Current World Issues

[starz41]

I've learned alot about the current world issues.

there's wars, starvation, disease, genocide, pollution, etc.

and yet it seems like no matter how much people agree that these things are wrong, we still feel so powerless and put it aside hoping that someone else will solve it.

i admit to this.

i know that we need to solve these issues, or we're no better than the people commiting them.

Like during the holocaust, the bystanders could have had so much influence if they worked together.

but they were all afraid and continued living life saying, "it's okay, it's not us"

I hate it when people say this. because these things could very well happen to us tomorrow if countries decided to bomb us or turn a genocide against us.

I hate not being able to sleep because of my knowing of how screwed up the world is.

I wish i had some influence, but i have no idea where to start.

we're the next generation. and what these idiots do now is going to affect us as much as its affecting people right now.

Does anyone else ever feel this? Is there anything we CAN do? Even being teengagers?

I know this is super tree-hugger and mother theresa-y but i can't help it.

Thanks, :]

[Mr. Shiver]

I hate not being able to sleep because of my knowing of how screwed up the world is.

I wish i had some influence, but i have no idea where to start.

Start in the classroom. You'd be surprised how much you can learn from classes like English, TOK, History, Economics, etc. and apply to current problems. You're still young; now is the time to develop a proper understanding so that you can live a lifetime of awareness (and maybe even some activism when you have the time!).

Edited January 14, 2009 by Mr. Shiver

[Mahuta ♥]

At our age, there isnt much we can do. However, I do have the same feeling.

I'm always told that I should work for it from now. Do everything I can to become an effective memeber.

For example, I know 2 people that had the same thinking like yeeeeeeears ago, and they worked to be come an effective person with influence. Now they work with the UNICEF.

Me,you and anyone else could be effective in the easiest way, for our age, I raise awareness of people around me. TOK presentations are a good way to deliver your message. Like Mr.Shiver said, you learn alot from IB classes especially TOK.

If you're interested, I found this website last year, it is all about global issues in good enough details.

Global Issues

[Sears]

hmm some current issues or that are coming are,,,

1. the La Nina, its some kind of natural wind that is said to be triggered by the global warming even more and few days ago it impacted some country in southeast Asia by causing a sudden and non top rain

2. The issues of the political influence on education, do you know that Indonesian government are going to reschedule the national exams because they are going to have election? so ridiculous because of that the last year students are going to have exam sooner

3. maybe the issues of world end at 2012

4. the war still

[Mahuta ♥]

1. the La Nina, its some kind of natural wind that is said to be triggered by the global warming even more and few days ago it impacted some country in southeast Asia by causing a sudden and non top rain

Yup you're right, not only southeat asia, even here in Oman (middle east), it was warm and now we have non-stopping rain since yesterday morning, just out of the blue.

But Do you have any idea what its caused by?

[Vvi]

Yup you're right, not only southeat asia, even here in Oman (middle east), it was warm and now we have non-stopping rain since yesterday morning, just out of the blue.

But Do you have any idea what its caused by?

The condition is called either El Niño or La Nina. La Niña is the name for the cold phase, during which the cold pool in the eastern Pacific intensifies and the trade winds strengthen. El Niño is the opposite. It's difficult to explain, because there are lots of theories for it and scientists are unsure which ones are true. Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o-...ern_Oscillation

In normal, non-El Niño conditions, the winds blow towards the west across the Pacific. So they blow from South America to South East Asia. The ocean in South East Asia is several degrees warmer, allowing more organisms to thrive there, and causing more rainfall. During El Niño, the water temperature cools on one side of the ocean (Indonesia) and as a result, the winds change direction. This means more rain for South America and less for South East Asia. That's generally where the phenomenon starts from.

El Niño normally occurs around Christmas time, and was first observed in 1923. It follows an irregular pattern of years, which makes it difficult to predict. We have video from when I lived in Kenya, and it wouldn't stop raining for 3 months. The water was about 5 m high on all the streets. It's believed that El Nino may have contributed to drought conditions in South America, Africa and Australia. It also wreaks havoc in the Atlantic Ocean, which can affect the hurricane season there.

