Junkyard Planet, Chapter Five

Chapter Five: Junkyard Planet

a. India and China are both rapidly industrializing countries with a large demand for resources, yet the vast majority of US scrap metal goes to China. Explain why.

The main reason that the mast majority of US scrap metal goes to China rather than India is because the shipping prices to export to China are so much cheaper than they are for India. Even though the cost of labor is significantly cheaper in India than it is in China, the cost of transporting goods to India exceeds the gains from the labor cost difference. As Minter explains, "India simply doesn't export as many products to the West Coast of the United States. Until it does, the shipping companies aren't going to have much incentive to offer discount shipping rates for the backhaul." which therefore makes it more expensive to ship scrap metal to India rather than China.

The reason that it is so cheap to export scrap metal to China is because of the trade inbalance between China and the United States. China exports nearly $243 billion worth of goods to the United States whilst only exports around $41 billion in return. This inbalance means that shipping companies will discount the prices from the US back to China (since the boats cannot return empty) This discount enables scrap metal companies to send millions of dollars worth of scrap metal for only a few hundred dollars back to China. 

b. Choose a passage from this reading that illustrates a larger issue or problem related to globalization. Explain

I think there are actually two passages that really encompass the problem related to globalization:

" ...Without such end markets (factories that use and transform scrap metal)  there's absolutely no reason for a  Sudanese to import $60,000 containers of scrap metal. In fact, the lack of such buyers means that the relatively small quantity of scrap produced in Sudan is actually exported, with much of it going to India and China..." (94)

"...All of this globalized scrap, every last hunk, moves according to who wants it most, and who can ship it most cheaply..." (95)

 I think these two passages do a good job of explaining a couple of the issues that globalization presents. The first one shows how countries are forced to move forward with the rest of the world and keep up with the fast-paced rate of innovation and industrialization. It also shows how countries don't have any other choice but to globalize, because if they don't, they may fall behind or miss out. The second passage shows the competitiveness of globalization, and the way that some countries can benefit from globalization, while others, which may not be able to present much incentive to import or export, can be hindered away from expanding.

c. More generally, how does modern transportation relate to the themes raised by Jared Diamond in "Why Did Human History Unfold Differently on Different Continents for the Last 13,00 Years?"

The main argument of Jared Diamond's reading was that location was the biggest advantage or disadvantage in terms of human evolution and colonization. He stated that the geography of different countries was the main determinant as to which countries excelled and which didn't.
Minter touches on the topic of location when he talks about the reasons that the Middle East exports scarp metal to India rather than the United States. The message of these two readings can be combined into concluding that the location of certain countries can be an advantage or disadvantage, in terms of how easily other countries can access them using modern transportation. We touched briefly on this topic when we talked about the differences between Mexico (which has access to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans) and Brazil (which seems to be located on the wrong side of the ocean to be easily accessible for importing and exporting) Diamond stated that location was the main influence on our history, and using Minter's reading we can agree that the globalization industry is also greatly influenced by the locations and geographies of countries. Using Diamond's logic, it is clear that countries in an optimal shipping location will be at a greater advantage than those that aren't, and will grow, evolve, and industrialize at a much quicker pace as a consequence.