World Economy Crisis

I've chosen this problem because I think that it's the most acute issue nowadays. Almost everyone on our planet is affected by the crisis. And so far there is no solution... Let's see how the crisis affected Global Health!

The sudden fiscal downfall all over the world has brought great impacts on health and monetary expenditures particularly in the developing countries. The last four months have been pessimistic in the status of the world economy bringing continuous depreciation in the financial markets leading to the lowest level ever. This growing economic crisis has proved the predictions made on financial crisis some days prior to the Washington meeting of the G20 leaders almost precise. The financial crisis has hit globally and has brought equally impacts on health and social conditions all over the world.
Countries with low income are going through solid effects of the fiscal crisis which has induced low export demand, rigid monetary use, reduction of direct foreign investment and, decline of payments. Unemployment has equally taken over due to recession. Society services are continuously under pressure which also endangers health crisis with including pressure from the government revenues to be unable to help them. Budgets on health are known to be cut down in seven ministries of health in Africa which is really a bad effect.
Down fall of money value has raised the value of imports which may diversely affect the costs of life saving medicines which may either be out of stock or having overstated prices.

On the other hand the high income countries are busy investing on health and pension programs. Number of reforms and revolutionary measures are taken by the political parties as a challenge to bring stability and steadiness in the society. As the financial crisis is taking roots in the society the government is more concerned about the future to save their resources for the upcoming adverse effects of the present crisis and to shield the needs of the elderly persons.

It's hard to foretell the consequences and future development of the crisis. Only one thing is absolutely clear - Global Crisis is called "Global" because this is the problem for everyone of us. We'll be very happy to see the end of the Crisis. =)

“Lonely, I’m so lonely…” (Akon)

To tell the truth at first I wanted to write about pollution, deforestation, poaching, etc. about something so important for our nature, for our world, for future generations and, of course for us; about things that we do not think much of, even though we have been discussing them every year since the fifth form. But then, I’ve changed my intention and decided to write about one problem that from my point of view is extremely burning, however, usually we do not pay much attention to it and some people even do not consider it to be an acute issue. What I am talking about is loneliness. Solitude has different consequences, effects, forms and quantity. Perhaps, that sounds a bit odd, but I hope things will come clear along the composition.
Unfortunately, all of us have faced the feeling of being extremely lonely at least once in our lives. This feeling is difficult to bare and it is much more difficult to overcome it. Every person tries to find his own ways how to get over it. And here actually the problem become more and more serious, because very often the wish of getting ride of loneliness can lead to even more dangerous and terrible consequences than the problem itself.
For example to suicide. Some people just can not find strength to fight against this feeling, against being alone. What is really awful from my point of view is that people can be absolutely lonely among lots of people, even those who call themselves “friends”.
Other people trying to defend themselves change the real world for virtual reality, so called gamers. They devote all their time to playing computer games, where they can be somebody else, where things are more colourful, where the rhythm of live is more intensive, where everything is so bright, where they can save the world and be somebody important, where they “meet friends” and those who understand them. Virtual world give them chance to find new emotions and forget about their problems in the real world. Such people decide themselves to be alone, but actually they make this decision because they do feel solitude in the real world. The problem of computer addiction is very actual and burning nowadays. And not only children and teenagers suffer from this “disease”, but adults also do.
There is one more problem caused by solitude that I wanted to mention. Frankly speaking, it is not one it consist of several parts, moreover most people or even all people do not think that it is a problem and of course nobody can consider it to be a consequence of loneliness. I am talking about communication through the Internet, different sites such as Vkontakte and ICQ. Probably you think that I have mixed something up, because these things help people to communicate. How the person having two hundred friends in the list can be lonely or the person who spends 10 hours a day chatting can be lonely and suffer from solitude. Actually, can. Such sites give illusion that the person is not alone, that he has a lot of friends, however, very often it happens that this person do not know 20% of those who call themselves “friends” and do not communicate at all with 75% of them. Communication with the help of ICQ on the one hand gives chance always be in touch, on the other it substitute the real talk with people, friends. Often people who use ICQ even can not imagine that it is possible to meet with people and talk with them face to face; they do not even consider this idea to be an option. Of course, I must admit that this means of communication have a lot of advantages, but nevertheless.
So, undoubtedly problems of pollution, deforestation, poaching are really important, but we talk too much about them but do so little, because they are far from us (at least we believe that it is so). Solitude is around us, everyday, though we do not notice it. But we can do something to solve it and foresee the consequences. At least, we must be more attentive to those who are around us and if we need help ourselves we should ask for it. And at last we should learn to be real friends.

