What do you know about global problems? Coursework: Global problems of our time

Good day, dear friends! We have already covered “cross-cutting” topics in social studies more than once. For example, we previously told. In this post we will talk briefly about the global problems of our time as part of a school social studies course.

Before talking about them, it is necessary to understand what a problem is? A problem is a situation in which there is a contradiction between two or more elements. Well, for example: are bad roads in Russia a problem? Don't rush to give a definite answer! After all, bad roads in themselves do not affect anything. However, people drive on them, and accidents occur due to the quality of the road surface. It turns out that the problem will sound like this: the influence of the quality of roads on the number of accidents. There are two elements: the quality of roads and the number of accidents.

Global problems- these are contradictions in the life of society that cannot be resolved by just one state; their solution requires the intervention of the world community! The ways to solve them can be very different: the problem of war is solved by agreement between states, hunger - humanitarian aid and may be the development of the economies of countries in which it exists, etc.

Now let's look at some global problems that you can use to justify your theses when you...

War and Peace

This modern global problem is that there are hotbeds of military conflicts in the world that can escalate into a global armed conflict.

One such conflict: Arab-Israeli: between Arabs and Jews living in the State of Israel. The origins of this conflict go back to the end of the 19th century, when the ideology of Zionism appeared. By the way, you can find out by following the link. The founder of this ideology is Theodor Herzl, who in his book “The Jewish State” put forward the idea that representatives Jewish people must form their own national state. And not just anywhere, but in its historical ancestral home - Palestine.

Meanwhile, Arabs have lived in Palestine for a long time. As a result, the so-called aliyah began - the migration of Jews to Palestine. Of course, on this basis, conflicts arise between Arabs and Jews in Palestine: over political influence, power, over land issues, so migrants seized land from local residents... The matter was complicated by the fact that Great Britain supported the policy of resettlement.

As a result, in May 1948, Israel, the state in which Jews lived, declared its independence from Palestine. And immediately the Arab-Israeli armed conflicts began:

• First Arab-Israeli (Palestinian) War 1948-1949
• Anglo-French-Israeli aggression against Egypt in 1956.
• "Six Day" War of 1967
• "October" war of 1973

As we know, today this region is in constant conflict, which can develop into a global conflict.

Another similar conflict flared up quite recently in Ukraine.

Similar military conflicts could occur between North and South Korea, between China and Taiwan, etc. More recently, there were armed revolutions in Libya and Egypt. Thus, you yourself will be able to understand these conflicts if you Google it yourself :) And we move on.

Poverty

As you understand, the problem of poverty relates to the economic sphere of society. I would also call it a contradiction big difference between rich and poor. It is also social in nature. Well, for example, a son from a wealthy family goes to a school where different children study. As a result, there are children in the class and they differ in how they are dressed, what phones they have and how they communicate.

Children can already be cruel, and if there are also material differences, this can lead to frequent conflicts and tragedies.

Today, according to official data, there are about 8 million street children in Russia - vagabonds who are not needed by anyone. No one will tell you the exact number. Plus in Russia, 60% barely make ends meet - they have enough money for clothes and food, but buying durable goods is a problem. This can be seen in the materials of the Levada Center survey.

Well just imagine young man 22 years old, who came from the army and cannot get a job anywhere, because there is simply no work, and there is no money for education. As a result, he works as a loader or cleaner. And he sees a man his age who has already “earned” a Hummer and an apartment. How will he feel?

I wrote in more detail how to avoid ending up in such a situation in the post. But the problem of poverty remains global. For example, while you are reading this post, in an hour in Africa 25 thousand people have already died of starvation. There are rich and poor countries - no one is solving this situation either.

Global ecology

A very complex and pressing problem of our time. Hundreds of thousands of factories operate on Earth: from processing to manufacturing, millions of cars drive, thousands of tons of chemicals and toxic substances are thrown into rivers and reservoirs.

As a result, all this has an extremely serious impact on people’s health: every day children are born with congenital defects. chronic diseases. Allergies, asthma, eczema, cancer... And every year the situation gets worse. Meanwhile, most people will continue to live their lives, their virtual lives: in social networks. Few people really make efforts to ensure that the world around them is suitable for life.

Scientists have calculated that ancient man I would have lived in our polluted city for a maximum of two minutes. Then he would have died of suffocation. Can you imagine what kind of mutants we are if we live in cities until we grow old?!

Modern demographic problem

Today, over 6 billion people live in the modern world. In the middle of the last century there was a theory of the golden billion: its essence was that only 1 billion people could live peacefully on Earth. The rest are doomed to death, since there are not enough resources for everyone. And the people themselves, as they become more numerous, begin to destroy themselves. For example, in the 19th century there was only one global war: Napoleonic.

