Global Issues And Their Importance
By Sharon White Global issues are of great importance for they may literally decide thefuture of the human race. The very concept of issues that are globalin scale is recent. Global issues have and hold the potential forextensive impacts on people and the planet. Global issues are beyondthe ability of any one nation to resolve and are persistent, orlong-acting. Their onset may take years, decades, or even generationsto be felt, and may take similar amounts of time to be resolved. I am going to outline a few global issues briefly before finallyconcentrating on one particular issue, starting with conflict. Thereare around thirty high-intensity wars raging around the world today. These conflicts cause millions of casualties, as well as social andeconomic disruptions that threaten food supplies, health, localenvironments and political strength in many regions. Most conflictsstart over things such as access to farmland, water, fishing grounds,timber resources, or control of valuable products such as diamonds orcoffee. Combatant groups can be entities from opposition, communal orthe government and are often members of a particular class, ethnicgroup, or religion struggling for right to use to natural resources,social services, or political power. After food and water, energy is our most basic need. Modern culturesare founded almost solely around the production and consumption ofenergy. Many people believed that our main concern was the fact thatsupplies will eventually run out, when in fact the greater concernabout energy is that our current energy models are unsustainablebecause of environmental and economic issues. Our current energymodels rely mainly on hydrocarbon fuels like oil, natural gas, andcoal which provide nearly 80 percent of the worlds energy. However,this can cause smog and acid rain, and may be linked to globalwarming. We also use long-established biomass fuels such as solidwood that provides almost 10 percent of the worlds energy butunfortunately contributes to deforestation and air pollution. Thefinal energy model we use is a nuclear generation which provides justover 6 percent of the worlds energy, but produces toxic waste whichneeds long-term safe disposal. Human impact on the environment is becoming both more visually obviousand more extensive. Almost 40 percent of the earth’s land surface isbeing used as cropland or pasture land and half the planet’s tropicalforests have been destroyed or ruined. The planet’s protective ozonelayer has been badly damaged, while huge numbers of carbon emissionscauses smog and acid rain, and also contributes to global warming andclimate change. All of these environmental impacts result from theneeds and desires of our growing population and the models ofproduction and consumption we use to try to meet those needs anddesires. Much of the damage to the environment is a result ofover-consumption of resources and production of wastes by wealthynations and individuals. Nothing is as basic to human survival as food and water. But billionsof people lack access to adequate nutrition and clean water. Around800 million people are chronically hungry and over two billion lackadequate nutrition and more than 80 countries now face watershortages. There is enough food available to feed everyone on the planet, today.But economic policies, poverty, discrimination, and poor governancekeep many people from receiving enough food. Through destroyingnatural habitats for farmland, over-fishing, pollution from pesticidesand fertilizers, soil erosion, and desertification, we are also doingdamage to the Earth in producing much of our food. Health is completely essential for social and economic development. Population growth, globalization, and unsuitable development have madehealth more fragile than ever for many people in the world. Inadequate development has resulted in poverty and insufficient healthservices in much of the world, while over-consumption by developednations has created severe environmental health impacts. Health isvery much linked to other global issues. For example, poverty is amajor contributor to ill health. Poor people, especially women andchildren, often cannot afford sufficient nutrition, clean water, oraccess to medical attention. Ill health, therefore, traps people in orcondemns them to poverty. I am going to finally concentrate on the gap between the rich and pooras a global issue and hopefully comprise an idea for action that aprimary school could take on. As time goes by, the gap between the worlds rich and poor is becominglarger and larger, both within countries and among them. The vastmajority of the worlds population is receiving an ever-decreasingshare of its wealth, while the share claimed by a few rich nations andindividuals is steadily growing. The results of this widening rich-poor gap are diverse. They includeenvironmental destruction as richer nations can afford to over-consumeresources, while poorer nations are forced to over-exploit theenvironment just to survive. People may be forced to migrate and movein search of adequate resources. They also include conflict wealthier nations fight to keep what they have, while those sufferinga lack of resources fight to attain them. Global inequality has manycauses and is diverse and complex. Such as, the unequal distributionof natural resources, and lack of access to education, healthcare,especially for women and girls. History has shown that individuals and nations do not have to stay inpoverty for an indefinite period, however. With a knowledge andunderstanding of the interdependence of our world, it is possible toeradicate the original causes of poverty. By increasing economicopportunities, access improves to nutrition, education, andhealthcare. This creates a higher income, more independence (especially for women) and the opportunity to obtain environmentallysafe technology and