CONTEMPORARY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Global Issues

  • have a particular focus

  • impact social, economic, environmental, health and security concerns

  • e.g. political issue, environmental issue, etc.

Characteristics of Global Issues

  • Significant, impact everyone’s lives

  • Persistent, long-lasting, difficult to stop

  • Transboundary/ Transnational, happen all over the world

  • Interconnected, all global issues are connected with each other

Corroboration

  • asks students to collect details from many sources to determine the points of agreement and disagreement

Analyzing Global Issues

  • When analyzing global issues, we can use the Iceberg Model to help us.

    1. Events- tip of the iceberg

      • what we can only see and only 10% of what we know

      • e.g. the title of a news article

    2. Patterns- the middle, under the water

      • occurrence of similar events

      • stories that happened that are similar to the news article

      • emergent phenomena

      • answers “What is going on?”

    3. Structures- bottom of the iceberg. under the water

      • root cause of the issue

      • backstory, how to problem started

      • foundation of the system

Disinformation

  • false information that is spread on purpose, the person who spreads it means to mislead you

  • propaganda, manipulated narrative

Misinformation

  • false informations that is spread regardless of the intention of misleading. It is spread on accident and the person who spreads it doesn’t know that the information is false.

Climate Change

  • change in the usual weather condition found in the place

  • long-term shifts in weather but it could be natural due to solar cycle variations

  • human activities are the main cause of climate change

Causes of Climate Change

  1. Human Waste

    • pollution, conflict and wars, global warming

  2. Deforestation

    • loss of trees and forests due to the cutting down of trees

  3. Capitalism

    • pursuit on profit led to the destruction of the environment

    • buying, selling, producing products causes destruction

  4. Industry

    • the gases we let out from productions causes an unsafe earth condition

    • the three larges gases are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane

Consequences of Climate Change

  1. sea levels rise

  2. extreme weather conditions

  3. increased precipitation

  4. risks to nature

  5. water scarcity

  6. declining biodiversity

  7. intense droughts

  8. melting polar ice

Capitalism and its Impact to Climate Change

  • current economic and social system based on private property, wage labour and production for profit

  • In capitalism, there is a cycle: Factories who employ workers to earn money for products which earns money for businessmen who builds factories…

Climate action is expensive and requires financial investments by businesses and the government but climate inaction is more expensive however our government decides to spend all our money on the things that do not help climate change.

Paris Agreement

  • To tackle climate change, the world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) reached a breakthrough on December 12, 2015

Hazards

  • dangerous situations or phenomenons which can pose as a threat to humans

  • can be natural or man- made

  • once they affect humans, they can lead to disasters

Disasters

  • severe destruction of a community

  • a hazard becomes a disaster when the people living and the place is affected (buildings broken, loss of lives)

For example, a hazard can start off as a typhoon but once the typhoon causes destruction of buildings it becomes a disaster.

Types of Natural Hazards

  1. Geophysical Hazards

    • natural events that happen to the earth

    • landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis

  2. Hydrological Hazards

    • water-based events

    • flood, avalanche, tsunamis

  3. Climatological Hazards

    • hazards that are a part of climate change, have long-term shifts

    • droughts, heat waves, cold waves\

  4. Meteorological Hazards

    • atmospheric phenomena

    • rain, tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, hail

  5. Biological Hazards

    • hazards that come from living things

    • flus, epidemics

Types of Man-made Hazards

  1. Electrical Hazards

    • exposed wires

  2. Physical Hazards

    • heat, air quality, slipper floors, poor lighting, noise

  3. Chemical Hazards

    • those items that have toxic properties that could affect your body

  4. Flammable Hazards

    • combustible items that can start a fire

  5. Biological Hazards

    • bacteria, animals, humans, insects, birds, plants, viruses

Man-made Hazards

  • Transport Accidents

    • airplanes crash

    • cars crash

    • boats crash

  • Industrial Accidents

    • unsafe working conditions

    • dangerous workplace practices

    • other factors

Risk Assessment

  • Identify hazards and risk factors that could potentially cause harm and become a disaster

  • Analyze and evaluate the risk associated with the hazard

  • Find ways to eliminate and stop the hazard or control the risk

Disaster Preparedness and Risk Mitigation

  • refers to the information and capacity provided by the government and professional organizations to help those in the community and individuals to respond

  • giving early warning signals

  • contingency planning

  • storing of food and supplies

  • preparing evacuation centers

  • information dissemination to the public

NDRRMC: Natural Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council

  • Philippine Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010

    • It turned from being a recovery system for disasters to becoming a disaster risk reduction system

  • tasked to help the citizens prepare for natural disasters

  • Not only does it monitor natural calamities, but it also monitors human-induced emergencies like armed conflicts and maritime accidents

  • Following the contract, they made a plan for 2011-2028

    1. Disaster Prevention and Mitigation

      • Secretary: DOST, Department of Science and Technology

      • avoiding hazards and mitigating potential impacts (avoiding problematic situations) by reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing capacities of communities

    2. Disaster Preparedness

      • Secretary: DILG, Department of Interior and Local Government

      • preparing the citizens from natural disasters (some can be unexpected) by having evacuation drills for example, also preparing them for the worst to happen for example, injuries or health emergency

    3. Disaster Response

      • Secretary: DSWD, Department of Social Welfare and Development

      • after a disaster, helping the people with their basic needs

    4. Disaster Rehabilitation and Recovery

      • Secretary: NEDA, National Economic and Development Authority

      • helping the communities recover and fix destroyed buildings or facilities after a disaster