In the last century there were already two world wars, and they took over 60 million people to their graves. What will happen in the 21st century? In addition, the demographic problem lies in the fact that the population is increasingly aging: due to the level of development of medicine, it is becoming more people which cannot be useful. Ultimately, if young people leave the country, who will work? And the old people themselves sometimes lead a terrible existence.

The demographic problem directly relates to the issue of using human capital. People are a non-renewable resource and, in fact, the most valuable resource. Well look. One person can come up with a new device, program or computer. In short, a person can invent a tool. Running out of oil? There is wind and solar energy.

Only a person can figure out how to convert this energy into electricity, and therefore into heat and light! Only a person can figure out how to purify the surrounding air from water bodies. However, for a person to come up with this, it is necessary to develop him, to instill in him a sense of humanity and responsibility. We need to give him opportunities for creativity and encourage his creativity.

And our education system is aimed only at ensuring that a person learns to stupidly poke a pen at a test.

Related to this demographic situation is the problem of drug addiction and AIDS. In essence, these diseases are a kind of punishment for people for their excesses. Don't you think so? Then write your point of view in the comments.

In conclusion, I give a small diagram of the global problems of our time:

This is where I will finish this article about global problems of our time. I hope you can use it asfor argumentation during execution Unified State Exam tests in social studies.

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

Economic problems of humanity

Economic problem– a global problem of humanity associated with the depletion of resources and the division of the world into poles of economic development, with the provision of food and scientific and technical revolutions (scientific and technological revolutions).

Let's look at examples.

Economic problems	Examples
Depletion of animal resources	Michigan State University (USA) researchers studied how fuel demand affects the condition of the Wolong Nature Reserve, located in Sichuan Province (China). Wolong is one of largest reserves, whose task is to protect the giant panda. Over the past thirty years, people have cut down a significant amount of forest, significantly reducing the panda's habitat. If the government does nothing to meet the fuel needs of villages, the situation may become critical.
Depletion of mineral resources	In 2008 total quantity extracted phosphates amounted to 161 million tons. According to experts from the US Geological Survey, the need for fertilizers will increase annually by 2.5–3% in the next 5 years. If this rate of phosphate use continues, then all of the world's reserves could be used up in 125 years.
Depletion of water resources	According to the Water Institute, 1/3 of the current world population - about two billion people - are already experiencing water shortages. Currently, 1.1 billion people in the world live in a state of “water crisis”. At the same time, from 700 million to 900 million people live in a state of water stress - they regularly lack water, for example, during the dry season, which in many places lasts six months.
Food problem	1. According to data International Committee Red Cross in Somalia in 1991-1993. famine claimed the lives of 280 thousand Somalis. 2. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 24 thousand people die from hunger and diseases directly related to it every day in the world. And according to the World Bank, the global food crisis will last until 2015.
Scientific and technological revolutions (STR)	In developed countries, scientific and technological revolution led to an increase in unemployment, which in turn led to a decrease in the birth rate. And in countries with a transitional type of reproduction, the decrease in mortality is not accompanied by a corresponding decrease in the birth rate. In developing countries, a specific age structure is being formed, where a large proportion is occupied by young people under 17 years of age (more than 2/5 of the population, while in Europe this figure is 1/3).

Global problems

Global problems of our time- this is a set of socio-natural problems, the solution of which determines the social progress of mankind and the preservation of civilization. These problems are characterized by dynamism, arise as an objective factor in the development of society and require the united efforts of all humanity to be solved. Global problems are interconnected, cover all aspects of people's lives and affect all countries of the world.

List of global problems

· Unresolved problem of reversing aging in humans and poor public awareness of neglected aging.

· the North-South problem - the development gap between rich and poor countries, poverty, hunger and illiteracy;

· preventing thermonuclear war and ensuring peace for all peoples, preventing the world community from unauthorized proliferation of nuclear technologies and radioactive pollution of the environment;

· prevention of catastrophic environmental pollution

· reduction of biodiversity;

· providing humanity with resources, depletion of oil, natural gas, coal, fresh water, wood, non-ferrous metals;

· global warming;

· ozone holes;

· the problem of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and AIDS.

· demographic development (population explosion in developing countries and demographic crisis in developed countries), possible famine.

· terrorism;

· asteroid danger;

· underestimation of global threats to the existence of humanity, such as the development of unfriendly artificial intelligence and global disasters.

Global problems are a consequence of the confrontation between nature and human culture, as well as the inconsistency or incompatibility of multidirectional trends in the development of human culture itself. Natural nature exists on the principle of negative feedback(see biotic regulation of the environment), while human culture is based on the principle of positive feedback.

