The modern world is a place that in many ways in unrecognizable from its state about thirty years ago maybe even twenty. The changes that have occurred in nearly every single facet of life is seriously incredible. The advancements in our technologies, our dealings, and our society have made leaps and bounds since the 80s and the 90s. Unfortunately, many of these advancements are quite negative on the environment, but they are hidden from the public eye in order to continue the system in which the world operates in. Our discovery of new business models and the idea of outsourcing has brought a serious amount of economic gain for the corporations taking part in the activities, but its brought an incredible amount of suffering and degradation to a vast number of communities and cities across the developing world.

A study conducted by the United Nations states that the three thousand largest companies in the world have created 2.2 billion dollars of environmental damage on the earth which is more than a third of their profits if they were to pay the damages. This study has made a discovery in the potential reason as to why so many corporations are able to price their products at such a low value. One example that was mentioned in class during the “Story of Stuff” video was the small radio example. A radio at Radio Shack costs $4.99, and although that seems a great low cost and the majority of consumers would simply be happy with the cheap cost and be on their merry way listening to their new tunes. However, there is a small but growing portion of the population that would stop to think, how is this radio so inexpensive. After pondering this question for a while the person may realize that the raw materials for the  plastic and metal on that radio was most likely mined from two different countries then made into plastic and metal, then formed to the correct shape, then shipped somewhere else to be assembled and then shipped to a distribution plant, and then to the store. Every step of the way somebody was paid for the movement of the materials from one country or one plant to another. All of this movement and all of this action taken and only a $4.99 charge did not seem like it made sense, all of that had to be more expensive than five bucks, and it was. The costs were paid for by the sleepless nights and miserable standard of living for the people collecting the raw materials. The costs were also paid for by the sweatshop workers and the 15-year-olds that are forced to work long tumultuous hours to bring back the absolute bare minimum to their families and hope they do not starve. Our costs are cut because of the terrible conditions that are forced upon the people who prepare the goods we use and take advantage of on a daily basis.

One particular company that has been called out for their externalization of costs to China specifically due to their serious exploitation of the cheap labor and lack of environmental regulations is Apple. There are a number of examples of wrongdoings carried out by Apple, however, in the majority of cases, Apple refuses involvement in the instances of the actual injustices being pushed upon these workers in these countries. Apple tries to shield themselves in a way by outsourcing their production to subcontracting companies in order to be disconnected to their employees thus not being able to take any full blame for the conditions thrust upon these unbelievably unlucky people. One of Apple’s recently subcontracted company is Pegatron. Pegatron is a company that is used for the outsourcing of labor, they are described as a manufacturing service provider which means they find people to work for you. Although this company sounds like a very good idea to help the connection between an American owned company and a Chinese labor force, it seems that “good” is not one of the aspects of their character. Recently Apple has come under heavy fire for its employment practices and many of the problems are stemming from Pegatron. A few of the many issues mentioned were that the workers were being forced to work excessive overtime and their wages were cut down to only $1.60 an hour. In addition, interns hired by Pegatron were forced to work nearly the same amount of hours as the employees. Each of these actions taken is preposterous and outright disregarding the livelihoods of thousands of people employed by them, as well as all of their families. Thankfully, Apple has pushed seemingly strong campaigns against the poor conditions existent in the workplace and they have in the past cut ties with some of their most offensive subcontractors.

Although Apple takes the front that they are not directly involved with the manufacturing process since they outsource their manufacturing to subcontractors, they need to still be held accountable for the actions taken by the people that they employ to make their products. The people hired by Pegatron should be considered Apple employees because in turn they are being paid by Apple, and Apple should see that they are not being paid enough.

Today’s society is moving more towards an incredibly polarized society, with globalization and global capitalism the gap between the countries that have modern technology and advancements and the countries that are relied on by the wealthier companies for raw materials and resources is becoming outrageous. Capitalism is driving the world apart, especially in socioeconomic standing. We must work to bring the world together and advance as a human race and not as individual countries. The only way to combat the inching towards the demise of our planet is if we work together to solve the problems that have been created by systems such as capitalism.