24._Global_problems

24) Global problems

First of whole I would like to say what globalisation is. Globalisation is a process of integration connected with social changes and sharing of political and economical events between countries. It means better cooperation between states in environmental issues, travelling (transport is becoming very easy), sharing information, business (we can buy products which were made in faraway places, there are no boundaries), manufacturies, finance (bad policy of American banks influenced the whole world; the crisis started), sport, culture (fast spread, influence) and many more.

The process of globalization is connected with the problem of developed and developing countries. The world is kind of divided. In the North there are mostly richer, developed countries. On the other hand in the South there are countries of the second or third world, which are poor, there is famine, poverty, illiteracy, many diseases, such as AIDS and many others. The North tries to help South, they try to provide education there, ensure electricity and fresh water, send doctors there, they also establish many charity organizations and a lot of people and celebrities adopt children, who don´t have parents, from these poor countries. However, foreign investors often misuse these people, because they can use them as a cheap labour. They also might not follow the production rules as they would have to in their countries.

Now, I’m going to talk about global problems. Global problems are those problems that concern the whole world; they affect the entire Earth and are connected with modern civilization. It’s really important to take care of them, watch the progress and do some research, because global problems can cause serious accidents, for example natural disasters, and they can also have many consequences.

Some of the global issues that are discussed lately are the global warming, air and water pollution, depletion of the ozone layer or habitat destruction and species extinction.

The most discussed and the most controversial global problem is global warming. This process is caused by the greenhouse effect. This means that the hot sun rays come through the atmosphere to the Earth, they bounce back from the ground, but they can’t go back to space, because they can’t go through the layer of carbon dioxide. So the heat stays here and Earth’s temperature is getting higher. The cause of the greenhouse effect is actually the production of carbon dioxide. CO2 is produced mainly by factories, cars and by burning fossil fuels, for example coal.

This is also connected with the other problem – deforestation of the Earth. People cut down the trees and mainly rain forests for wood and paper, but deforestation actually helps the global warming – the trees produce oxygen and thanks to photosynthesis they would consume the carbon dioxide. But since more forests are being cut down, less CO2 can be absorbed and also many animal species which live in these areas are in danger of extinction.