This document outlines several challenges facing the modern world, including environmental crises, population growth, chemical waste, technological advancements, weapons development, economic disparities between nations, health issues, and political instability. It discusses how Rachel Carson's work drew attention to the effects of pesticides, and how population growth and deforestation stress Earth's resources. The document also notes the United Nations has taken a larger role in global affairs since the Cold War ended, supporting treaties around human rights, disarmament, and international cooperation.

1. Challenges & Hopes for
the Future
Chapter 32

2. Challenges of Our World
 Environmental Crisis
 In 1962, Rachel Carson argued that
pesticides were killing birds, fish, and
other wildlife
 Carson’s warnings alarmed scientists and
gave rise to a new field called ecology
 Population Growth
 A rapid increase in the world’s population
has led to fears the Earth’s resources
cannot support so many people
 Problems like deforestation – the
clearing of forests, cause damage to the
environment
 Tropical rainforests are slowly being
destroyed, and they support over 50% of
the worlds species of plants and animals
 Chemical Wastes & Disasters
 Another danger to the environment is
chemical waste, which harm the ozone
layer and promote the greenhouse
effect, which contributes to global
warming
 Technological Revolution
 Modern transportation and
communications systems are
transforming the world
 Airlines move millions of people around
the world
 The Internet provides quick access to
enormous amounts of information
 Space exploration continues, and NASA
and foreign governments send
exploratory missions to places like Mars,
while the Hubble Telescope helps map the
universe
 The telephones you carry in your pocket
are more powerful than the NASA
computer that sent astronauts to the
moon!
 Weapons
 The technological revolution has also led
to the development of advanced methods
of destruction
 Drones, nuclear arms, biological and
chemical weapons are a danger for most
of the world
 Called biowarfare, the use of biological
weapons – weapons that contain
viruses, diseases, or other biologicals,
could have enormous impact on the
world

3. Economic & Social Challenges
 Since World War II, the world has
developed a global economy –
based on the production, distribution
and sale of goods on a worldwide
scale
 In 1995 the World Trade
Organization was established to
help negotiate trade agreements,
which are then upheld by the 140
member nations
 The WTO has been criticized for
putting commercial interests over
environmental and other issues, but
is still the largest trade organization
 Health Care – One challenge for the
world is providing health care.
Another concern is increased
technology that pushes the
boundaries of medicine and raise
questions about ethics in areas like
cloning and genetic engineering
 One of the problems with a global
economy is the gap between rich
and poor nations
 Rich nations, like Canada and the
United States have advanced
technologies and strong
educational systems
 Developing countries have
problems with population growth,
lack of technology, and lack of
resources
 Hunger is a problem in developing
countries
 Gender gap – In developing
countries, women are often bound
to their homes and families and
subordinate to fathers or husbands
 Civil wars have also caused
problems in developing nations;
such wars have produced genocide,
starvation, and instability

4. Political Challenges
 After World War II, African and
Asian leaders identified
democracy as the defining
theme of their new political
cultures
 However, many developing
countries replaced their
democracies with dictatorships
or one-party governments
 Regional, ethnic, and religious
differences continue to create
conflict around the world
 The Arab Spring, an effort in
primarily Arab nations like Egypt
and Syria, occurred when the
Arab people protested and
toppled their dictators
 Technology was a huge factor in
the Arab Spring, as protestors
used social media to coordinate
their efforts
Egyptian protestors

5. Global Visions
 The United Nations has become more important as the
world becomes a smaller place due to new technologies
and the Internet
 The UN has peacekeeping forces that have been involved
in global conflicts like the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
 The Peacekeepers have also helped to settle conflicts and
supervise truces in places like Somalia and Bosnia
 Now that the Cold War is over, the UN has taken on a
much larger role in world politics
 The UN supports treaties on equality of women, supporting
children, providing health care, nuclear disarmament, and
education and science.

6. A World We Cannot Predict
 Schools today are preparing students for a world that
cannot be predicted
 Changes in technology bring about changes in society
that are unpredictable
 What does your future look like?