#18 Three Most Pressing Issues

I personally feel that every issue we discussed this year in World Issues is important, however if I had to choose three which I personally see as being the most influential on a global scale I would choose the following:


The European Debt Crisis:
The Economy crisis in Europe is still prevalent, and in my opinion is one of the most pressing issue that we covered this year in world issues.

This year we spent a great deal of time learning about the European debt crisis, we especially focused on countries like Greece and Italy who may still yet be forced to default.
People across Europe have rioted and protested against government cuts. Billion dollar bailouts have been arranged - and failed to achieve their goal, and most importantly the world economy is dramatically suffering as a consequence of poor financial planning.

The Euro was created to make Europe a stronger force, it was meant to unite the countries of Europe and solidify their position together in the European Union. Unfortunately it is doing the opposite of that, countries that are defaulting on their debts (Greece) are dragging down other countries (Germany)  who are just managing to stay afloat.

The debt crisis is Europe is affecting the global economy, as a consequence of european debts millions of people across the globe are losing jobs, and being forced to make changes in order to save money - all as a consequence of a few mediterranean countries defaulting on their loans.

The Arab Israeli Conflict:
We spent a great deal of time dedicated to the Arab Israeli Conflict this year. I took part in an organised 'game' where I represented Egypt, I wrote a report detailing the different aspects of the conflict - both in the real world and in the game.

The reason why I feel that the AIC is such an important issue is because the conflicts that have arisen from this single conflict range from terrorist attacks to political uprisings, it has truly become a war that involves counties from across the globe, although it can be debated that some countries are more interested in profiting from this war, than ending it.  

Apart from the world wars, the world has never been host to such a conflict, where western powers are forced to band together to fight an 'enemy' which upon closer inspection is so intently rooted into a society that no amount of western influence will ever be able to change it.


Maintaining Biodiversity:
Biodiversity is a world issue that many people choose to overlook, or simply not understand. I chose it as one of my top three because it is an issue that affects the entire planet and will continue to do so until enough awareness is raised, and enough people are educated as to how to make a change.

Biodiversity on planet earth is rapidly declining, solely due to human impacts on nature.
During the year my teacher made a reference that humanity is like a cancer slowly draining the earth of all life and resource. I found this analogy interesting because I could not help but notice the similarities between humanity and cancer - the earth acting as our dying host.

However unlike cancer, humanity has the ability to realise the dangers of consuming too much, before it is too late, which is why I believe that through education and action as a global community we can become a world where maintaining biodiversity is no longer a challenging issue.