Social problems

Social problems, social problems- issues and situations that, directly or indirectly, affect a person and, from the point of view of all or a significant number of members of the community, are sufficiently serious problems, requiring collective efforts to overcome them.

The specific list of social problems differs at different times and in different societies, and the discourse of their perception and presentation changes over time.

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INTRODUCTION

Global problems of humanity are problems and situations that cover many countries, the Earth's atmosphere, the World Ocean and near-Earth space and affect the entire population of the Earth.

Global problems of humanity cannot be solved by the efforts of one country; jointly developed regulations on environmental protection, coordinated economic policies, assistance to backward countries, etc. are needed.

Everything is interconnected with everything - says the first environmental law. This means that you cannot take a single step without touching, and sometimes even disturbing, something from the environment. Every human step on an ordinary lawn means dozens of destroyed microorganisms, frightened insects, changing migration routes, and perhaps reducing their natural productivity.

Already in the last century, human concern arose for the fate of the planet, and in the current century it has reached a crisis in the global ecological system due to renewed stress on the natural environment.

Global problems of our time are a set of problems of humanity, on the solution of which social progress and the preservation of civilization depend.

What are global problems? It would seem that the question has long been clear, and their range was defined back in the early 70s, when the term “global studies” itself began to be used, and the first models of global development appeared.

One of the definitions refers to global as “problems that arise as a result of the objective development of society, create threats to all of humanity and require the united efforts of the entire world community to be solved.”

The correctness of this definition depends on which problems are classified as global. If this is a narrow circle of higher, planetary problems, then it is entirely true. If we add here problems such as natural disasters (it is global only in the sense of the possibility of manifestation in the region), then this definition turns out to be narrow and limiting, which is its meaning.

Firstly, global problems are problems that affect not only the interests of individual people, but can affect the fate of all humanity. The important word here is “fate”, which refers to the prospects for the future development of the world.

Secondly, global problems cannot be solved on their own or even through the efforts of individual countries. They require focused and organized efforts of the entire world community. Unresolved global problems may lead in the future to serious, possibly irreversible, consequences for humans and their environment.

Thirdly, global problems are closely related to one another. That is why it is so difficult to even theoretically isolate and systematize them, let alone develop a system of successive steps to solve them. Generally recognized global problems include: environmental pollution, resource problems, population problems, nuclear weapons and a number of others.

Yuri Gladky made an interesting attempt to classify global problems, identifying three main groups:

1. Problems of a political and socio-economic nature.

2. Problems of natural and economic nature

3. Problems of a social nature.

Awareness of global problems and the urgency of revising many habitual stereotypes came to us late, much later than the publication in the West of the first global models and calls to stop economic growth. Meanwhile, all global problems are closely interconnected.

Nature conservation until recently was a matter for individuals and societies, and ecology initially had nothing to do with nature conservation. With this name Ernest Haeckel in 1866 in his monograph “General Morphology” christened the science of the relationships between animals and plants living on certain territory, their relationships with each other and with living conditions.

Who eats what or whom, and how it adapts to seasonal climate changes are the main questions of primary ecology. With the exception of a narrow circle of specialists, no one knew anything about it. And now the word “ecology” is on everyone’s lips.

Such a dramatic change over the course of 30 years occurred due to two interrelated circumstances characteristic of the second half of the century: the growth of the Earth's population and the scientific and technological revolution.

The rapid growth of the Earth's population is called the population explosion.

It was accompanied by the seizure of vast territories from nature for residential buildings and public institutions, roads and railways, airports and marinas, crops and pastures.

Simultaneously with the demographic explosion, a scientific and technological revolution occurred. Man mastered nuclear energy, rocket technology and went into space. He invented the computer, created electronics and the synthetic materials industry.

The demographic explosion and the scientific and technological revolution have led to a colossal increase in the consumption of natural resources. At such rates of consumption, it has become obvious that many natural resources will be depleted in the near future. At the same time, waste from giant industries began to increasingly pollute the environment, destroying the health of the population. In all industrialized countries, cancer, chronic pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases.

Scientists were the first to sound the alarm. Beginning in 1968, the Italian economist Aurelio Peccien began annually gathering prominent experts from different countries in Rome to discuss issues about the future of civilization. These meetings were called the Club of Rome. In the spring of 1972, the first book prepared by the Club of Rome was published, with the characteristic title “Limits to Growth.” They appealed to the governments of all countries of the world to create special government agencies for these purposes. In different countries, ministries, departments and committees on ecology began to be created, and their main goal environmental monitoring has become natural environment and combating its pollution to preserve public health.

Research on human ecology required a theoretical framework. First Russian and then foreign researchers recognized the teachings of V.I. as such a basis. Vernadsky about the biosphere and the inevitability of its evolutionary transformation into the environment of the human mind - the noosphere.

However, the anthropogenic impact on nature has reached such proportions that global problems have arisen that no one could even suspect about at the beginning of the 20th century.

Classification

The development of a classification of global problems was the result of long-term research and generalization of the experience of several decades of their study.

Researchers have proposed many classification options. Let us consider here a version of the classification developed by domestic scientists I.T. Frolov and V.V. Zagladin. According to this option, all global problems are divided into three large groups.

The first group consists of those problems that are associated with relations between the main social communities of humanity, i.e. between groups of states with similar political, economic and other interests: “East-West”, rich and poor countries, etc. These problems should be called intersocial. These include the problem of preventing war and ensuring peace, as well as establishing a fair international economic order. Environmental problems are particularly acute here, as are countless others. Underdeveloped and moderately developed countries make up the vast majority of the planet's population - about five billion out of six. The general trend of modern development, unfortunately, is that the gap between the “golden billion” and the rest of humanity is not decreasing, but increasing.

The second group unites those problems that are generated by the interaction of society and nature. They are associated with the limited ability of the environment to withstand anthropogenic loads. These are problems such as the provision of energy, fuel, raw materials, fresh water, etc. The environmental problem also belongs to this group, i.e. the problem of protecting nature from irreversible changes negative character, as well as the task of intelligent development of the World Ocean and outer space.

These are, firstly, environmental problems; secondly, problems associated with the development of nature by society, i.e. problems of raw materials and energy resources; thirdly, problems associated with relatively new global objects - outer space and the World Ocean.

The third group of global problems consists of those associated with the “individual-society” system. They directly concern the individual and depend on the ability of society to provide real opportunities for personal development. These include health and education issues, as well as population control issues.

Third large group problems are directly related to a person, to his individual existence. These are problems of “human qualities” - the development of moral, intellectual and other inclinations of a person, ensuring healthy image life, normal mental development. Special attention to these problems has become a characteristic feature of global studies since the second half of the 70s.

2.1 DEMOGRAPHIC PROBLEM

People have always been crowded on the planet. Aristotle and other ancient philosophers were concerned about the overpopulation of the Earth. But this cramped space also served as an incentive for people to strive to explore new spaces on earth. This was the stimulus for the Great Geographical Discoveries, technical inventions, and the scientific process itself.

The growing population of the planet requires an ever greater increase in the pace of economic development in order to maintain balance. However, if we take into account the current state of technology, such growth will cause increasing environmental pollution and may even lead to the irreversible destruction of nature, which gives us all food and supports all life.

It is difficult to judge the phenomenon of a demographic explosion in Russia, where the population has begun to decline since 1993, and even in Western Europe, where it is growing very slowly, but it is well illustrated by demographic statistics from China, African countries, Latin America, southern Asia, where the population is growing at a gigantic pace.

At the beginning of the century, 1.5 billion people lived on Earth. In 1950, despite losses in two world wars, the population increased to 2.5 billion, and then began to increase annually by 70-100 million people. In 1993, the world's population reached 5.5 billion people, that is, doubled compared to 1950, and in 2000 it will exceed 6 billion.

In a finite space, growth cannot be infinite. In all likelihood, the current number of people on Earth will double. Perhaps it will stabilize at 10-12, maybe 14 billion people by the end of the century. The conclusion follows: we must hurry today to stop the slide towards irreversible situations in the future.

A significant feature of the modern demographic picture of the world is that 90%2 of population growth occurs in developing countries. To present a real picture of the world, you need to know how the majority of humanity lives.

The direct link between poverty and population explosion is visible on global, continental and regional scales. Africa, a continent that is in the most difficult crisis ecological and economic state, has the highest population growth rate in the world, and unlike other continents, it is not declining there yet. This completes a vicious circle: poverty

Rapid population growth means degradation of natural life support systems.

The gap between accelerated population growth and insufficient industrial development is further exacerbated by the widespread decline in production, which makes it difficult to solve the enormous problem of unemployment in developing countries. Almost a third of their working population is classified as fully or partially unemployed. Poverty does not reduce, but rather increases, incentives to have more children. Children are an important part of the family labor force. From an early age, they collect brushwood, prepare fuel for cooking, herd livestock, nurse younger children, and do a lot of other household work.

So, in reality, the danger for our planet is poverty, in which the vast majority of the world's population lives. The demographic explosion and the forced destruction of the natural basis of existence are largely consequences of poverty.

