The way I see it, the top 16 Global Issues or threats facing the world are the following (with reasons why)
1. Global Nuclear War
Because it could destroy everything living on this planet
2. Extinction of Species (plants and animals) and Permanent Loss of Habitat
Because once we've lost a species that took millions of years to evolve, it's gone forever. I've read that 95% of the species that have ever existed on this planet are extinct now, but I'd like to think that humanity is better than the equivalent of a massive asteroid as far as the earth is concerned.
Now, I want to point out that I've placed loss of species above other problems such as human diseases, human famine, etc. Real easy for a guy like me to say since I haven't been hungry for more than I've wanted to be in two decades. I hardly think the poor African child dying of AIDS would agree with me. But I will say that if I were dying, I would still think that while my life and all human life is important, a complete and total loss of biodiversity across the entire human planet would also be a huge problem.
Has it come to this? Do we have to choose between 7-10 billion people with no more Lions and Giraffes and Rainforests and Tigers (TIGERS!) and no more fish...
3. Contamination, Pollution, Destruction, and Irresponsible Genetic Modification of the Food Supply
They say that within a few years, the oceans will no longer have anymore fish in them. That the only fish you'll be able to get will be from a private Corporation that's probably genetically modified it.
Genetically Modified Corn has be shown to cause infertility in Cows, Pigs, and other Live Stock. Who knows what it's going to do to us. Genetic Modifcation isn't like Star Trek. They literally 'shoot' dna into a cell like a freaking bullet and it goes in and tears up all sorts of strands and dos who knows what. I wouldn't trust the people at Monsanto to drive my car let alone control the entire food supply. And now they're trying to patent pigs. This isn't about vegetarianism (that's another topic). This is about a corporation who wants to patent and genetically modify every food supply in the world and control it all.
Check This:
Patent For a Pig: The Big Business of Monsanto | WIDE EYE CINEMA - Free Conspiracy Videos 4. Deforestation
Pretty much the same as loss of species at #2.
5. Global Warming
I think that over the next 40 years, I think that Solar Technology is going to improve massively and that this problem, which won't be easy to fix, will get fixed.
6. Terrorism or Cultural Warfare
I want to step lightly on this issue, but at this point I think we've found ourselves in a cycle. They attacked us, we attacked them, they might attack us back, etc. etc. America will (rightly) point to 9/11. The terrorists (or whoever) will point to Iraq, and this thing might just escalate and escalate. I don't bring this up to point fingers or say what anyone should do. I'm just bringing this up to say that there are angry people on both sides and they're hell bent on their point of view. That being said, 9/11 was terrible, why the hell is Osama Bin Laden still out there, and no I didn't agree with attacking Iraq.
7. Fiat Currency and Central Banking
Watch "Money as Debt" here:
Money As Debt
I'm not an economist, but I don't agree with the idea of a Federal Reserve, and I certainly don't agree with the Federal Reserve printing more money to bail out all the people who made stupid investments during the sub-prime mortgage thus causing inflation for all of us. No one bails the rest of us out when we screw up. I'm not sure what Ben Bernake is doing, but even Alan Greenspan doesn't agree with him.
[b]8. Access to Clean Food and Clean Drinking Water[b]
Pretty obvious. There's talk of a world wide food shortages and I don't really like the idea of Ethanol since it's makes no sense what so ever if you study the energy you have to put into it and what you get out.
9. AIDS, Cancer, Malaria, Heart Disease, other Deadly Diseases
Also pretty obvious. I wish the drug companies would focus on cures instead of treatment, but at least someone is doing something.
10. Subsidies
We don't need anymore corn! Stop subsidizing meat! This is probably the tip of the iceberg.
11. Over Population
Anyway, this one is tricky, but for me, we have so many people on this planet that are dying and starving. Until we can get the technology to take care of the people we already have, I think an increasing population is something that needs to be looked at very seriously. This one raises a lot of emotions, but some generation eventually has to look at it. Otherwise, are we going to have 20 Billion people on this planet? 50 Billion? 100 Billion? Infinite People? Obviously the planet can only hold so many people and people are starving right now.
Check out Real Time World Statistics Here:
Worldometers - real time world statistics
We've added 153,000 people to Earth today so far.
12. Plastic, Plastic, Everywhere...
There's a mass of plastic out in the pacific ocean twice the size of Texas and the food supply is obviously ingesting large portions of it. And yes, some of it is in you. Makes me want to do a Lemonade Fast.
Check Out Garbage Island
TOXIC - Garbage Island - Part 1 of 12 - VBS.TV 13. War
Sigh. People killing people. What's the solution? I've read that the West and Islam were destined for a culture clash even before 9/11. For some reason different ideaologies insist on killing one another. It's been with us since the dawn of man. Is Global Peace actually ever possible? The older I get, the more I think it's all in our DNA and basically just to pray that things don't escalate until technology improves enough to make us all way smarter and happier (I'm looking at you Ray Kurzweil).
14. Factory Farming
Look at some videos on YouTube. I thought I'd seen it all. It is absolutely sadistic. There basically needs to be cameras and a live TV feed for every square inch of these things. I'm sure some are worse than others, but there's a way to kill an animal for food that, if nothing else, minimizes pain for the creature.
Here's a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHTUq90RDIQ
Do not watch that if you have a weak stomach. It's the worst factory farming video I've ever seen. I don't seek these things out, but I've seen a few of these in my time. I don't think going vegetarian is enough. We have to set aside differences between meat eaters and vegetarians and vegans and maybe insure that stuff like this doesn't happen. There needs to be massive oversight and cameras because people are going to eat meat (read the completely unsympathetic comments on the YouTube video.) The least we can do is try to insure that the stuff above doesn't happen.
15. Poverty
It's 2008. Can we get these people some freaking drinking water. Dean Kamen is doing just that:
YouTube - Colbert Does Water (wish I'd found a better video)
16. The Drug Policy/Prison Industrial Complex
Once again, my opinion, but I think drugs should be legalized and the whole drug war should be called off. It costs billions, kills people, and puts people in prison. If they can legalize tons of drugs in Amsterdam and it's perfectly peaceful, then there's no real reason that the same can't be done across the world. For me this is about personal liberties and I'd much rather deal with a stoned pot smoker than an angry drunk any day of the week. Hell, I'd rather deal with a heroin junkie than an angry drunk. Pretty much anything beats an angry drunk, but alcohol is the most abused drug there is and it kills thousands of people a year.
Okay, that's all I can think of. Poverty should be higher on the list. I still agree with the first one. Did I miss any?