The prospect of a global village is a depressing one. Discuss.

The most depressing prediction mankind hears today I believe is none other than the end of the world. 21 December 2012 is the predicted doomsday for the planet Earth based on the widely held belief by the Mayan Prophecies. But, guess what? This prospect of our Earth does not really deter people to stop what they are currently doing. Economic growth is still the central aim of any government in the world today, especially for developing countries, despite a multitude of environmental costs. Corporations still adopt low cost production methods to maximise their profits which often release large amounts of toxic chemicals to the environment. Modern consumers still continue with their current consumerist lifestyles. Considering this, the prospect of the global future is really depressing. This is not going to solve the problem at all; instead all these activities would severely hurt the Earth. The corollary of this is that the prediction may come true! Even if the prediction is not true as it may sound overly ludicrous, the message is clear: the Earth is degrading rapidly, to an extent that is unthinkable. News such as rising sea levels, melting of the glaciers in Arctic, rising temperatures and erratic weather are not uncommon. Hurricane Katrina and Irene have wreaked havoc in the western cities, constantly reminding us how fragile the Earth has become. It is indeed depressing to know such hard truths. However, we should not be overly pessimistic. After all, there are environment advocates who fervently ask for greater environmental protection. At least, they believe that there is hope to save the Earth from the torture of constant degradation. Greenpeace Organisation constantly rallies for greater support, acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment. A year-long investigation into water pollution found two textile factories in China that were discharging a range of hazardous chemicals into the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas. These factories are suppliers to a number of major global brands, including Nike, H&M and Lacoste. As much as 70 percent of China's rivers, lakes and reservoirs are affected by water pollution. To resolve the issue, more recently in July 2011, Greenpeace launched the Detox campaign. They are calling on all clothing companies to champion a toxic-free future and to work with all of their suppliers to eliminate the release of hazardous chemicals from across their supply chain and products. The most encouraging part is that major clothing retailers such as Nike, Adidas, Puma and H&M have committed to Detox, in response to the growing international campaign. Other top clothing companies still need to get a move on, to Detox their brands and help Detox our future. In this light, although it is incontrovertible that the prospect for global village is downright depressing, there is still hope that our world will be a better place. On another point of view, cynics argue that todays modern world is plagued with a plethora of crisis painting a dismal picture for tomorrow. Take for example the energy crisis. Undoubtedly, thinking that tomorrow living without our computers, iPhones or televisions is depressing as we have grown so used to such lifestyle. Given how rapid fossil fuels such as oil, coal, natural gas are depleting, future generations may not even have a chance to enjoy what we currently enjoy. (There have been mass anti-nuclear protests across the state.) Looking at Germany giving up on nuclear energy and focusing on the renewable, I cannot help but think that whether such a move to totally give up on nuclear energy, given how viable it is as an energy source, is realistic. Perhaps, it is more sustainable in the future, but the fact remains that to really salvage current energy problem, going nuclear-free does not help. Nuclear offers large scale energy production and is the only viable source that can meet our current energy demand. But the recent Fukushima Daichii nuclear plant

meltdown presents to us how dangerous nuclear can be. While this depresses the cynics not to adopt nuclear, the majority does not subscribe to such a view. Thankfully, not all countries share the same view as Germany. Food crisis: Food price volatility and high prices are likely to continue and possibly increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity, says the latest global hunger report, produced jointly by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP). In fact, according to World Bank, this will further push 44 million of the poor population into poverty. Demand from consumers in rapidly growing economies will increase, population continues to grow, and further growth in biofuels will place additional demands on the food system, it said, adding that more frequent extreme weather events could also increase food price volatility. Drought has wrecked the harvest in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan home to a quarter of world production The drought, the worst in decades, has affected about 12 million people across the Horn of Africa. Water crisis: water is everybodys business was one of the key message in the 2nd world water forum. The hard truth is that many people are not aware that there is a water crisis today. Water is waster everywhere, and as long as people are not facing scarcity, they believe that access to water is an obvious and natural thing. With urbanisation, changes in lifestyle, and burgeoning population size, water consumption is bound to increase, putting pressure to the already scarce supply. Growing 1kg of potatoes require 100 litres of water whereas 1 kg of beef requires 13000 litres. In fact, there is less that is 1% of drinkable water today. There are millions of people in majority of African nations deprive from proper sanitation facilities and safe drinking water Lifesaver bottles produced by engineer Michael Pritchard. A humanitarian project in Haiti and Pakistan to provide these bottles With ever-growing population that is reaching 7 billion, the future is even more depressing. This means that there will be another mouth to feed, another portion of waste, another energy consumer, adding fuel to the environment fire. Furthermore, another compelling, harsh and depressing fact to accept is that the world has become more competitive than ever. People constantly compete and strive to be better than/outshine/outperform/outdo/excel/surpass others which constantly leave out those who cannot keep up. The global outlook for the elderly is bleak as the young rule. Even if one is a graduate, he/she is not warranted a job. This is depressing. They have studied for more than a decade or two and realise that it is not going to lead them anywhere. The smarter one will survive and win the competition. There is fear that the Third World War may realise.