facilities, skateboards, and more for 30 years. This lowers the number of unused materials which in up in landfills and more in the hands of athletes (11). Nike has always done a great job at identifying a niche, by developing strategies to target all markets: ladies ‘wear, kids’ wear, men’s wear, casual wear, party wear, sportswear. Doing the market research and analyzing their customer preferences has been very important to their business marking strategies. Nike is great at identifying wholesale suppliers and finding reliable suppliers is significant for any business. Deploying the right advertising campaign to reach target audiences for fashion brands by using social media to advertise their brands. Also, using social media influences are a quick way to get the brand noticed on a larger scale. Being size-inclusive as well as customizable to include sizes for people who have larger/smaller feet than the average person (12). Providing unique services will help build customer loyalty and improve customer satisfaction and sales. Which is the ultimate goal of any successful business company. Companies who want to excel in retail and wholesale vendor sales. With trusted supplier to help back and improve the new world of business opportunities while targeting social media post to advance your footprint and market placement within niche communities and athlete arenas (13).
How Nike Uses Recycled Footwear
- Their Rubber is used for Nike Grind, playgrounds, basketball courts and indoor flooring, offices, retail spaces and 3D printing comes from recycled rubber.
- Their Foam is currently being shipped on to companies for various surface designs.
- Their Fluff is currently being burned for energy recovery.
Nike launched a refurbished program in March 2020 to create a circular future by keeping products in their highest use as long as possible (14). Nike’s journey towards a zero carbon and zero waste future can be seen in participating Nike Stores as “Move to Zero” action plan. Most consumers don’t know about Nike’s Recycling plus Donation services. You can bring eligible athletic gear to a participating Nike store, and they will inspect and then donate or recycle it for you based on its condition. There recycling and donation centers then sort the footwear or apparel and determine condition, level of wear and eligibility, then the product is sent to donation or recycling. Nike then turns the donations into Opportunity by providing donated products to organizations that help people facing disasters and other challenging circumstances (15).
iPhone
For my second real life example, I choose to look at how iPhones are produced. The brain is the A6 chip which is manufactured by semiconductor company based in the US, from Intel or IBM plant and even Samsung subsidiary in Austin, Texas (16). The smartphone may be made from different countries and then shipped to the US. The software is also designed locally, the radio frequency part is made by Ohio-based Triquint, the audio chip by Cirrus Logic, the glass is developed and manufactured by a Corning plant in Kentucky but now bulk of the manufacturing has been shipped out of the company’s plants in Japan and Taiwan (17). The iPhone is not only assembled in China, but 90% of rare earth minerals that are essential to making the iPhone parts are mined in China (Mongolia). The iPhones color screen, glass polishing, circuitry, speakers and vibration unit come from a mix of rare earth minerals (Lanthanides, scandium, yttrium etc.). Ironically, iPhone’s microchips are made by Samsung, their major competitor. Apple is also getting chip-making done in Taiwan. However, Samsung is still ultimately providing iPhone with rechargeable batteries (18).
Americans protested when they thought iPhones were made in China. However, they are assembled by the Chinese and the blueprint, crystal, specialized parts and processors come from the US. The display panels, chipsets and memory come from Japan, Korea and Taiwan, gyroscope come from Europe and rare earth minerals from Mongolia which all come together in China, the world’s factory. It is a major issue but according to Apples founder Steve Jobs stated that iPhone jobs won’t be coming back to the US because its economics of scale in both human resources and manufacturing facilities (19). It was reported that American companies would take months to get thousands of industrial engineers and even more months to construct new assembly lines to accommodate the changes need to manufacture the iPhone’s specs, but it only takes 15 days in China. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of iPhones come out of Chinese factories every day. Each one is a symbol of American consumerism, and each one consists of parts made in different countries.
The global demand has been made for everyone to have not just a smart phone but an iPhone. Has this demand created an unfair monopoly? My students will investigate the social and economic impacts and the danger and risk of cell phone use.
iPhone Disposal
Furthermore, the disposal of old devices is creating more E-waste (20). The definition of e-waste is likely to keep expanding. This is because of rapid technological advancements making current electronic goods more sophisticated that by the time a new model of “smart phone” is introduced it is already three months outdated. Unfortunately, the immense amount of e-waste is being written off by owners as junk (21). One of the most significant examples are computers, laptops, and smartphones. New models arrive even though the latest models are working just fine. We as American’s are always looking for the latest and greatest model of smartphone. Regardless of how satisfied we are with our current smartphone.
