Over the course of the next few months, i will be WRITING blogs about present global issues.
Sustainable development is a tough and complex subject that has been a troubling issue over the past years. The concept of sustainable development is to develop enough so that our generations can move on and thrive, while keeping the future, the poor, the economy, and the environment in mind. If you have not heard this term you have probably heard the context of it in a sentence something like this, "We need to be smart with what we do with the environment so that our children's children's generation will have something to live for,". Obviously this is a tough problem to solve since we are trying to balance our solution between developing infrastructure and reaching outwards with urbanization while not completely destroying earth. This is where new and innovative designs and inventions come in to add to our line of technology and benefit the people who need it now while also creating as little impact on the environment as possible. Sustainability, one of the main concepts here, is also complex in the fact that it addresses how well everyone including the poor can access basic necessities on a regular basis. It also addresses how different people interact and provide for others. This is hardest to achieve in poorer third-world countries such as th ones within Africa. Even harder countries to get to participate in this system run under communist rule. As you can see, there are many political, social, and economic reasons why attaining this goal of sustainability through development would be hard. While our efforts to create worldwide sustainability continue, we are still faced with the pressing issue of preserving our environment. We need to make sure that we are not just looking at whether the ends meet the means; we need to be able to consider the long term results of our actions and efforts now and how the means will effect our future generations to come. Although creating more infrastructure and generating more electricity should increase sustainability it also might start an growing chain of detriments and harm to our environment through destruction, urbanization, exhaust, and pollution. For this reason innovative and environmentally save inventions within technology will be the key to attaining sustainable development in the future. Sources:
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/367/sustainable-development
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The recent Ebola outbreak that began in late 2013 and carried over to 2014 has been recorded as the worst of its kind in history. The virus spread to and affected the African countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal. All of these countries were devastated by the disease as it spread uncontrollably throughout the villages with ineffective attempts to isolate and remove the disease. The disease thrived in these areas due to the fact that medical and scientific resources were lacking in these areas. These poorer countries do not have some of the basic and crucial infrastructure and precautions that we have in the U.S.. Not only are medical resources lacking in these countries but also is research, information, awareness, and leadership. The disease is suspected to have originated from an infected, or more specifically a infected bat. It must have contracted to humans through physical contact with one of these infected animals. This interaction is thought to have happened many years ago. Due to all of the recent and serious hype and concern about Ebola, some people receive the misconception that Ebola is a new virus. However, Ebola outbreaks have been occurring for quite a while. In fact, scientists are starting to notice a trend or pattern of Ebola outbreaks occurring every twenty years. This gap between outbreaks allows pharmaceutical companies to forget about the severity and danger of the Ebola virus and shift their focus on medication for other viruses. Then when the outbreak finally occurs, most people are not prepared or safe. Sources:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/804/ebolav Global warming is a term that is placed on an increase in average global temperatures. Global warming is a somewhat controversial topic in the fact that some believe it to be a result human activity and pollution while others believe it to be just a result of normal and natural environmental fluctuation in temperatures. The main cause of increasing global warming is related the increasing problem of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is essentially the effect of a blanket of gasses in the earth's atmosphere. In result, the sun radiates energy to earth and reflecting heat radiation that would rather radiate back out into space is trapped within the earth's atmosphere by these greenhouse gases. This heats up the atmosphere much faster resulting in global warming. The main greenhouse gases that are found in the atmosphere are, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and three fluorinated gases including HFCs, PFCs, and sulphur hexafluoride. All of these gases occur naturally in the environment and are actually vital in some cases, however, through pollution and human impact, humans have emitted excessive amounts of these gases into the atmosphere. There are several indicators of global warming growing and creating a larger impact on the environment each year. These include, increase in troposphere temperature, increase in humidity, increase in ocean heat content, sea ice melting, glacial melting, snow cover melting, and increase in sea level. It is clear to see, while looking at the data, that global warming is on a steep and constant incline over these past few years. If global warming continues to worsen, there may be some serious environmental issues that arise in the future. Sources:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/233/climate-change-and-global-warming-introduction#WhatisGlobalWarmingandClimateChange Racism is a personal and social problem that every country all over the world faces today. Racism is the belief that a person can be attributed certain rights, abilities, and characteristics based on their race. Racist people also normally believe that one race is better than another. Racism and discrimination have both been used throughout history to intimidate and scare other races. One example of this would be white supremacy groups such as the KKK against African Americans in the civil rights movements. Racism tends to rise in areas undergoing issues such as conflict, war, or economic downturn. During these times of conflict, stress and anger is heightened and people are usually looking for someone to blame for their problems. One more example would be recently when the economy started to suffer and many people lost their jobs. Much of the blame went to Mexican immigrants because they were thought to be stealing their jobs. This was mostly based off of the stereotype that Mexicans work for cheaper and more rigorous manual labor.