The view that the rapidly growing population of developing countries is the main reason for increasing global resource and environmental shortages is as simple as it is false. Swedish environmental scientist Rolf Edberg wrote: “Two thirds of the world’s population are forced to settle for a standard of living that is 5-10% of the level in the richest countries. A Swede, a Swiss, an American consume 40 times more resources Earth than a Somali eats in

75 times more meat products than an Indian. A more equitable distribution of the earth's resources could first of all be expressed in the fact that the wealthy fourth part of the planet's population - at least out of an instinct for self-preservation - would refuse direct

2.2. ECOLOGICAL

Ecology was born as a purely biological science of relationships

"organism - environment". With increasing anthropogenic and technogenic pressure on the environment, the insufficiency of this approach has become obvious. Currently, there are no phenomena, processes or territories unaffected by this powerful pressure. The range of sciences involved in environmental issues has expanded enormously.

Environmental problems of our time, in terms of their scale, can be divided into local, regional and global and require different means of solution and scientific developments of different nature for their solution.

To solve such problems, scientific research is already needed. The anthropogenic impact on nature has reached such proportions that global problems have arisen.

Air pollution

The most common air pollutants enter the atmosphere mainly in two forms: either in the form of suspended particles or in the form of gases. Carbon dioxide. As a result of fuel combustion and cement production, huge amounts of this gas are released into the atmosphere. This gas itself is not poisonous. Carbon monoxide. The combustion of fuel, which creates most of the gaseous and aerosol pollution in the atmosphere, serves as a source of another carbon compound - carbon monoxide. It is poisonous and its danger is aggravated by the fact that it has neither color nor smell, and poisoning with it can occur unnoticed.

Hydrocarbons entering the atmosphere as a result of human activity make up a small proportion of hydrocarbons natural origin, but contamination by them is very important. Their release into the atmosphere can occur at any stage of production, processing, storage, transportation and use of substances and materials containing hydrocarbons. More than half of the hydrocarbons produced by humans enter the air as a result of incomplete combustion of gasoline and diesel fuel during the operation of cars and other vehicles. Sulfur dioxide. Atmospheric pollution with sulfur compounds has important environmental consequences. The main sources of sulfur dioxide are volcanic activity, as well as the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur compounds.

Soil pollution

Almost all pollutants that are initially released into the atmosphere eventually end up on the surface of land and water. Settling aerosols may contain toxic heavy metals - lead, mercury, copper, vanadium, cobalt, nickel. Acids also enter the soil with rain. By combining with it, metals can transform into soluble compounds available to plants. Substances that are constantly present in the soil also turn into soluble forms, which sometimes leads to the death of plants.

Water pollution

Water used by humans ultimately returns to the natural environment. But, apart from the evaporated water, this is no longer pure water, but domestic, industrial and agricultural wastewater, usually not treated or not treated sufficiently. Thus, freshwater bodies of water - rivers, lakes, land and coastal areas of the seas - are polluted. There are three types of water pollution – biological, chemical and physical.

2.3. WARMING

The sharp climate warming that began in the second half of the 20th century is a reliable fact. We feel it in winters that are milder than before. The average temperature of the surface layer of air compared to 1956-1957, when the First International Geophysical Year was held, increased by 0.7 (C). There is no warming at the equator, but the closer to the poles, the more noticeable it is. At the North Pole, the subglacial water warmed by 1(C2) and the ice cover began to melt from below.

Some scientists believe that this is the result of burning a huge mass of organic fuel and the release of large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is a greenhouse gas, that is, it makes it difficult for heat to transfer from the Earth's surface.

So what is the greenhouse effect? Billions of tons of carbon dioxide enter the atmosphere every hour as a result of the burning of coal and oil, natural gas and firewood, millions of tons of methane rise into the atmosphere from gas development, from the rice fields of Asia, water vapor and chlorofluorocarbons are released there. All of these are “greenhouse gases.” Like in a greenhouse, the glass roof and walls let through solar radiation, but do not allow heat to escape, and carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gases” are almost transparent to the sun’s rays, but they trap long-wave thermal radiation from the Earth and prevent it from escaping into space.

The forecast for the future (2040) suggests a possible temperature increase of 1.5 - 4.5.

A warming climate raises a number of related questions.

What are the prospects for its further development? How will warming affect the increase in evaporation from the surface of the World Ocean and how will this affect the amount of precipitation? How will this precipitation be distributed over the area?

All these questions can be answered accurately.

2.4. Ozone holes

The environmental problem of the ozone layer is no less scientifically complex. As is known, life on Earth appeared only after the protective ozone layer of the planet was formed, covering it from harsh ultraviolet radiation. For many centuries there were no signs of trouble. However, in recent decades, intensive destruction of this layer has been noticed.

