Reviews of the Articles about Global Problems - Essay Example

The article “A History of Technology and the Human Condition” written by Tad Dunne is about the effect of technological advancements on humanity and human living conditions. The initial achievements made in the field of science and technology was focused towards the improvement of the human condition. However with the beginning of the World Wars and subsequent development of the atom bomb the real effect of technology on the life of humans became evident. Our ancestors firmly believed that the human condition was about transcendence and that there is a supreme reason behind the existence of mankind. However, today’s world is more focused on producing goods and making money with little regard to humanity and cultural ethics. The change from a transcendent living towards a more secularized life can be attributed to movements such as the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment and Marxism which promoted human reasoning beyond any cultural or religious belief. This led to the development of modern day beliefs in relativism and agnosticism. In relativism moral beliefs no longer have a common ground and in agnosticism God is merely considered to be an idea as there is no real proof of his existence. In addition, rapid technological growth has lead to unregulated economies in which owners are reaping profits while neglecting the needs of the working class and political loyalism that has resulted in a fear for the economically rich and developed nations and hatred towards the poorer and underdeveloped countries. Modern technology is also being widely misused through the increasing use of pornography, unregulated use of communications for purposes such as spying, plagiarism and spreading hate, abortion and euthanasia and the widespread pollution of natural resources such as air and water by human activities. However, the author believes that bringing about the right changes is in the hands of each and every human being if they develop a compassionate attitude and a tendency to love and care for people. (Dunne). The article “The hidden world under our feet” by Jim Robbins focuses on soil life and the numerous threats that it faces due to globalization and industrialization around the world. Soil, which is composed of organic and inorganic components, is an integral part of terrestrial life and many organisms including humans are greatly dependent on this vast resource. The organic or living components which are constituted by thousands of microbes, fungi, nematodes, mites and gophers play a vital role in maintaining soil health and fertility. The organic wastes that are present in the soil are processed by the soil microflora and the resulting nutrients are made available for the plants. Ground water is filtered and cleaned by the soil matter and soil also helps to retain atmospheric dust and other pathogens thereby contributing to cleaner air. Soil is also a major determinant of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Man-made activities such as plowing and soil changes due to erosion and neglect can result in the release of excessive amounts of carbon dioxide in to the atmosphere. Agricultural practices such as tillage can deprive the soil of essential organic nutrients and the addition of fertilizer chemicals, pesticides and herbicides further deplete the soil nutrients. The large number of concrete layered on top of the soil in urban areas, heavy machines and pollution cause extensive and at times irreversible damages to soil life. The desert conditions in Africa are mainly due to extensive grazing and agriculture which has resulted in degradation of the top soil. The author further adds that unhealthy soil can also cause several human diseases. The increasing global warming poses a great threat to the biodiversity of the soil which can be adversely affected even with the slightest change in temperature and moisture. The author has also included the views of soil experts Eric B. Nelson and Diana H. Wall who respectively believe that soil health can be maintained by reducing the use of chemicals and by practicing no-till agriculture along with increasing use of worm compost. (Robbins). In the article titled “Calm Leadership, Lasting Change” the author Nancy Koehn elaborates on the life of Rachel Carson who authored the book Silent Spring that ignited a powerful crusade against the use of pesticides. Carson had taken up freelance writing even while she was the editor-in-chief for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service agency. Carson later published her first book, Under the sea wind. Despite undergoing a tumor surgery in her left breast she continued to write and in the year following the surgery her best-seller titled ‘The Sea Around us’ was published. She became a full-time writer following the book’s success and began writing Silent Spring. With aided inputs from researchers, physicians and government officials Carson was able to collect concrete evidences which all pointed to the fact that pesticides could indeed cause cancer in humans. She however, had many set backs on the personal front beginning with her mother’s death and she being diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized to her lymph nodes. Her radiation therapy at times deprived her of the energy required to continue her writing. However, her urge to contribute to the society provided the momentum to complete the book. In her book she stressed on the implications of pesticide use on human and animal health in addition to environmental degradation. Her book caught the attention of top politicians including John F. Kennedy who formed a committee to investigate the potential impact of pesticides. Carson succumbed to cancer when she was just 56 and did not live to witness the implementation of major policies and reforms such as the ban on the use of DDT, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. Koehn believes that Rachel Carson truly embodied a leader in that she never gave up her fighting spirit despite major setbacks in health and family life. She is a fitting example