Terrorism as a global problem of the world

Terrorism is one of the most important and serious problems of the modern world and threats of all the humanity. It belongs to a number of the most dangerous phenomena of modern society which changes its forms and areas of its spreading. The terroristic acts lead to the mass human victims more and more often, destruct material and spiritual values which are not restorable sometimes, spread enmity between states, provoke wars, mistrust and hatred.
I was frightened by an obvious fact very much: It was a sensation when in the middle of eighties terrorists captured a great number of buildings, but already today these actions have become an ordinary phenomenon. It means that terroristic acts happen more and more often every year. And if nothing is done the whole world will be destroyed soon.
The roots of terrorism are quite deep and as a rule it is extremely difficult to reveal and to neutralize them. Having arisen once as a resistance against the oppression, today it has got a criminal character. Terrorism has become a method of intimidation, pressure to the certain structures of state authority with the purpose of realization some criminal plans.
The first terroristic wave began in the period of Great French Revolution (1789) and has finished by 1820. The second wave started in the end of 19th century in Ireland, Macedonia and Serbia. The creation of independent national states was the main purpose of these actions. In 1910 the second wave stopped. In the period of 1960-1970 the new wave of political terrorism began and destroyed Italy, Germany and Japan.
In December, 1994 in Russia the first Chechen war began. There was only small break and the period of a short peace in it which people unfortunately failed to keep. In autumn of 1999 the second Chechen war began. Since then the battle actions and the terroristic acts have killed about 20-25 thousands of soldiers and 60-70 thousands of peaceful citizens.
Explosions destroyed cities, villages and houses. Many people died and continue to die from bombs, shells and mines. The war comes to us more and more closely. People can not forget about it even doing more important businesses.
The problem of nuclear terrorism is especially urgent for today after some frightening events in Chechnya. Everything that seemed to be impossible 5-6 years ago began to find really threatening outlines now.
In spite of the fact that in the beginning of nineties the special divisions on fighting with the organized criminality began to be created and there was a hope that it would be possible to consult with it, the time showed that it was an erroneous conclusion. It was impossible to stop the criminality’s growth.
In February 2004, in London the meeting of Russian-British working group on fighting with terrorism was held. At the meeting the main questions concerning the interaction of Russia and Great Britain in fighting with the international terrorism was discussed. The parties considered the urgent estimations of terroristic threat. Both parties reached the agreement to expand a mutual exchange of the prospecting information.
Of course, to win a victory over terrorism in all countries is quite difficult and no problem can be solved singly. Maybe if all countries continue to cooperate as Russia and Great Britain do, it will be possible to stop the terrorism all over the world. And it will be a great victory. There are no problems in the world which don’t have a solution. And even with such a terrible trouble as terrorism it is possible to cope. Of course nobody can return the people died, but to reduce the amount of terroristic acts and their victims is possible. People should be united because all together they have a great force.