The problem of the ozone layer arose in 1982, when a probe launched from a British station in Antarctica discovered a sharp decrease in ozone levels at an altitude of 25 - 30 kilometers. Since then, an ozone “hole” of varying shapes and sizes has been continuously recorded over Antarctica. According to the latest data for 1992, it is equal to 23 million square kilometers, that is, an area equal to the entire North America. Later, the same “hole” was discovered over the Canadian Arctic archipelago, over Spitsbergen, and then in different places in Eurasia, in particular over Voronezh.

The depletion of the ozone layer is a much more dangerous reality for all life on Earth than the fall of some super-large meteorite, because ozone prevents dangerous radiation from reaching the Earth’s surface. If ozone decreases, humanity faces, at a minimum, an outbreak of skin cancer and eye diseases. In general, increasing the dose of ultraviolet rays can weaken the human immune system, and at the same time reduce the yield of fields, reducing the already narrow food supply base of the Earth.

“It is quite possible that by 2100 the protective ozone blanket will disappear, ultraviolet rays will dry out the Earth, animals and plants will die. People will seek salvation under giant domes of artificial glass and feed on the food of astronauts.”

The depletion of the ozone layer has worried not only scientists, but also the governments of many countries. The search for reasons began. At first, suspicion fell on chloro- and fluorocarbons used in refrigeration units, the so-called freons. They are indeed easily oxidized by ozone, thereby destroying it. Large sums were allocated to find their replacements. However, refrigeration units are used mainly in countries with warm and hot climates, and for some reason ozone holes are most pronounced in the polar regions. This caused confusion. Then it was found that a lot of ozone is destroyed rocket engines modern aircraft flying at high altitudes, as well as during launches of spacecraft and satellites.

To finally resolve the issue of the causes of ozone layer depletion, detailed scientific research is needed.

2.5 The greenhouse effect problem

Carbon dioxide is one of the main culprits of the “greenhouse effect”, which is why other known “greenhouse gases” (and there are about 40 of them) determine only about half of global warming. Just as in a greenhouse the glass roof and walls allow solar radiation to pass through, but do not allow heat to escape, so do carbon dioxide along with other “greenhouse gases”. They are practically transparent to the sun's rays, but they retain the Earth's thermal radiation and prevent it from escaping into space. A rise in average global air temperature should inevitably lead to an even more significant reduction in continental glaciers. Climate warming is leading to the melting of polar ice and rising sea levels.

Global warming may cause major agricultural zones to shift in temperature, major floods, persistent droughts, and forest fires. Following the upcoming climate changes, changes in the position of natural zones will inevitably occur: a) reduction in coal consumption, replacement of its natural gases, b) development of nuclear energy, c) development of alternative types of energy (wind, solar, geothermal) d) global energy saving. But the problem of global warming, to some extent, is currently being compensated for by the fact that another problem has developed on its basis. Global dimming problem! At the moment, the planet's temperature has risen only one degree in a hundred years. But according to scientists’ calculations, it should have risen to higher values. But due to global dimming, the effect was reduced. The mechanism of the problem is based on the fact that: rays of sunlight that should pass through the clouds and reach the surface and consequently increase the temperature of the planet and increase the effect of global warming cannot pass through the clouds and are reflected from them as a result of never reaching the surface of the planet. And it is precisely thanks to this effect that the planet’s atmosphere does not heat up rapidly. It would seem easier to do nothing and leave both factors alone, but if this happens, then the person’s health will be in danger.

2.6. DEATH AND DEFORESTATION

One of the reasons for the death of forests in many regions of the world is acid rain, the main culprits of which are power plants. Emissions of sulfur dioxide and their transport over long distances lead to such rain falling far from the sources of emissions. Over the past 20 years (1970 – 1990), the world has lost almost 200 million hectares of forestland, which is equal to the area of ​​the United States east of the Mississippi.

Depletion poses a particularly great environmental threat. tropical forests– “the lungs of the planet” and the main source of the planet’s biological diversity. There, approximately 200 thousand square kilometers are cut down or burned annually, which means 100 thousand species of plants and animals disappear. This process is especially fast in the regions richest in tropical forests - the Amazon and Indonesia.

British ecologist N. Meyers concluded that ten small areas in the tropics contain at least 27% of the total species composition this class of vegetation formations, this list was later expanded to 15 tropical forest “hot spots” that must be preserved at all costs.

In developed countries, acid rain caused damage to large parts of the forest.

Current situation with forests is very different across continents. While in Europe and Asia forested areas increased slightly between 1974 and 1989, in Australia they decreased by 2.6% in one year. Even greater forest degradation is taking place in certain countries: in Côte d'Et and Ivoire, forest areas decreased by 5.4% over the year, in Thailand - by 4.3%, in Paraguay by 3.4%.