of how a single handedly Carson was able to create a radical change in the society. She was truly a leader in her own right and role model for all the leaders in this global world (Koehn). The article “A Change in temperature” by Justin Gillis analyses the effect of increasing carbon dioxide quantities on global warming. Recent findings suggest that global temperature change is a more slow process and humans would be able to adapt to these changes. The major issue under consideration is about the sensitivity of the climate to increasing carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. Earlier in the 19th century Svante Arrhenios estimated the earth’s average temperature to increase by nine degrees Fahrenheit. However more recent research has shown that the rise is likely to be between three to eight degrees Fahrenheit. Some experts in the field of climatology have concluded that a four to five degree rise is more possible. Climatology experts expect the rise to occur over land which could lead to extreme climatic conditions such as heat waves or heavy rainfall. Increase in the water level around the world is expected to occur due melting of the Polar Regions where temperatures are estimated to increase by 10 to 15 degree Fahrenheit. The article quotes the projections of James Annan, a leading climate scientist, who believes that a four and a half degree rise in average temperature could be expected and has rejected higher increases in temperatures. While his study has gained a lot of support from climatic experts some others have raised doubts about its sustainability in the future. Dr. Annan has also called upon bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to refute the possibility of a higher rise in global temperature instead of alarming the public about an impending high rise in temperature. Adding that the predicted rise still remains a sufficient threat, he believes that it could be overcome through behavior and lifestyle changes. The recent estimates are based on the expected doubling of carbon dioxide levels which could triple or quadruple if not properly controlled and drastically increase the earth’s temperature. Hence governments and other organizations should constantly aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and thus save the earth from potential destruction (Gillis). In the article Disruptions: Helper Robots are Steered, Tentatively, to Care for the Aging, Nick Bilton throws light on the use of robots as caregivers for the elderly. Citing the futuristic movie Robot & frank in which a son buys his aging father a Robot Bilton believes that employing robots as caregiver’s might soon become a reality. The Health and Human Services Department estimates Americans aged above 65 to reach 72 million by the year 2030. However, there has been a drastic decrease in the availability of home aides who are often sought to take care of the elderly. Roboticist Jim Osborne believes that robots will fill this gap in the near future. Bilton cites examples of robots which have been designed to assist the elderly and do household chorus. The robotic nurse, Cody, developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology, is designed to bathe elderly patients; HERB (Home Exploring Robot Butler), developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon is designed to fetch objects and clean kitchens and Hector, developed by the University of Reading in England is able to remind the elderly to take their medicine, put on their reading glasses and also help them in case they fall. The author cites the experiences of Sherry Turkle a professor in science who studied the robot Paro which was designed to help people with dementia and Alzheimer’s. In her study she found that elderly people were not able to bond emotionally with robots and were both amazed and sad to be left converse with a lifeless object. A recent study found that older people prefer human-like robots for intelligent tasks and machine-like robots for manual labor. On a positive note the author cites the experiences of Wendy A Rogers who is the director of Human Factors and Aging Laboratory at Georgia Tech who found that it was not that difficult to develop a bond with robots something which he felt was similar to our connections with other things that we use such as the GPS. Despite these varying opinions the morality behind leaving out aged parents with robotic caregivers is still debatable (Bilton). In the article “College in Illinois Finds a Way to Help Low-Income Students Go Abroad” the author Karin Fischer provides an account of the Augie Choice program at the Augustana College in Illinois that encourage students to study abroad. Through the program the college has pledged a support of $2000 for each of the 2,500 deserving candidates chosen to benefit from the program. The author notes that since the program began nearly half of the seniors graduating from the college were able to study abroad. National reports reveal that only 10 percent of American undergraduates are able to go abroad for studies as many are unable to afford the cost of education. The Augie Choice program has shown a way to encourage students especially those from the low-income population to study abroad. The college authorities have revealed that the impetus for the program was provided by one of their own students who had gone abroad for further studies and who had wished that many of his classmates got similar opportunities. This came at a time when the college itself was promoting international exposure for its students. Through an internal survey the college authorities found that more students required financial aid to pursue studies abroad. With the tuition fee being the major revenue for the college, it still decided to set aside $500 dollars from the tuition fee of every student for the Augie Choice program. The eligibility criteria for the program requires students to earn 60 credits in a degree. Hence this program is different for the traditional scholarships for which students would qualify only after their acceptance into an international program. Other universities like the University of Kentucky are also following suit by encouraging minority students to take up study abroad programs. The authorities in Augastana College believe that apart from financial aid providing international study exposure is the most important objective and as some Augie Choice funds are left unused they are using every given opportunity to promote the college program by hanging banners and offering the program to even the new incumbents (Fischer). In the article “UN warns of looming worldwide food crisis in 2013” the author John Vidal touches on the important subject of worldwide food crop reserves. The heat waves and droughts experienced by US, Ukraine and other countries has affected harvests leaving very little food reserves for consumption. Though the demand is high the production has been on the lower side which has resulted in less food reserves in countries across the world. The prices of main food crops such as maize and wheat has also increased to levels which lead to riots in the year 2008. FAO estimates 870 million people across the world to be malnourished and this number is expected to rise with the growing food crisis in the Middle East and African countries. Environmental experts such as Lester Brown who is President of the Earth policy research center in Washington, believe that the climate is no longer reliable and the growing food crisis has the power to provoke riots or even topple government unless it is restrained. He further adds that the world is witnessing a food supply breakdown even as several miles of farmland are brought at cheap rates, food prices rocketing and drastic decline in food reserves around the world countries. The demand for food has surpassed the production rate for the sixth time in the past 11 years mainly owing to extreme climatic conditions. This trend is likely to double the price of staple foods like wheat and rice in the next 20 years which could cause widespread hunger especially among the poor. The author cites Brown who believes that the growing food scarcity is likely to surpass that of oil. Both the UN and many governments across the world are blaming the extreme heat and drought in the US and other food-exporting countries as the major reason for this scarcity. The author further cites Brown who believes that with the climatic conditions unlikely to return to normalcy the food crisis will pose a major threat to our future in addition to population growth and water shortage (Vidal). In the article “World Bank Chief: global poverty bigger than action on HIV” Larry Elliott, the economics editor of The Guardian has written on the interview with Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank. The President has called for tougher an action to be implemented to halt global poverty which he believes is more difficult to tackle than AIDS. He admitted that bringing down the number of people surviving on $1.25 a day from 21% to 3% is extremely difficult but could be achieved by implementing the right strategies. He attributed the rapid growth in China to the rise in global economy in the recent years. He also believed that the global poverty rates are more likely to remain the same unless significant progress is made in countries such as India, sub-Saharan African and others which are ridden with conflicts. He further added that he wanted to bring back the focus on reducing poverty rates as was under the previous President Jim Wolfensohn. The President believed that while the private sectors were likely to create about 90% new jobs it was up to every government to make the growth more inclusive by implementing suitable policies. In particular he wants these policies to focus on the growth of young individuals, women and those belonging to the minority population. The growth can also help the poorer sector of the population if investments were made in the fields of health, education, and welfare services. He also stressed the need to develop an urgent action plan to tackle global warming and added that it had taken him nearly 22 years to develop an effective solution for AIDS. He called upon the World Bank and the UN to device effective strategies for reducing global warming and climate change as the life of our immediate generations was at stake (Elliott). Work Cited Dunne, Tad. “A History of Technology and the Human Condition.” Lonerganresourse. 26 Oct. 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2013 http://www.lonerganresource.com/pdf/articles/Dunne-History_of_Technology_and_the_Human_Condition.pdf Gillis, Justin. “A Change in Temperature”. The New York Times. 13 May 2013. Web. 18 May 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/science/what-will-a-doubling-of-carbon-dioxide-mean-for-climate.html?ref=globalwarming Koehn, Nancy F. “From Calm Leadership, Lasting Change”. The New York Times. 27 Oct. 2012. Web. 18 May 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/business/rachel-carsons-lessons-50-years-after-silent-spring.html?ref=energy-environment&_r=0&pagewanted=all Robbins, Jim, “The Hidden World Under Our Feet”. The New York Times. 11 May 2013. Web. 18 May 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/the-hidden-world-of-soil-under-our-feet.html?pagewanted=all Bilton, Nick. “Disruptions: Helper Robots are Steered, Tentatively to care for the Aging”. The New York Times. 19 May 2013. Web. 22 May 2013. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/disruptions-helper-robots-are-steered-tentatively-to-elder-care/ Fischer, Karin. “College in Illinois Finds a Way to Help Low-Income Students Go Abroad”. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 29 Apr. 2013. Web. 22 May 2013. http://chronicle.com/article/Illinois-College-Finds-a-Way/138845/ Vidal, John. “UN warns of looming worldwide food crisis in 2013”. The Observer. 13 Oct. 2012. Web. 22 May 2013. http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/oct/14/un-global-food-crisis-warning Elliott, Larry. “World Bank Chief: global poverty bigger than action on HIV”. The Guardian. 4 Apr. 2013. Web. 22 May 2013. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/04/world-bank-chief-poverty-hiv Read More