The Challenges of Our World

The Environmental Crisis

• In 1962, American scientist Rachel Carson argued that the use of pesticides— chemicals sprayed on crops to kill insects—was having deadly, unforeseen results.

  • Carson’s warnings alarmed many scientists and gave rise to a new field of science called ecology, the study of the relationship between living things and their environment

• Dangers to the environment have many sources

  • Deforestation—the clearing of forests—is one by-product of the growing population

  • Especially worrisome is the rapid destruction of tropical rain forests near Earth’s equator.

• Another danger to the environment is chemical waste.

  • Many scientists warn that the release of chlorofluorocarbons is destroying the ozone layer, a thin layer of gas in the upper atmosphere that shields Earth from the Sun’s ultraviolet rays.

• Other scientists have proposed the existence of a greenhouse effect, global warming caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

• Yet another problem is acid rain, the rainfall that results when sulfur produced by factories mixes with moisture in the air.

• Major ecological disasters have also occurred during the last 20 years.

  • These ecological disasters made people more aware of the need to deal with environmental problems.

• Individual nations have reacted to environmental problems by enacting recycling programs, curbing the dumping of toxic materials, and instituting water conservation measures.

The Technological Revolution

• Modern transportation and communication systems are transforming the world community.

• The exploration of space is another world-changing development.

  • In 1969, the American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.

  • Space probes and shuttle flights have increased scientific knowledge, but not without human costs.

• In the field of health, new medicines enable doctors to treat both physical and mental illnesses.

  • Technological changes in the field of health have raised new concerns, however.

• In agriculture, the Green Revolution has promised immense returns.

  • The technological revolution has also led to the development of more advanced methods of destruction.

• The end of the Cold War in the late 1980s reduced the chances of a major nuclear war.

• After anthrax-filled letters were used to kill U.S. citizens in 2001, people around the world became more aware of the increased availability and the potential threat of biological and chemical weapons.

  • Biowarfare, the use of disease and poison against civilians and soldiers in wartime, is not new, however.

• Governments have made agreements to limit the research, production, and use of biological and chemical weapons.

• These measures have not prevented terrorists and terrorist-supporting governments from practicing bioterrorism, the use of biological and chemical weapons in terrorist attacks.

Economic and Social Changes

• Since World War II, the nations of the world have developed a global economy—an economy in which the production, distribution, and sale of goods take place on a worldwide scale.

• In 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) was established.

  • One of the features of the global economy is the wide gap between rich and poor nations.

• The poor nations, sometimes called developing countries, are located mainly in the Southern Hemisphere and include many nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

• A serious problem in developing countries is explosive population growth.

• Rapidly growing populations have caused many people to move to cities to find jobs.

• Hunger has also become a staggering problem.

• Civil wars have been especially devastating in creating food shortages.

• To improve their economic situations, developing nations have sought to establish industrial economies.

  • The gap between rich and poor nations is also reflected in the status of women.

  • In the Western world, the gap between men and women has been steadily narrowing.

  • Women in developing countries, by contrast, often remain bound to their homes and families and subordinate to their fathers and husbands.

Political Challenges

• After World War II, African and Asian leaders identified democracy as the defining theme of their new political cultures.

• In recent years, there have been signs of renewed interest in democracy in various parts of the world, particularly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

• Unfortunately, regional, ethnic, and religious differences continue to create conflict around the world.

Global Visions

The United Nations

• As people have become aware that many problems humans face are global—not national—they have responded to this realization in different ways.

• The United Nations (UN) has been one of the most visible symbols of the new globalism.

  • The United Nations was founded in 1945 in San Francisco, when representatives of the Allied forces worked out a plan for a new international organization.

  • The General Assembly of the United Nations is comprised of representatives of all member nations.

• The most important advisory group of the United Nations is the Security Council.

  • A number of specialized agencies function under the direction of the United Nations.

• These include the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

  • All these agencies have been successful in provid- ing aid to address economic and social problems.

• The United Nations has on various occasions provided peacekeeping forces, which are military forces drawn from neutral member states to settle conflicts and supervise truces.

New Global Visions

• One approach to the global problems we face has been the development of social movements led by ordinary citizens.

• Hazel Henderson, a British-born economist, has been especially active in founding public interest groups

• Related to the emergence of social movements is the growth of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

  • NGOs include professional, business, and cooperative organizations; foundations; religious, peace, and disarmament groups, which work to limit or reduce armed forces and weapons; youth and women’s organizations; environmental and human rights groups; and research institutes.

• According to the American educator Elise Boulding, who has been active in encouraging the existence of these groups, NGOs are an important instrument in the cultivation of global perspectives.

• Global approaches to global problems, however, have been hindered by political, ethnic, and religious disputes.

• The collapse of the Soviet Union has led to the emergence of new nations in conflict and a general atmosphere of friction and tension throughout much of Eastern Europe

• Many lessons can be learned from the study of world history.

• The choices we make in our everyday lives will affect the future of world civilization.