It's effects are generally more severe in equatorial regions. Fish stocks are drastically affected though, which has worldwide consequences.

[Mahuta ♥]

Wow, never really knew that. There goes something new to my info bank.

It explains alot, thanks Vvi!

Just out of curiosity, how did you manage to live normally in that condition ? (5m high)

[Vvi]

It wasn't in the area that I lived in, since we had proper drainage. It was in the slums and in the countryside. Kibera, which is in the middle of Nairobi, is the biggest slum in Africa. My school was also situated right next to another slum, Kawangware. There was a wall around the school, and outside was the slum.

Fun fact, if you can call it that: 60% of the population of Nairobi live in slums. That's 2.5 million out of 4 million.

Websites if you want pictures and more info: http://www.kibera.org.uk/Facts.html and http://mojamoja.org/kibera.htm

For this reason, I'm not very sympathetic towards people that claim they are living below the poverty line in Europe, America or the Middle East, or claim to be living in refugee camps. Real refugee camps don't have concrete buildings, running water and electricity. This is what refugee camps look like in Darfur: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=d...G=Search+Images. Obviously situations in countries are relative, but I read an article about three people in Finland living below the poverty line.

Another fun fact: the poverty line in Finland is considered to be approx. 800 euros a month. Compared to 30 dollars or less in Africa. Guess who can consider themselves a billionaire for once in their life?

[Mahuta ♥]

Now I know why you care so much about the poverty and ignorance towards africa! You actually lived there.

I agree, and one point I definatly agree with is the pverty line thingie. I would never consider any one around the world below poverty line except in africa. Picture are enough, let alone whats behind the pictures.

yeah, 880 euros a month is extremely good for some people not only in poor african countries, but in most of them.

Poverty line should be define as the line under which people are threatened to starve to death. Not people who can't fulfill ALL of their 'wants' not needs.

Oh, and I looked at the websites, and will take a closer look at them later. Thanks.

It is actually interest, the issues in africa, both my TOK presentations are about some sort of issue in africa.

[Ashika]

Join an activist group!

There are so many out there too... such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, Engineers / Doctors without Borders.

They all do humanitarian work or they raise awareness about certain issues and they do petitions and raise money etc.

You may think you're young, but seriously, a little effort can go a long way.

[Capa]

I'm part of an activist group!

At the moment, most of us seems to be thinking about the Middle East, and with that, we have forgotten for instance, Congo. I know some people have said that we should not focus so much on Palestine and Israel because we dont focus much on other disasters. I think that is wrong because it is going to send out a signal that what is happening in Gaza is ok. However, we must be against every injustice.

[Vvi]

It's true that there is a lot people can do to help, even as teenagers. People join Habitat for Humanity and help a few hours a month building homes. You can join WWF and donate money, but I don't know how much good that does.

One of the really good schemes out there is to adopt a school child (not literally, although I do have an adopted sister from Kenya). My mother does work in the West Bank with 3 different schools, where the children have sponsors in Finland that pay for part of their school fees. They give about 100 euros a year, and in return they get letters from the children. There are about 100 kids that go to school this way there. Otherwise they would end up on the streets, doing nothing, or else going to one of the bad local schools. The schools they are in give them scholarship opportunities to go study in Germany. Similar schemes run in Africa and Asia as well.

There's also an initiative by Oxfam which pools the donations people give, and use it to buy goats for families in Africa. You might say "What's the point of a goat?", but the milk that it produces can be sold for money, and when the goat has kids they can also be sold off. Many school kids go to school with the money their family makes, and it also gives them a livelihood. For more info, go to http://www.oxfamunwrapped.com.au/ViewContent.php?pageid=11 The same scheme is being done with camels, donkeys and supplies like fishing nets.

[steam.rice.sally]

I think the world is apathetic not because we don't care about what is going on, but because we do not witness what is happening. It is not directly affecting us, thus we are not making an effort to create a change.

