From my last list about the top ten biggest world problems, I will now pick five of them and list them in order of 'most' to 'least' serious in my opinion. I will also list a ranking of the top five solutions by the possibility of implementation.
Top Five Problems
1. Global Water Crisis
2. Famine
3. Loss of Biodiversity
4. Peak Oil Production
5. Education
I ranked this list in order of what was going to help us survive as a human being first and then what was going to contribute in helping us survive as a species and planet to a better future and generations to come. Fixing the problem of water and food shortages keep us alive, while the latter may contribute to our economic problems and others unlisted such as (the possibility of) climate change and poverty.
Top Five Solutions
1. (Education): Following the ways of many other countries and how they keep college cost effective may help with education in the United States; Lowering the cost of attendance and amenities for students so they are more free to learn and have the desire to pursue higher education.
2. (Peak Oil Production): To avoid a sudden void of energy or mass panic, it would be wise to slowly shift our choices of energy from nonrenewable fossil fuels to renewable, more environmentally friendly sources such as Solar, Wind, and Thermal Energy.
3. (Loss of Biodiversity): Limiting the loss of biodiversity can be difficult since the process of creation that mankind seeks slowly reaps the land of it resources and in turn different species of animals, both land and marine, will find it harder to live. Implementing more areas that include what was taken in a large area where mankind will not touch to help improve the biodiversity such as making more havens/reserves for endangered animals and artificial reefs to create homes for marine wildlife.
4. (Famine): Researching a new type of soil for plants that wouldn't have to be tended as much as well as genetically creating plants that would serve the same purpose in giving nutrients but use up less water to grow and thrive.
5. (Global Water Crisis): With there initially being a limited amount of freshwater on the Earth and it may be difficult/expensive but worth it to turn seawater into freshwater in large amounts which in turn could helps droughts and thirst. (Although desalinated water contributes to less than half of our needs). The cost of desalination and the energy it takes will further increase it's difficulty.
What makes me believe that my top solution is the most implementable is the fact of it's smaller scale as I jut talk about he education in the United States while the others are more world-wide focused. Changing the cost of college will be lot easier than fixing the loss of biodiversity on our planet and attending to the cost and energy of the global water crisis.

Hi! We had some of the same top problems and the same explanation for them. I feel that most of the problems we face today are focused around us destroying the planet we live on and its really scary that many people don't get that. Global warming, famine, loss of biodiversity are all basically the same thing because they will have the same effect on Earth.
ReplyDeleteJoseph,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post. You and many of my other students have identified the same top five problems and I am glad to see that there's a common theme here. Your solution for keeping college cost-effective is a great idea. If you wanted to take this further, you could probably even look into some of the ways that other countries accomplish that. Great post.
Your TA,
Marsha