products. When social health improves so does thestability of it, better economic production and less opportunities forconflict. Population tends to even out, governments tend to be moredemocratic, and environmental protection becomes both more desired andattainable. Most people have an image in their minds of what they perceive to be apoor person but rarely think beyond that image to all the other waysbeing poor affects a persons life, or how that poverty affects thelarger world. Wealth and poverty are closely associated to population. Whenpopulation increases, there are more people who must share theresources. When there arent enough resources to support the people,poverty follows. The shortage of resources and poverty may then causediscrimination, migration, environmental destruction, and conflict. High levels of education and income often work together. Educated andwealthier families tend to be smaller, and usually have fewer childrenso they can focus their resources on those children, generating betterhealth, educational, and economic outcomes. Poverty can often make families use their children as a way of earningmoney. The children may raise food, haul water, gather fuel, work insweatshops, or be sold into slavery or prostitution to help supporttheir families. The decline of the condition of the environment is a major cause ofpoverty. Overexploitation and deprivation of the resources can forcepeople into poverty, just as people living in poverty are often forcedto destroy and degrade their environment. Another major connection is between poverty and health. Poverty is themain reason that children are not vaccinated, clean water andsanitation are not available to them, life saving drugs and treatmentsare difficult to get to for poor people, and mothers die inchildbirth. There are some obvious reasons for the severe gap between rich andpoor developing regions, for example the worlds raw resources, fromwhich most wealth comes from, have never been properly shared out. Rawmaterials and goods made from them are redistributed through trade (orare taken by force). There are many things that can be done to help the problem of poverty- I am going to focus of what children can do to in and out of schoolto help. I think that the easier way of doing this is to first raiseawareness of the issue which is the first step to making real andlasting changes - this can easily be done by children in their owncommunities. For example, primary school children could get together in their classand write a letter to a newspaper editor, in the hope that many peoplewould read it and hopefully respond to it and share their opinionswith others. They could also share what theyve learnt about povertyby getting creative. Art can have a positive effect on its audiencewhich makes it a powerful tool for raising awareness about importantissues. Raising money can also help solve an issue such as this immensely. Money is usually given to programs in developing countries that needfunding for helping children get an education. With the help ofparents or teachers, children can easily help donate money by holdingan activity to raise money such as a walk-a-thon. Or even sellingsweets and cakes that they have made themselves with their families orat school. With the right kind of support from adults in the school, big eventscan be held, like a talent contest for example, in aid of raisingmoney for the fight against poverty. Another idea that could be used as an ongoing project is for Teacherscoordinate their lesson plans to focus on a particular area in acountry that needs help where there is a project being carried out,like Gambia for example. Students could learn about Zambia’s culturein history and geography. In music they could learn traditionalAfrican songs and rhythms. Parents and could become involved byhelping gather school supplies to make education kits to send to students in Zambia. The kits could include pencils, a note pad, arubber, and a sharpener, basic school supplies that many Zambianstudents don’t have. Students could then enclose a personal letter anda photograph of themselves, that could spark a global friendship witha peer in Zambia. This would teach help children see that their group effort could helpaddress the global issues of poverty and inequity in our world. All of these ideas would be ideal to be used in a school environmentfor children because firstly, the activities are fun and the childrenwill enjoy what they are doing and feel involved, and secondly, theywill feel empowered in the knowledge that their efforts will reallymake a difference in the lives of children just like them around theworld. There is no doubt that the gap between the rich and poor is growinglarger and larger. But it is not the gap that is the problem it ismore the behaviors and problems it creates within the minds of boththe rich and poor that matter. Poverty on a national and internationalscale is closely linked to many of the challenges humans face so ifthere is change in one (that could be positive or negative) impactsall the others. Because of this, efforts to reduce poverty reduce theamounts of recourses we use up, steady population growth, protect theenvironment and support human rights are together strengthened. Thereare many opportunities and choices that we could take to close the gapbetween rich and poor and get rid of poverty worldwide. The choice isours and the results could be extraordinary. The article was produced by the member of masterpapers.com. Sharon White has many years of a vast experience in Essay Writing and custom essays writing consulting. Get free samples of essays and courseworks and buy essays . Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharon_White http://EzineArticles.com/?Global-Issues-And-Their-Importance&id=310777 uk pharmacies cheap viagra buy viagra internet buy-best-k viagra -jbkcap 5 sildenafil no prescription
