Problems of today´s word

Environmental problems

1.    Population growth
Increasingly large numbers of people are born into the world every year. This increase causes more pollution, it is the reason why are more natural habitats destroyed and more natural resorces used. Population doubled between 1950 and 1987. More people mean more mouths to feed, so we need more agriculture land. It leads to deforestation and soil erosion. Britain like other rich countries tries support developing countries. Because some studies show that the number of new born people is less in the countries where literacy has increased, where women are given economic status equal to that of men.
The world’s population is over 6 billion people today. Every year a further 90 million people are added to this total. This is the same as the combined population of The United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands together.
Recent intense growth of the world’s population has awoken fears concerning the consequence of overpopulation. Many people are trying to argue that birth-rate control is inevitable if we want to prevent damage to the Earth as a whole. More than 80 states began to advertise and support provisions to control birth-rates (for example Japan and China) because of the problem of population explosion.
Population explosion began in the 1920s, when the world population was over 2 billion. In 1991 world population caused a lot of worry because the number amounted to 5.4 billion. Experts estimate that by 2025 the world’s population will come to 8.5 billion people.

2.    Global warming
It is caused almost by the greenhouse effect – the Earth receives energy from the sun (it’s visible light). Some is absorbed by the Earth and some is radiated back into space. But gases in the atmosphere absorb some of this energy. Much of these gases creates heat blanket around Earth.
The likely effects: The warming 0,3˚C a decade. Then sea level could rise by 6 cm over next century and water could submerge some low-lying coasts (Netherlands and others). At cause of this people would migrate and that would endanger peace and international security.
Without the greenhouse effect the Earth would be frozen planet with average  temperature of about  -18ºC instead of the comfortable 15˚C.If the concentration of these gases  were higher , more heat would stay in the atmosphere and temperatures would rise.

3.    Polar regions
They play a key role in setting world climate patterns and sea levels and they are homes to many unique wildlife species. Very important is funding for polar science and research.

4.    The ozone layer
It protects the earth from excessive levels of UV radiation from the sun, which can cause skin cancer and eye disorders and damage crops. It’s destroyed by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chemicals, used in aerosols, fridges, air conditioning, because foam and solvents are thinning the layer.
EU tries phasing out CFCs and contributes up money to help developing countries met their commitments to use alternatives to CFCs

5.       Rainforests
They are covering 7% land surface of the world and they are called “lungz of the Earth”, because of producing oxygen, which is very important and without it we can’t live on the Earth. Before 1900, rainforests covered 14% of the world´s surface (povrch). Today they cover 7%. The reason for this is simple. They have been cut down to provide: land, paper, wood, medicines, minerals and fuel. But it isn´t only trees which are disappearing. Every rainforest also contains millions of animals, insects and flowers. These are destroyed, too. If man continues to cut down rainforests, more than one million species (druhy) of plants and animals will become extinct (vymřít) by the year 2030. Burning of forests causes emissions of carbon dioxide. Governments are supporting to encourage good forest management.

6.     Energy
At the moment, 94% of the world´s energy comes from fossil fuels. There is enough coal for the next 300 years, but only enough gas end oil for the next 50. Then will happen: nuclear energy. But after the Chernobyl disaster (katastrofa) in 1986, many people think nuclear power isn´t safe (bezpečná).
- the green solution: there are four green solutions. They all use natural energy already in teh enviroment. That´s wind energy, solar energy from the sun, wave energy from the sea and geothermal energy from hot rocks (jádro země) under the Earth

7.    Acid rain
One of Europe and North America´s most serious pollution problems is acid rain. What happens is this. First, factories send gases and chemicals into the air. There they mix and are carried (unášeny) for hundreds of miles by the wind. Finally, they fall back to earth when it rains. This acid rain kills fish and trees. It slowly destroys (pomalu ničí) buildings too.
- the green solution: industrial countries should control their levels of pollution. This is already happening in some parts of Europe. There, several countries have cut their acid rain pollution by 30%

8.    Wildlife
Animals are a part of the enviroment, too. Millions of them are killed or treated cruelly by man every year. There are five main groups:
1. animals used for scientific research (rabbits)
2. animals killed for sport(foxes)
3. animals killed for their fur or skin (crocodiles)
4. animals in danger because their enviroments are in danger (gorillas)
5. animals kept in cruel conditions on farms (some kinds of chicken and cow)
- the green solution: groups like Greenpeace have already helped to stop whale hunting. Now, they want to stop fur-hunting, too. Like many others organisations, they believe in animal rights. Ther solution to all problems of wildlife cruelty (krutost,surovost) is simple. Animals shouldn´t suffer (trpět). The cruelty must stop.

Organisations: UNEP(United Nations Environment Programme)- this organisation is under OSN
                      GREENPEACE- is radical non-governmental organization, which fights against  killing animals for their furs or meals and is also against timber felling (kácení dřeva) and nuclear electric power stations
Social issues
Social issues are matters which directly or indirectly affect many or all members of a society and are considered to be problems.
Social issues include poverty, violence, pollution, injustice, suppression(potlačování) of human rights, discrimination, and crime, as well as abortion(inerrupce), gay marriage, gun control, and religion.
DRUGS
It is a serious health problem that more and more teenagers have taken up smoking. Even though these teens are aware that they will probably develop health problems like cancer, heart disease, and other respiratory problems, they still smoke anyway. Most teenagers start smoking in order to look cool in front of their friends but unfortunately they wind up addiction. Many tobacco companies have been blamed for making advertising, which is designed to appeal to young people. It is a tragedy but cigarette smoking kills 2.5 million people every year.