Racism is a very touchy issue that lies within the boundaries of many controversial and hazy subjects such as freedom of speech and equal rights. Although saying racist and discriminating comments is discouraged and unspeakable to most, others argue that it is their right under freedom of speech to be able to say racist comments. Obviously this causes a lot of conflict and controversy between races and people of different ideals and morals. Overall racism, no matter the form, should be avoided, otherwise it can lead to catastrophic events such as the holocaust. Racism has been especially discouraged after the holocaust where we pledged never to give in to such serious discrimination and hatred again. Recent shifts in the style of warfare and conflicts over the last couple decades has initiated a rise in internal conflicts within countries such as the issue of terrorism. Terrorism jeopardizes the security and liberties of citizens through violence to spark fear in a country that disobeys or opposes their beliefs. Terrorism is conducted by groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, however they also are present in smaller groups over local issues and debates. One rather large target of terrorism is the United States. The obvious example of these tragedies was 9/11. Al-Qaeda, lead by Osama Bin Laden, hijacked several planes and intended to crash them into some of the most important buildings in America. When two of the planes hit the world trade center buildings, 2,606 people were killed. The catastrophic 9/11 event lead to many changes in the social opinions and security of the United States. Directly after 9/11 security was cranked up along with promises that this would never happen again. These changes were of course for the best but changed the average Americans life and forever. People now had to worry about bombs and shooting when they went out and got in a plane or bus. People at schools, streets, parks, and movie theaters were not even completely safe as we have seen in the past year. The more people are focused on trouble and eliminating it, the more trouble is going to occur. Terrorism had become a new way of scaring the public and making a point. A huge loss of innocence, security, and bliss had undergone and continued to grow. 9/11 also caused to much paranoia to the point where every Muslim was looked at as a terrorist. This new rise in racism and hate lead to more crime, death, and discourse. The United States was now faced with the issue of best eliminating and preventing terrorism without showing any racism or degrading actions towards Muslims. They had to show the public that this newer idea of terrorism consisted of a group separate from a whole religious group or country. Terrorism is one of the worst types of violent conflict in the fact that it targets the innocent citizens while causing so much internal conflict and distrust. http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/terrorism/
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/245/war-on-terror Natural disasters occur around the world in many different ways such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and hurricanes. They can cause catastrophic damage and kill many people in severe situations. They often roll through villages or cities, destroying everything in its path. They leave poverty, homelessness, pollution, and property damage along with food and water shortages. Poorer affected cities are often in distress after these events in their struggle to rebuild and bounce back from the disaster. They usually end up asking other countries as well as international groups such as the IMF for aid. This aid can be provided through food, military, or financially. When they finally do end up rebuilding and recovering, many countries are still caught up in loads of debt. These catastrophes have occurred in many cases all over the world and often have the worst effect on third world countries. One instance occurred in Madagascar in 2000. In the month of February devastating floods and a cyclone occurred. Their city was devastated and in desperate need of help and financial support. They looked towards the international community, asking for support in their recovery. The support came slowly as about 300,000 people lost everything they had from floods that continued to wash out the region. Further, many feared that the floods would wash out mines from some of the many minefields that covered the country. In the end, this natural disaster was estimated to have affected 600,000 Madagascans. Sources:
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/522/natural-disasters In 1994, North Korea signed a treaty that promised they would cease all development. In contingency of this agreement, the U.S. also promised to supply them with oil and two safer nuclear reactors. In 2002, North Korea broke this treaty by restarting their nuclear development programs. This upset and concerned many countries around the world including The U.S.. However, their were arguments back towards the U.S. that they had initially broken the treaty before this conflict when they stopped supplying the country with fuel for thermal power plants. They also found that their project to build safer nuclear plants was behind schedule. As North Korea starts it's nuclear programs up once again, they promise to only intend it for helpful civilian use, however, many fear that this will lead to the development of nuclear weapons. Along with this, came another unsettling break of treaty that stated North Korea would resume ballistic missile tests as well. In 2006, explosions were identified and confirmed as Korean nuclear testing. Due to Korea's history of irrationality and violence, their disobedience and rogue behavior is very concerning to other countries. Even small steps like these that work towards putting nuclear weapons of mass destruction into Korean hands are avoided and frowned apon by many. Sources:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/698/north-korea-and-nuclear-weapons Overpopulation is a problem that is inevitably growing more and more by the year, leading to many other problems. The population of the world today is roughly about 7.125 billion and it is increasing at a rate of about 1.2%. This shows the success of the human race on earth. Our population is high, increasing, and people have long life spans. Seems pretty healthy doesn't it? Except its not exactly; its growing to a point where we are straining all of the resources, systems, societies, and infrastructure that we have set up for ourselves since our existence. Although our crop