How did we get here? In 1976, Congress first addressed the issue of hazardous waste disposal with the passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (22). The act sets standards for protecting human health and the natural environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal. One of the main goals of the law was to ensure that management of waste in an environmentally sound manner.
Then the next major step was the Bael Convention in 1989, an international treaty designed to reduce the movement of hazardous waste between nations and prevent the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries (23). The good news is that the e-waste recycling industry has grown since then. Industry has the most effective way of keeping e-waste out of landfills or from being burned in incinerators. The recycling industry has been taking reusable parts from discarded electronic devices and recycling them for the benefit of local businesses and manufacturers. Due to the amount of e-waste the industry creates hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country by recycling the electronics we no longer want.
There is a large number of values in the circuit boards containing valuable metals like silver, tin, gold, palladium and copper. In 1991 the first electronic waste recycling system was created in Switzerland to collect refrigerators. Other electric devices are being added to systems in later years. In the U.S. there are no federal laws governing e-waste. However, 25 states have their own e-waste rules and regulations.
The Dangers of E-waste
The World Health Organization (WHO) health risks may result from direct contact with toxic materials that leach from e-waste (24). These include minerals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants, or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Danger can come from inhalation of toxic fumes, as well as from the accumulation of chemicals in soil, water, and food. This means that not only people are at risk but the land and sea animals as well (25). In developing countries, the risks are higher because most developed countries send their e-waste there. Global e-waste has detrimental effects on the people that work with e-waste and the people that live around it.
It should be a need for us to put proper recycling processes in place to protect us in the future. Due to the percentage of consumers that will continue to buy new devices it is imperative that we reinforce the need to recycle the older models (26). Typically, e-waste is only in regard to business who have a larger amount of e-waste . However, given the technological advances we all have e-waste that can be recycled in some way.
The challenge will be for students to formulate and present their own way to collect old cell phones in their own household and present a campaign for all students in the school to create bins of old cell phones and portable electric devices to set up a pickup time for the school to have a recycling and pick-up day at the school. This approach could be very useful for the student to see that a little effort can make a bigger overall impact by simply getting others to join in recycling their e-waste.
In conclusion, the students can learn from both real life examples to identify with and make positive change in their community and school. E-waste can also result in data theft as well. The public needs to be aware of the critical documents and serial numbers that need to be shredded before you throw them out or recycle them (27). Throwing out or donating a smartphone can also result in data theft. The memory stick inside your smartphone has sensitive information that must be cleared before getting rid of the device. The physical destruction or dismantling of your electronics is the only way to get this done. However, this should be completed by professionals not to mention that the batteries can explode if heavily damaged or dismantled incorrectly.
This is why it’s important for business to be held liable for the security of their clients and employee’s data being misused or stolen. Throwing out or donating your old business electronics can be a legal liability because of it. Therefore, following the correct procedures and planning to help avoid data theft in the future.
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Use multiple mapping techniques and data visuals to create and analyze spatial patterns of environmental and cultural characteristics (3.B.6-8.2)
- Analyze, interpret, and compare economic data from multiple charts and graphs (3.C.6-8.1).
- Explain how trade impacts the standard of living and leads to economic interdependence (3.C.6-8.5).
- Write independently over extended periods and for shorter time frames, varying modes of expression to suit the audience, purpose, task, and/or to analyze different perspectives (5.A.6-8.4).
Students will need to know the new geography terms to understand and be able to answer the essential questions fully. For example, they need to know how to read a map, key details, etc.—understand the geography terms, for instance, developed and developing countries—understand the different economic structures, traditional vs. market economy.
Classroom Activities
One characteristic that has been imperative to my knowledge of individual students is knowing their learning style since the majority are kinesthetic learners. They need collaboration activities that help to build relationships, relevance, and rigor in every lesson. Therefore, the hands-on activity allows the support resources required to instruct individual lessons. All activities are under the pacing calendar and in TCI for social studies and Language Arts.
Group Collaboration – Table of 4 people – must examine and track the progress of one item from where the products come from to be produced, manufactured and distributed for global consumption. Table will then present their findings to the class. Were there any health and environmental impacts along the way? How is the cost of the product affected? What did you find interesting or surprising along the way?
Think Pair Share – You could have a group discussion after allowing students time to review and compare maps or graphs. Allowing the students to first think about the importance of each map or diagram showing them and then discuss what they noticed with a partner and then share their findings to the classroom.
