Chose one important global issue, explain its importance and give detailed examples of action for change that schools could ta

Authors Avatar

Chose one important global issue, explain its importance and give detailed examples of action for change that schools could take to help resolve it.

                                                                                        

Global issues are so important that they may literally decide the future of the human race.  The very concept of issues that are global in scale is recent.  Global issues have and hold the potential for extensive impacts on people and the planet. Global issues are beyond the ability of any one nation to resolve and are persistent, or long-acting. Their onset may take years, decades, or even generations to be felt, and may take similar amounts of time to be resolved.

I am going to outline a few global issues briefly before finally concentrating on one particular issue, starting with conflict.  There are around thirty high-intensity wars raging around the world today.  These conflicts cause millions of casualties, as well as social and economic disruptions that threaten food supplies, health, local environments and political strength in many regions. Most conflicts start over things such as access to farmland, water, fishing grounds, timber resources, or control of valuable products such as  or coffee.  Combatant groups can be entities from opposition, communal or the government and are often members of a particular class, ethnic group, 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 cultures are founded almost solely around the production and consumption of energy.  Many people believed that our main concern was the fact that supplies will eventually run out, when in fact the greater concern about energy is that our current energy models are unsustainable because of environmental and economic issues.  Our current energy models rely mainly on hydrocarbon fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal which provide nearly 80 percent of the world’s energy.  However, this can cause smog and acid rain, and may be linked to global warming.  We also use long-established biomass fuels such as solid wood that provides almost 10 percent of the world’s energy but unfortunately contributes to deforestation and air pollution.  The final energy model we use is a nuclear generation which provides just over 6 percent of the world’s energy, but produces toxic waste which needs long-term safe disposal.  

Join now!

Human impact on the environment is becoming both more visually obvious and more extensive.  Almost 40 percent of the earth's land surface is being used as cropland or pasture land and half the planet's tropical forests have been destroyed or ruined.  The planet's protective ozone layer has been badly damaged, while huge numbers of carbon emissions causes smog and acid rain, and also contributes to global warming and climate change. All of these environmental impacts result from the needs and desires of our growing population and the models of production and consumption we use to try to meet those needs and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay