Turkey #2

18th century society was not a utopia by any stretch of the imagination. Problems were widespread and little was being done to shed light on them. The philosophes, however, explained how these problems could be solved and how to further rebuild society. Today's society is also problematic. A few of these problems include overpopulation, malaria, and the sluggish economy of the world's superpower, the United States. Projections indicate that the world's population will reach nine billion by 2050. This is not good news, since already waste and emissions are a huge problem. Over five hundred million people are dying of starvation. Over one third of men and one half of women are illiterate. The dramatic influx of people into the world will also mean that diseases can spread much faster. Solutions do exist to combat overpopulation. Recycling would clearly help the waste problem, as would mandating maximum emissions of companies. Perhaps governments could set a limit on the amounts of children one family could have. This is already being done to some degree in China. Increasing education about reproduction safety would also help to curb this massive growth. Disease is another major world problem, and these include cancers, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. But for now, let us just hone in on malaria. One staggering fact is that forty percent of the world is at risk for malaria. In fact, every year over five hundred million people are contracting malaria. Malaria is caused by mosquitoes that are common in Asia and Africa. The situation is not hopeless, though. Three hundred million bed nets are necessary to help the African community combat these ruthless mosquitoes. This would cost one and a half billion dollars, which is equivalent to one day of Pentagon spending. Donations are another solution to this epidemic. Nine trillion dollars. An unimaginable sum of money, yet that is the gross national debt of the United States. (Hall). The causes of all this debt are the war in Iraq, the housing crisis, and the soaring price of crude oil. The dollar is also at one of its all-time lows. The euro is currently worth $1.40 against the dollar, which is an all-time high. This means oil prices go up, since oil is traded in dollars. (Herman). There are no easy solutions to this fix, but converting to alternative fuels would help offset the cost of oil. An extremely drastic solution, but one that might make sense in the centuries to come, would be to have a global currency. This would erase the hassle of converting money, but it would never be agreed on since so many banks would go out of business and there would be a large public outcry in much of the world. Overpopulation, malaria, and the U.S. economy are all major problems with today's society. It is unlikely that a true utopia will exist anytime soon, but humans in general will always be self-improving and trying to eradicate problems. All three of the aforementioned problems are certainly solvable, but it will take a lot of time and human resources, something that may be daunting to some people, but it is inevitable. More positively, the rising use of solar power and ethanol is certainly a big step forward in solving the economy and overpopulation issues.

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YouTube | July 9, 2007

Tags:. .disease. .faster. .amounts. .hone. .dying