Unit 9: Globalization - Innovations, Challenges, and Human Rights

Time-Space Compression

The concept that technological innovations have drastically reduced geographic barriers and created a shared global culture.

Radio Communication

A mode of communication that allows for the instant transmission of information, starting from its spread in the 1920s.

Cellular Communication

Modern form of communication that facilitates immediate access to information, contributing to global news cycles.

Air Travel

Commercialized form of travel that enables rapid movement of people for business and tourism.

Shipping Containers

Innovative containers that drastically lowered transportation costs, enabling a global supply chain.

Petroleum

An energy source that shifted global industries towards higher power density, powering automotive and aviation sectors.

Nuclear Power

A cleaner but controversial high-output energy source that emerged in the mid-20th century.

Renewable Energy

Energy derived from natural sources like wind, solar, and hydroelectric power in response to climate change.

Green Revolution

A mid-20th-century response to global hunger concerns, involving high-yield, genetically modified crops.

Norman Borlaug

Key scientist in the Green Revolution known for developing high-yield, disease-resistant grain varieties.

Chemical Fertilizers

Substances used in agriculture that significantly increased crop yields during the Green Revolution.

Antibiotics

Medicines like penicillin that transformed the treatment of bacterial infections.

Vaccines

Medical innovations that eradicated smallpox and nearly eliminated polio through widespread use.

Malaria

A disease transmitted by mosquitoes that continues to affect tropical regions despite medical advances.

Tuberculosis

An airborne bacterial infection associated with poor health conditions and crowding.

Cholera

A disease spread through contaminated water, persisting in areas lacking clean water access.

HIV/AIDS

A chronic condition that emerged in the 1980s, turning from a fatal disease to manageable with treatment.

Civil Rights Movement

A movement in the USA led by figures like Martin Luther King Jr. to dismantle institutionalized racism.

Nelson Mandela

A leader in the fight against apartheid in South Africa, imprisoned for 27 years before becoming president.

U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights

A 1948 document that established basic human rights as a global standard.

Suffrage

The legal right to vote, granted to women in various countries by the mid-20th century.

Negritude Movement

A cultural movement that celebrated black heritage in French West Africa and the Caribbean.

Greenpeace

An environmental organization focused on direct action against practices harming the planet.

Green Belt Movement

A Kenyan initiative founded by Wangari Maathai to empower women through tree planting.

Environmental Degradation

The deterioration of the environment through the depletion of resources and pollution.

Institutionalized Racism

Systematic discrimination entrenched within societal structures, notably evident in apartheid.

Liberation Theology

A movement in the Catholic Church advocating for social justice and political activism for the poor.

Globalization

The process by which businesses and other organizations develop international influence, leading to interconnected economies.