The World's Biggest Problems: According to a College Student

There are too Many Problems

Kind of an obvious topic, but there's a lot wrong with the world. A LOT. Seriously, the amount of things wrong today are staggeringly huge. Here I'm going to show a relatively short list (about ten items) on some of the bigger things I think are wrong with the world today.

1.) High Prices for Education in Developed Countries

Higher-level education in most countries is exceedingly expensive. In some countries, it is even restricted as to which citizens are about to access this education, such as in some Middle-Eastern countries. Countries are already starting to implement procedures that involve adding a tax to the population in order to cover the cost of higher education, but in other countries there are social reforms needed in order to give access to this education to more citizens. Each country would have to solve the problem of high-level education in a way which suits their specific cultural and economical situations.

2.) Poor Living Conditions in Low-Income Areas

This one is really only noticeable if you've ever lived near an area in which people have low household incomes. Oftentimes, low-income districts have small living areas in poor conditions for the people living in them. The areas will often have poor heating and water quality, similar to the situations in Detroit and now Flint. Many of these problems would be solved by creating ways to provide low-cost housing and by governments finding ways to provide better amenities to the area;s citizens.

3.) Inner City Congestion

Many cities within the US and worldwide have major congestion issues involving the working populations. Cities such as New York have alternate transportation options such as subway and rail transportation. However, there are cities such as St. Petersburg, Florida, that only allow for vehicle transportation. These cities don't allow for flexible commute options for citizens within the city and commuting workers. These areas have to allow room within their infrastructure budgets, via taxes or outside donations, to create different modes of transportation and possibly alleviate congestion.

4.) The Technological Learning Curve of Older Generations

Not many people would think of this off the bat as a "global problem", but with today's technological advancements many older generations are having trouble keeping up. Everyone has that grandparent that greatly struggle with simply accessing the internet or making a phone call from a smartphone. What's needed is a way to educate older generations on new technology at a steady pace, but in a hands-on environment. I myself have noticed that when you show someone how to perform a task and then allow them to complete it, is that they better understand what it is they're doing exactly. This would be an excellent way to get rid of the technological learning curve between generations.

5.) Public Interest in the Sciences

At first this may not seem like to huge of a problem, but remember that public interest in projects cause the best thing for a project: funding. Without funding, projects will wither away and cease to be. NASA is a perfect example of this, because as the general public became disinterested in their projects and ideas, funding was cut  more and more until it was defunded altogether. Clever marketing and education of the general public (in a way they understand) will create interest, which will most likely lead to funding. In order for scientific projects to happen, people need to know that they exist in the first place.

6.) Lack of Environmental Sustainability

With all of the recent advances in technology in regards to energy and manufactured goods, most countries still find it difficult to practice environmental sustainability. Between the lumber industry and the growing demand for fossil fuels, governments have tended to put concerns for the environment on the back-burner in order to continue making revenue for the state. While there are some advocacy groups for environmental awareness, not many people in the world seem to care about it. These groups need to try to make the consequences of a deteriorating environment hit a little closer to home for others, and better explain ways in which it can be prevented to the general public.

7.) Products with Rushed Development and Distribution

This one seems a bit odd at first but here me out. I've noticed many things I use in my day-to-day life that seem as though they were slapped together last minute and thrown on the shelves as quickly as possible. Too many consumer goods are rushed to be distributed today and one obvious example would be the auto industry. Many cars are simply pushed onto the lot without little concern over problems farther down the road, but oftentimes many of these vehicles will have a large number of recalls that pop up for at least a decade after production. Companies guilty of this need to better test their products for the long-term, and need to spend the extra dime for research and development in order to prevent these problems.

8.) Access to Healthy Foods

Unfortunately with today's growing fast food industry, many people across the world are eating food that could barely be considered food in the first place. While many countries have already created bans against many preservatives and artificial colorings or flavors, the US still has a rampant problem with all of these. The main reason for this is simple: its cheaper to feed people fake food. It has been shown multiple times that fast foods create a huge amount of health problems in people that regularly eat them. One of the first steps to be taken to prevent these problems from occurring more than they already are, is to create awareness for people. Then there are bans that need to be placed, along with better ethics within food service companies regarding consumer health.

9.) The Problem of the "Bystander"

Just about everyone in the world has been guilty of this at least once. We see something happen that shouldn't be happening, and we either stare at the event waiting for someone else to come along and stop it or we take out our phones and record the whole thing mockingly almost. Not many people today will willingly help out a stranger; be it due to fear of a scam, social anxieties, or just plain not caring. Organizations need to be in place in order to educate the public to help in such situations, as opposed to being the "bystander". This could ultimately bring people together socially, and prevent complications within societies.

10.) Human Health

This ties into the previous point about healthy foods, but on a broader scale. Due to the amount of hours the average person works throughout the week, not many have time to be active as much as they should be. The majority of these people end up working office jobs where they are sitting at a desk for hours on end, with few opportunities to even get up. The same issue comes into play in many public schools, where teens are only required to take ONE physical exercise course throughout their four years in high school. Many organizations and companies need to implement health programs as a part to their benefit plans or their scheduling. Multiple researches have proven that when people are able to exercise, that their overall performance improves greatly, along with their mental well-being.