Drug use in the world is increasing and more young people than ever are addicted. Drugs can be divided into three categories: hard, soft and legal. All three types can cause addiction, illness, or even death. Hard drugs include heroin, cocaine and the typical Czech drug “pervitin”. Drugs like marijuana, hashish, and solvents are considered to be soft drugs. Legal drugs include tobacco, alcohol, prescription and non-prescription medicines.

Drugs are one of the most serious problems facing today’s world. All other problems people have can lead to drug abuse. Some others might find their present life boring or maybe they want to gain the respect of their gang or are just curious.
Drugs are divided into two cateories:
1. Soft drugs – alcohol, marijuana, hash, glue, sedatives, and mushrooms.
2. Hard drugs – ectasy, speed (amphetamine), cocaine, opium, and heroin.

You can usually tell if someone is under the influence of drugs. Some symphtoms are red eyes, slow movements and small pupils. In addition, people under the influence of drugs often smile and giggle, talk incoherently, act tired or ahllucinate. The effect vary from making you tired to giving you lots of energy, from making you friendly to agressive etc.
RACISM
Racism is another serious problem that we have to cope with. Some people, racists, see themselves as a superior race and discriminate, prejudice or attack the one they consider worse. The victims of racism are more often dark-skin people than the white ones.
The worst level of racism is called „apartheid“. It appeared in South Africa in the 20th century and meant separated schools, separated travelling, separated parts of towns and general discrimination of black Southafricans. Even though the era of apartheid is over, we can still feel the remains.
UNEMPLOYMENT
Unemployment is what every country has problems with. It usually appears more in less developed areas of the country or where a large factory closed down. The least unemployment is in large cities where the companies always need employees. But they usually search for soemone with higher level of education, special abilities (working with computers, typing, knowledge of languages…) and specialization. The appliers with lack of edudcation this way lose a chance to work or to have a well-payed job. They often want a job which isn’t possible to manage for them and if they’re not empolyed, they complain. Another ones just took their diplomas and have no practise which is required from them. However, each country has special programmes for unemployed people to help them. They get benefits from the state.
Another thing is that there are many ilegal workers in every develoied country who are worse payed than average and they don’t complain(which is good for their employers). The state tries to empush this beacuse these jobs don’t require much education and would be solution for the less-educated ones.

We all know than although we live in developed and modern world, there are plenty of grave problems all over the world. Several of the weightiest and the best known: wars and terrorism, poverty, diseases, famine, population increase, the production and taking of illegal drugs but also legal (e.g. alcohol and cigarettes), racism, crime, counteracting of human rights, abuse children, conflicts of religions and so on. There are some of those problems explained more in detail.


FAMINE AND HUNGER
It is quite obvious that our world is going to be overcrowded. As a result, 2 billion people suffer from famine and every year many people die of hunger, mainly in the developing countries. One reason of this reality are the former colonial policies of The United Kingdom, France, Spain and other colonial states, which used colonies only as sources and did not support their economy. However, there are also great local problems, mainly in central Africa. There are conflicts among tribes that often finish like a bloody war.

Now developed states are trying to help to supply money for food and the basic needs of the people but I think the most important thing is that people from Africa and other poor states should realize that work is more important than war.
DISEASES
There are many diseases that give us trouble all over the world. We can divide them into many categories such as curable and terminal or infectious and hereditary and so on. Diseases are a big problem mainly in developing countries because there are not as good and available health services as in developed countries and it means disease like influenza, which is not difficult for us and we can cure it, is often terminal. But there are many really dangerous diseases (e.g.: AIDS, Leprosy, TBC, Malaria, Cancer, Cholera and so on). There is only one warranted way how to remain healthy. This way we call prevention. We should try to live a healthy way of life, which means we should have a good proportion of work to free time. We should practice sports, at least swim or go for walks, we should eat healthy food with lots of vitamins and we should not smoke or drink too much alcohol because it is true that prevention is better than a cure.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Human rights are rights of everybody, which make us possible to live like a human. This idea has many social and political consequences. Human rights, because they rest on being human, are universal, equal and inalienable. They should be held for every person against the state and society. Human rights include e.g.: the universal right to vote, freedom of speech, right to education, right to nationality, right to creed of religion, right to work connect with the right for fair wages. This rights were described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was accepted on the 10th of December 1948 by the UN General Assembly.
HELP
There are lots of organizations (charity or benefaction), which try to help people who need it. Probably the most known organization all over the world is the Red Cross (the Red Croissant in Asia) but there are many other benefit organizations e.g.: Doctor Without Frontiers or Adra. A very known organization is also Amnesty International. It is a worldwide organization, independent of any government or political party. This organization tries to protect the observance of human rights. It fights mainly opposite the governments, which keep in prison men and women not because they have broken the law, but because of their ideas, color, language or religion. The organization tries to get fair and early trials by putting pressure on their governments to practise basic human rights.