production and international travel and shipping is faster than ever, its going to reach a point where it's not fast enough anymore to feed and sustain everyone on earth. Earth and it's ecosystems were not supposed to be dominated or tampered with. Its a great thing to look back and see how far we have come from unintelligent cavemen to rocket scientists sending ships to the moon. The growth and development of species is great but their are always limits. As we grew, we achieved greatness and innovation, but what can we achieve other than discord and greed among a crowded world? From caveman, to rocket scientist, to what? How much farther can we get on earth? But that's just it; we can't go much farther on earth. Earth is an area with limited space and resources. It has boundaries that even we advanced humans can't protect ourselves from at some point. That is why some scientists are looking towards outer space and to other planets; to expand our space and resources. Lets be honest though, that is neither a permanent nor probable solution in the near future to this problem. So we have to look to other solutions. Some may be child limit laws such as the one in China, however, there are some controversial and moral opinions about that solution. There are frankly not many options for us as a society to do to solve this. It's either something like this or let natural causes eventually cause chaos and death. The stress of overpopulation can lead to many disagreements and problems. The stress it puts on resources can start fights over food, water, etc.. It can also lead to more poverty, disease, and crime. An overpopulated environment with less authority to control everyone cultivates these kinds of problems. If you look at poorer countries that are already experiencing these problems such as China and India, you can get a preview of what the world could look like in 100 years. Globalization is truthfully one of the biggest problems that will ever face the human race because it is constantly growing and is inescapable. We have no solution even put into much thought on a worldwide scale, but we should start getting one or it could very well could cause the biggest catastrophe to ever face the human race. http://www.globalissues.org/issue/198/human-population
www.Google.com Over 3 billion people around the world live on less than $2.50 a day. That makes up almost half the worlds population. Additionally, 80 percent of the worlds populations lives in countries where their Gini coefficient is rapidly rising. Today, poverty is a very present problem. Many people make efforts around the world to end this crisis. However, if you stop and look around you will notice that there is often wealth near by. Large amounts of wealth and poverty can usually both be found in countries, creating a divide of lifestyles between citizens. Rich citizens and business men live nice and privileged lives and continue to earn more money with their money. This problem only worsens over time; the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Most poor people end up getting dug in a pit of depth and poverty that is nearly impossible to get out of. Bad jobs and low wages are attracted to poorer areas, giving them low incomes. unpaid loans and bills generate interest and putting checking accounts farther in the red each day. This extreme poverty lives to unsafe living conditions, unsanitary food, unclean water, and, in turn, expensive medical bills. More than 2.6 billion people live without basic sanitation in their everyday lives. Not only that, but very few poor ever get an adequate enough education to break free of poverty and get a better job. Most poor people live without the simple and under appreciated protections and services we are provided with. Poverty could be fixed to a point where no person would have to wonder how they would get clean water everyday they get up in the morning or feed their family. It may seem like a huge problem (which it obviously is), but that doesn't mean we can't work towards fixing it. If we took one percent of the money we spent on weapons worldwide, we could solve world poverty. There are many other things that we can stop in order to work farther towards the elimination of poverty. One thing would be to produce less waste by recycling more, being more efficient, and resourceful. Removing corruption from our economies would increase the flow of income to the poor and release it from the hands of the people who definitely don't need more of it. More money is spent on things such as military, narcotics, alcohol, and even pet food rather than basic sanitation, water, food, and health, Throughout the world, poverty is consuming and hurting the lower class, while we do very little to help. Aids is an immunodeficiency that is spread through bodily fluids such a blood and by sexual intercourse. Due to these methods of infection, this disease can spread very easily. It is most common in African countries. There are several reasons why this disease is so common in African countries. One is that African countries aren't very developed. By this, I mean that African countries do not have very good equipment, prevention, protection, knowledge, awareness, or medications such as antibiotics to fight pathogens such as these. The technology and medical equipment in Africa is poor due to their lack of wealth and innovation in these areas. The knowledge and awareness is low in these Africa because there isn't much research or reliable resources in the area to teach people about medical problems such HIV. Along with this comes the lack of protection because people are not aware that they need this protection nor are they usually supplied with it. This also means that Africa is a bad location to have AIDS due to the fact that it is an immunodeficiency disease, and other severe diseases very common there. This is again caused by their poor qualities such as uncleanliness, unawareness, and lack of medicine. Another poor quality of some African countries that increases the rate of aids is poor leadership. Poor leaders can give poor information on problems if not entirely wrong information. One former president of south Africa insisted on telling his people that AIDS was not a result of HIV. Poor leadership can cause confusion and draw attention away from important prevention an eradication movements during crises such as the outbreak of AIDS. Africa is home to 70% of all the worlds population living with AIDS, and 70% of all AIDS deaths as well. All of these poor traits of Africa contribute to the increase in amount of AIDS and HIV within its countries. |