2.7. Desertification

Under the influence of living organisms, water and air, the most important ecosystem, thin and fragile, is gradually formed on the surface layers of the lithosphere - soil, which is called the “skin of the Earth”. This is the guardian of fertility and life. A handful of good soil contains millions of microorganisms that maintain fertility. It takes a century for a layer of soil 1 centimeter thick to form. It can be lost in one field season. According to geologists, before people began to engage in agricultural activities, graze livestock and plow land, rivers annually carried about 9 billion tons of soil into the World Ocean. Nowadays this amount is estimated at approximately 25 billion tons.

Soil erosion, a purely local phenomenon, has now become universal. In the United States, for example, about 44% of cultivated land is susceptible to erosion. In Russia, unique rich chernozems with a humus content (organic matter that determines soil fertility) of 14–16%, which were called the citadel of Russian agriculture, disappeared. In Russia, the area of ​​the most fertile lands with a humus content of 10–13% has decreased by almost 5 times.

A particularly difficult situation arises when not only the soil layer is demolished, but also the parent rock on which it develops. Then the threshold of irreversible destruction comes, and an anthropogenic (that is, man-made) desert arises.

One of the most formidable, global and fleeting processes of our time is the expansion of desertification, the decline and, in the most extreme cases, the complete destruction of the biological potential of the Earth, which leads to conditions similar to those of a natural desert.

Natural deserts and semi-deserts occupy more than 1/3 of the earth's surface. These lands are home to about 15% of the world's population. Deserts are natural formations that play a certain role in the overall ecological balance of the planet’s landscapes.

As a result of human activity, by the last quarter of the twentieth century, over 9 million square kilometers of deserts appeared, and in total they already covered 43% total area sushi.

In the 1990s, desertification began to threaten 3.6 million hectares of drylands. This represents 70% of the potentially productive drylands, or total land surface area, and does not include the area of ​​natural deserts.

According to UN experts, current losses of productive land will lead to the fact that by the end of the century the world could lose almost 1/3 of its arable land. Such a loss, at a time of unprecedented population growth and increasing food demand, could be truly disastrous.

Causes of land degradation in different regions of the world.

Deforestation, Overexploitation, Over-ploughing, Industrialization

2.8. Clean water

People have been polluting water since time immemorial. Paradoxical as it may seem, harmful emissions into the atmosphere ultimately end up in water, and the territories of city landfills for solid waste and garbage after each rain and after snowmelt contribute to the pollution of surface and groundwater.

So, clean water is also becoming scarce, and water scarcity can affect faster than the consequences of the “greenhouse effect”: 1.2 billion people live without clean drinking water, 2.3 billion without treatment facilities to use contaminated water. Water consumption for irrigation is growing, now it is 3,300 cubic kilometers per year, 6 times more than the flow of one of the most abundant rivers in the world - the Mississippi. Widely Use groundwater leads to a decrease in their level. In Beijing, for example, in recent years it has fallen by 4 meters...

Water can also become a subject of internecine conflicts, since 200 largest rivers of the world flow through the territory of two or more countries. For example, the water of the Niger is used by 10 countries, the Nile by 9, and the Amazon by 7 countries.

Our civilization is already called the “civilization of waste” or the Age of disposable things. The wastefulness of industrialized countries is manifested in the huge and growing amount of raw material waste; mountains of garbage are a characteristic feature of all industrial countries in the world. The United States, with 600 kilograms of garbage per capita per year, is the largest producer of household waste in the world; Western Europe and Japan produce half as much, but the growth rate of household waste is growing everywhere. In our country, this increase is 2–5% per year2.

Many new products contain toxic substances– lead, mercury and cadmium – in batteries, poisonous chemical compounds in household detergents, solvents and dyes. Therefore, garbage dumps near major cities pose a serious environmental threat - the threat of groundwater pollution, a threat to public health. Transport to these landfills industrial waste will create even greater dangers.

Waste recycling plants are not a radical solution to the waste problem - sulfur and nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide are released into the atmosphere, and the ash contains toxic substances; the ash ultimately ends up in these same landfills.

Such an ordinary substance as water does not often attract our attention, although we encounter it every day, rather even hourly: during the morning toilet, at breakfast, when we drink tea or coffee, when leaving the house in the rain or snow, while preparing lunch and washing dishes, during laundry... In general, very, very often. Think for a minute about water..., imagine that it suddenly disappeared..., well, for example, there was a water supply network failure. Or perhaps this has already happened to you? It becomes very obvious in such a situation that “there is no water, neither here nor there.”

