"We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations, far away.... We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former US President, 1945.
This quote is highly affective in describing the world we live in today because it recognizes our dependency issues as a global population. Throughout history we have become mutually dependent on other countries, this is called interdependence. This is most noticeable in terms of trade, our imports and exports. The things we can't produce ourselves, we rely on other nations to get. In any given day, the majority of the food we eat isn't grown within 100 mile radius or even 1000 mile radius of where we live. The raspberries you just ate came from Mexico, the strawberries from California; "locally grown" is almost a foreign concept.
The shoes you're wearing, do they say made in Canada? Mine don't. Nowadays it seems almost everything is made in China. Why is this you ask? The answer simply boils down to cost. We are living in a world where this is the most common concern; why pay someone locally for something you could get for a fraction of the cost across the ocean. Interdependency doesn't just apply to things we CAN'T produce, but the things we don't WANT to produce, because our well-being isn't only physical, but financial as well.
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