WORLD TERRORISM

It’s a fact that nowadays there is a number of problems, from which we are unable to escape and hide. It’s impossible to run away from them in any other city or country- they get you wherever you are, because these problems are global. They are common to every human living on the large globe called the Earth. I believe the problem of world terrorism to be the most burning and urgent question, because every day, watching news, we hear about barbaric and cruel acts of violence, taking off lives of millions of innocent men all over the world.
Let’s look at the etymology of the word terrorism. Terror, the root of the word, derives from the Latin verb terrere meaning to frighten. According to its etymology, terrorism’s main purpose is to keep people in awe. It’s true that nowadays all of us live in the state of fear, because we don’t know when, where the act of terrorism will take place, who will suffer next time.
From past experience people tend to avoid overcrowded places; we are afraid of staying at home, using underground and even travelling by bus, plane or train. So, isn’t world terrorism which makes life of everyone a misery an acute world issue?
Though all of us know what terrorism is, it’s not so easy to give it a precise definition, because this word has political and emotional connotation. It’s better to say that terrorism is a political tactic, directed to make local authorities or government carry out terrorist’s demands or to intimidate enemy, to make the situation unstable in all spheres of the society. The act of terrorism may be practiced by a person or a group of them, religious groups or a political party or even by a state.
Each act of terrorism is a performance directed to have an impact on a really large audience. I mean that its aim is not just to kill dozens or hundreds of innocent men, but to influence consciousness of the multitude, to shock people, make them be afraid of power of an unknown enemy. In this, there’s no matter how many innocent people will suffer (of course, the more the better); but what is much more important is the effect which it will produce on the society.
According to scientists, terrorism may be the manifestation of political and social views. Patriotism, nationalism and racism are also reasons for terrorism. Religion may also turn people into terrorists. In most cases they use religious views only as a cover, because any religion teaches people to be kind to others, but not to kill them.
It’s a naïve person who thinks that humanity came face to face with this problem only in the 21st century. For example, the second part of the 19th century was the first time when Russia made the acquaintance of terrorist groups. Sergey Nechaev, the founder of People Retribution (Народная Расправа), was the first man who called himself a terrorist in 1869.
Certainly, the most prominent acts of terrorism happen in the 21st century. Take as an example the 11th of September 2001, when tragic events took place in the USA. In the morning that very day 19 terrorists hijacked 4 passenger planes, crashed 2 of them in the World trade Centre and one into the Pentagon. As a result, we have 3000 innocent people dead and completely collapsed World Centre’s Twin Towers.
That very day marked the beginning of the war against world terrorism. That very tragedy showed a government of every country that it’s high time to unite and act together against a new faceless enemy. So, nowadays struggle against terrorism is in the agenda of the United Nations Organization (UNO). 13 international conventions concerning antiterrorist activity are elaborated by this organization. On the 19th of September 2006 the UNO adopted the Global Counterterrorist Strategy which presupposes common for all countries strategical methods of struggle against terrorist groups.
Summing it up, I can say that 8 years have already passed since the 11th of September, thousands of loaded words about world safety have been pronounced by the authorities, but we still come across with new crueler acts of terrorism. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. While the authorities are saying mere words, we can’t but be more attentive to what happens around us and hope that we won’t be next victims.

Ecological problems

Today the state of ecology leaves much to be desired. Though, the science is becoming very popular. The word “ecology” comes from the Greek “oikos” which means “home”. So when we speak about “ecology” it presupposes our whole planet with its population, nature, flora and fauna, every living thing, at last, and even the atmosphere which surrounds the planet. From ancient times people got accustomed to the fact that nature provides them with all they need. For the centuries people lived with harmony with nature. However, the industrial revolution changed the situation a lot. Building more and more factories and plants caused an irreparable harm by polluting the planet.

Breathing its air, drinking water and using land for planting – theses factors have a great influence upon people’s health. That’s why I consider pollution as an acute issue of the world. It’s the main reason of the demography crisis and the decrease of the population all over the world.

Every year about 1000 tons of the industrial dust and other substances are thrown in the atmosphere. Megalopolises are covered with clouds of smog. In industrial cities exhausted gases of cars are one of the principal reasons of pollution. In Africa and Asia forests are cut down foe Europe and the USA. The loss of the forest tracts destroys the balance of oxygen of new vacant territories. Lakes and rivers are dying up. The pollution of air and oceans, as well as the destruction of the ozone layer, which is becoming more and more thin – these problems have appeared because of irrational people’s attitude to nature.

The processes of urbanization and industrialization – beginning from uncontrolled throwing of rubbish till poisoning the ground with nitrates (which form manure) and escape of industrial and domestic scraps – have a noticeable effect upon people’s state of health.

Constantly, year by year, the quantity of epidemics (officially registered) is growing. The main reason is water-supply, to be particular, the state of water. Paradoxically, the water in cities is much better than one from the countryside. Commonly, the water doesn’t often correspond to bacteriological standards. Moreover, three or four times there is an accidental pollution of water.
According to statistics, in cities with population smaller than 50000 people, about 70 of them yearly die from bronchitis, pneumonia and other infectious diseases of bronchi. Unfortunately, it’s only because of the air pollution.