Sometimes, I think poverty is just made up so I can appreciate what I have because I have not withnessed the famines in Africa. How do I really know it exists when I am stuck in my own little IB world thinking about my Extended Essay? In a way, we are contained, and we want to be contained because we don't want to be affected by other people's problems. For this, we are only human.

[Mahuta ♥]

I think the world is apathetic not because we don't care about what is going on, but because we do not witness what is happening. It is not directly affecting us, thus we are not making an effort to create a change.

Yup exactly, thats why when we go like "Oh..every 9 seconds someone die of starvation" most people just say: "omg! really, ouch thats so bad" but dont really show any feelings because they dont know what it means seeing someone, a human being just like me and you die every nine seconds, so by the time I finish writnig this at least 6 have died.

[Oktobrianna]

Yup exactly, thats why when we go like "Oh..every 9 seconds someone die of starvation" most people just say: "omg! really, ouch thats so bad" but dont really show any feelings because they dont know what it means seeing someone, a human being just like me and you die every nine seconds, so by the time I finish writnig this at least 6 have died.

I would actually ascribe the current "apathy" more to overexposure to that message. Not only is there a question of what can be done, but there are so many different issues that one must be very dedicated to one cause to feel that any of it is significant. I've wondered before if the lack of progress on global issues is a fragmentation of various aid efforts: "area X is deforested, area Y is polluted, area Z is impoverished..." and so on. Overall, there is a general sense of powerlessness and uncertainty. Everything's failing at once, in essence, and with so many competing causes, the feeling is that things are wrong and it'd be great to fix it, but there's no winning. And that might explain the desensitization to messages like the above. With the diversity of issues, again, they tend to all try to show us what it "means" so their efforts lead to desensitization again because we can't take all that in without losing our minds. I mean, there are so many issues right now that to fully feel the impact of all of them would conceivably be very depressing. We block these things out on purpose.

I've wondered before if there might be a viable way of uniting causes that have common elements, like focusing on the same region, disease, or whatever else, because that seems like it would concentrate the message and provide a smaller pool of recipients through which to funnel aid. A stronger, single message combined with a clearer idea of what can be done, rather than a barrage of problems that leave one confused and despairing. Indeed, less overlap and more direct use of whatever resource (time, money, whatever) is sought. But then, I have not considered the ramifications of such a plan sufficiently to do anything more than dream. Even in my own mind, I doubt the practicality of such a notion (does it work? could it even happen, if it does work?) and I have relegated this concept to the back of my mind...

[Sherry]

I'm in speech and debate so i have to learn alot about world events and sometimes when we are in class especially in philosphy and we talk about world issues, it surprises me how much self absorbed most americans are. Me included because although i learn alot about the world, if feel like i could be doing more stuff to ease the pain and suffering of many starving children but when i think about joining a group or something of that sort and i think about how much time that is going to take, i tend to do something less demanding. That is the problem with society if the leaders of the world is not willing to learn more about the world that they are living in, then how does the future look...it sure does not look very good

[HJ:)]

I feel it every single day!

I mean nowadays the financial problems are growing !

What is going on with the world these days!!!!

I want the old world back.

[Chelleee]

start with small steps, you won't be able just suddenly do something on a large scale. join groups and try get the world to see how screwed up our world really is. ignorance seems to have dominance over how our world turned out like it is now, so help eliminate it, increase awareness and start to see the small changes. that's what its all about.

[Tilia]

I do feel the same way.

What we can do is to eat fairtrade and organic stuff, trying to not use as much energy and not to consume as much. Also, to eat food produced nearby reduces the transports and thereby the carbon dioxide. The problem with this is that we Nordic people can't really eat any other vegetables than carrots and potatoes in the winter.

I guess that this is why we have service, even though working with Amnesty International made me feel terrible.

We just have to do as much as we can and try to leave the Earth in a better state than what it is now.

[1-2-3]

Believe me, people do care.

A negligible number, it seems... but yeah, people do care.

I would say start a school club regarding one of these issues - fundraise, spread awareness, etc.

That way, you'd meet other people who also care...

& You will be doing something to actually combat these issues... instead of just 'caring' for them !