Hold a Debate – Have students use what they learned in this lesson, and optionally through outside research, to debate the pros and cons of globalization. Assign half the class to be pro-globalization and have the class to be anti-globalization. Give students time to work with their others that have their same perspective to form arguments and find evidence before the debate
To facilitate this lesson remotely, have the students look at the Cartograms. You can have the students work offline ahead of time to come up with a group response or have them share out independently. You may also consider having the students use breakout rooms if you are using Zoom or other video conferencing software with your students.
Resources
Bibliography
Oxford University Press (2022) – “Buring Matters – Life, Labor, and E-waste Pyropolitics in Ghana” by Peter C. Little.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (2023); Energy Institute – Statistical Review of World Energy (2023) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Primary energy consumption” [dataset]. U.S. Energy Information Administration, “International Energy Data”; Energy Institute, “Statistical Review of World Energy” [original data].[i]
Our World in Data team (2023) – “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns” Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/sdgs/responsible-consumption-production’ [Online Resource][ii]
Great Lakes Electronics Corporation (2024) – “What is E-waste? Definition and Why It’s Important” Published online at Great Lakes Electronics.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://www.ewaste1.com/what-is-e -waste/#:~:text=The%20recycling%20of%20e%2Dwaste,used%20to%20make%20new%20products’ [Online Resource][iii]
Esteban Ortiz-Ospina (2017) – “Is globalization an engine of economic development?” Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/is-globalization-an-engine-of-economic-development’ [Online Resource][iv]
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES – Globalization and the Consumer Society – Catherine Hodge McCoid[v]
Hannah Ritchie, Pablo Rosado and Max Roser (2020) – “Energy Production and Consumption” Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/energy-production-consumption’ [Online Resource] [vi]
Fashinza Manufacturing Simplified (2024) – “Who Manufactures Nikes?” Published online at Fashinza.com. Retrieved from: https://fashinza.com/brands-and-retail/news/who-manufactures-nikes/ [Online Resource][vii]
Nike (2024) – “Sustainability Recycling + Donation: Where Does It All Go?” Published online at Nike.com. Retrieved from: https://www.nike.com/sustainability/recycling-donation/recycling-donation-where-does-it-go [Online Resource][viii]
Finances Online Reviews for Business (2024) – “How iPhone Is Made: The Global Assembly Line in 2024” Published online at financesonline.com. Retrieved from: https://financesonline.com/hello-world-the-economics-of-iphone/ [Online Resource][ix]
Appendix
6.1.1 Apply geographic information to support analysis from primary and secondary sources in various texts.
6.1.3 Integrate visual information, draw conclusions, make predictions from geographic data, and analyze spatial distribution and patterns by interpreting data displayed on geographic tools.
6.1.4 Integrate visual information and develop the skill of mental mapping of the political and physical features of Earth’s surface to organize information about people, places, and environments.
6.1.5 Describe and analyze the role of geographic factors in current events and issues.
6.2.1 Use visual information to identify and describe on a physical map the landforms, bodies of water, climate, and vegetation zones important to each region.
6.2.2 Explain how the processes and factors of latitude, elevation, Earth-Sun relationships, prevailing winds, and proximity to bodies of water influence climate.
6.2.3 Describe the predominant natural resources found in each region.
6.2.4 Describe the relationship and summarize the impact of the distribution of primary renewable and nonrenewable resources on each region.
6.3.1 Identify the significant countries and population centers of each region on a political map.
6.3.3 Analyze the impact of geography on population distribution, growth, and change, applying geographic concepts of population density and the availability of resources.
6.3.8 Evaluate how the three levels of economic activities (primary, secondary, tertiary) contribute to developing a nation and region.
6.3.9 Describe the benefits and limitations of the traditional, market, and command economic systems, including how government policies affect economic activities and trade relationships.
6.3.10 Identify the common characteristics of developed and developing countries, including the impact of education and technology; analyze data used by geographers such as literacy rate, life expectancy, per capita income, and infant mortality.
6.4.1 Describe the commercial agriculture and industrial regions that support human development.
6.4.2 Evaluate the effects of human modification on the natural environment through transformation caused by subsistence and commercial agriculture, industry, demand for energy, and urbanization.
Notes
1 U.S. Energy Information Administration (2023)
2 Our World in Data team (2023)
3 Great Lakes Electronics Corporation (2024)
5 Catherine Hodge
7 Fashinza Manufacturing Simplified (2024)
10 Nike (2024)
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Finances Online Reviews for Business (2024)
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Great Lakes Electronics Corporation (2024)
21 Ibid
22 Ibid
23 Ibid
24 Ibid
25 Ibid
26 Ibid
27 Ibid