Evidently, it’s a must to start to control this pollution, take urgent measures to reduce it. Protection of the environment is a care of all of us. It’s necessary to found universal system of ecological safety. There are several of them in the world. One, UNO (United Nations Organization), consists of 159 countries, which regularly organize conferences to discuss and solve the problems of ecology.

To my mind, it would help a lot if we start opening more and more national parks all over the world and to make people strictly follow laws protecting the environment. Still, the most effective way is just informing people. Unless they wake up, earth will perish.

Rubbish is not rubbish.

Hundred of years ago the Earth was not like today. A bright shining sphere, balancing in the boundless space, was a multicolored flower, painted in clean, vivid hues. Once, an evil mechanism of time was turned on by humanity and the look of our beloved planet had totally changed: a grayish senile ball, crying for help.

What we have done is simply clear: we have turned the Earth into one big dump. Thousands of cities all over the world have tasted one inescapable dish – litter. Half-used bottles, cigarettes, paper pieces, plastic packs and pockets – our streets are drowning in rubbish! And we… We just don’t care about it, though this problem is taking the wheel rapidly, being extremely important nowadays, since it has very deplorable consequences and results. These consequences are both: holistic (Here I mean a thrilling fact that we could loose such an abstract notion as beauty) and worldly, as the problem of litter is closely connected with health, particularly diseases. If you are still motionless and don’t see the danger you are not a living organism, you are a robot! I’m a human and I do realise a sin, that was once committed by people. That is why I’m bringing up this issue. We have to atone our sin and solve the problem of rubbish. Stating it, I want to focus your attention on recycling. I think that this is a possible and the most effective way to escape this danger. This technology is widely used nowadays. However, it needs to be more upgraded and launched in some countries. This, to my mind, will reduce the level of the filth veil. The next step is organizing environmental programs: for example pupils, students and even workers of some organizations can clean streets of their city once a month or more. We could increase the number of dustbins and other special places for litter at the streets, we could establish some kind of fines for those people who will leave litter about the streets. We could do much! But the difficulty, we have to overcome, is a man and his personality. We should teach people to appreciate cleanness and love their planet: every square of the pavement, every corner of the street, every house – everything! The problem of litter traces its roots back to the human’s heart and to his attitude to the world, he live in. So, the best solution is bringing up a mentally-mature person who will not poison his world.

Doing that, we will revive our planet. But it will be only if we do something. If not – the Earth will die. No, I’m not a member of Greenpeace, I just want to live without rubbish, without filth because we have enough of it in the cold modern society. 

Power shortage

Every day at home, at university or at work we use computers, watch television, cook something on a stove or switch on a lamp. To tell the truth, I do not think that at such moments we are aware of the fact that we use electricity. Whereas, the sources of energy are not endless, they are limited. So, I personally think that the shortage of power is one of the most serious problems the society faces nowadays, because it retrains the development of economy and brings inconvenience to people’s lives.

Nowadays the industry develops quickly and some of the branches grow rapidly. For example, the automobile manufacture has grown for the last few years because people are in need of cars. Factories need more electricity to produce them. Furthermore, some new branches of industry which demand significant power input have appeared. Moreover, the housebuilding has also grown in demand. A great number of high-rise apartment and detached houses have been built. So, more houses we build more energy we need to provide them with central heating and electricity. If we continue consuming energy, we may deplete power resources.

Nowadays society is concerned with this problem and scientists and politicians try to find different solutions of this problem and to work out new methods of reducing the level of power consumption So, I am going to describe some of the ideas and plans.
Firstly, it is suggested that new producers of power should be launched. For example, new state district and hydroelectric power stations can be built. Secondly a good way to solve this problem is to develop new technologies which will not consume much energy. Thirdly, new sources of power such as sun and wind energy can be used more widely. I also think that saving energy may be useful. People may try to lower the amount of electricity they use.

Finally, I would like to say that the power shortage is a serious problem. So, to solve it we need a complex application of all the ideas and plans.