Today we live in a globalized world. What exactly does that mean though? Globalization is a term that refers to processes of international integration coming from the exchanging of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture. Since the sixteenth century until now we have taken huge steps towards being more globalized as human beings with advances in transportation, telecommunications, technology, and infrastructure (Source 2).
Globalization in the 16th to 19th centuries started out being dominated by a select few countries in Europe who had enough advances in their transportation with ships to travel across the oceans. First off, globalization just started with being able to exchange items such as crops, goods, animals, and ideas (source 1). For example in Southern Africa, the crop “Maize” arrived in the late 1600s and had a huge impact on society and the way of life by becoming a huge part of the of the African diet. Then it was mainly used as a crop for food and to feed livestock. Later on people began to figure out more uses for maze such as for pottery and inscribing (pg. 32, source 2). Globalization changed from the 16th to the 19th century by being bigger and on a wider scale. During this time period the industrial revolution occured and machines were in high demand which cause a demand for more metal part, which caused the need for more trade between companies. Modern cities came about and railway construction was huge in speedy travel. Starting in the 20th century, globalization has become even more rapid. This time period is the information age. Now we have the internet, cell phones, and airplanes all which make globalization more complete than before.
Globalization has overall been terrible for the environment here on earth. The better communication has become, the easier we are able to spread our ideas and technological advancements to people across the globe. The more our technologic advancement and ideas spread, the better health care and living conditions will be. The better living conditions are, the more likely we are to have massive population growth. The more people there are that live on this planet, the more people we have to feed/clothe/house. With globalization comes the environmental problems that come from having a large and ever increasing population such as air pollution from industries/manufacturing, burning fossil fuels, and household/farming chemicals. Air pollution is just the beginning though. More environmental problems from globalization include water contamination (both fresh-water and the oceans), over-fishing of the ocean, and climate change.
Although the negative effects on the environment from globalization are very clear, there is actually a positive side in that globalization increases awareness and multinational corporations research into eco-friendly technology.
Understanding the long-term course of history can help us to make decisions today because we can use our knowledge to collect data on any previous situations that relates to the decisions we are trying to make today to make very educated and informed decisions.

Bibliography
1. History: Roots of Contemporary Issues, Class Notes
2. McCann, James. “Maize and Grace”. Harvard University Press October 15, 2007