2.9. Energy problem

As we have already seen, it is closely connected with the environmental problem. Environmental well-being greatly depends on the reasonable development of the Earth’s energy sector, since half of all gases that cause the “greenhouse effect” are created in the energy sector.

The fuel and energy balance of the planet consists mainly of

"pollutants" - oil (40.3%), coal (31.2%), gas (23.7%). In total, they account for the overwhelming majority of energy resource use – 95.2%. “Pure” types – hydropower and nuclear energy – account for a total of less than 5%, and the “softest” (non-polluting) types – wind, solar, geothermal – account for fractions of a percent.

It is clear that the global task is to increase the share of “clean” and especially “soft” types of energy.

In the coming years, “soft” types of energy will not be able to significantly change the fuel and energy balance of the Earth. It will take some time until their economic indicators become close to “traditional” types of energy.

In addition to the gigantic area that is necessary for the development of solar and wind energy, one must also take into account the fact that their environmental “purity” is taken without taking into account the metal, glass and other materials necessary to create such “clean” installations, and even in huge quantities.

Hydropower is also conditionally “clean” – there is a large loss of flooded area in river floodplains, which are usually valuable agricultural lands. Hydroelectric power plants now provide 17% of all electricity in developed countries and 31% in developing countries, where the world's largest hydroelectric power stations have been built in recent years.

Apparently, in these conditions, only nuclear energy can be a way out, capable of sharply and quite short terms reduce the greenhouse effect.

Replacing coal, oil and gas with nuclear power has already produced some reductions in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.

2.10. Raw material problem

Issues of providing raw materials and energy are the most important and multifaceted global problem. The most important because, even in the age of scientific and technological revolution, minerals remain the fundamental basis for almost the rest of the economy, and fuel is its circulatory system. Multifaceted because here a whole knot of “sub-problems” is woven together:

Availability of resources on a global and regional scale;

Economic aspects of the problem (increasing production costs, fluctuations in world prices for raw materials and fuel, dependence on imports);

Geopolitical aspects of the problem (struggle for sources of raw materials and fuel;

Environmental aspects of the problem (damage from the mining industry itself, energy supply issues, recovery of raw materials, choice of energy strategies, and so on).

The scale of resource use has increased dramatically in recent decades.

Only since 1950, the volume of mineral extraction has increased 3 times; all minerals mined in the 20th century were mined after 1960.

One of the key issues of any global models has become the provision of resources and energy. And many of the things that until recently were considered endless, inexhaustible and “free” - territory, water, oxygen - have become resources.

Problems of the world's oceans

The world ocean, covering 2/3 of the earth's surface, is a huge water reservoir, the mass of water in which is 1.4 (1021 kilograms or 1.4 billion cubic kilometers. Ocean water is 97% of all water on the planet. Being the largest supplier of food products, the World Ocean provides, according to various estimates, 1/6 of all animal proteins consumed by the planet's population as food. The ocean and, especially, its coastal zone play a leading role in supporting life on Earth.

After all, about 70% of the oxygen entering the planet’s atmosphere is produced during photosynthesis by plankton (phytoplankton). Blue-green algae that live in the world's oceans serve as a giant filter that purifies water as it circulates. It takes polluted river and rainwater and by evaporation returns moisture to the continent in the form of pure precipitation.

The oceans are one of the most important objects of environmental protection. The peculiarity of this object of environmental protection is that currents in the seas and oceans quickly carry pollutants to long distances from the places of their release. Therefore, the problem of protecting the cleanliness of the ocean is of a clearly international nature.

Intensive human activity has led to the fact that the Baltic,

The North and Irish Seas are heavily polluted by detergent runoff. Water

The Baltic and North Seas are fraught with other dangers.

Successful restoration of water resources while simultaneously involving them in economic circulation, that is, the reproduction of water resources and the prevention of possible new pollution is possible only through a set of measures, including the treatment of wastewater and reservoirs, the introduction of recycled water supply and low-waste technologies.

Waste-free technology is developing in several directions:

1. Creation of drainless technological systems and water circulation cycles based on existing introduced and promising methods of wastewater treatment.

2. Development and implementation of systems for recycling production and consumption waste as a secondary material resource, which prevents their entry into the aquatic environment.

3. Creation and implementation of fundamentally new processes for obtaining traditional types of products, which make it possible to eliminate or reduce technological stages that produce the bulk of liquid waste pollutants.

The most common substances that pollute water bodies are oil and its derivatives.

Shipping is the oldest branch of transport, connecting continents and cultures in the very distant past. But only in the second half of our century did it take on modern grandiose proportions. Tanker disasters pose a great danger to the open ocean, and nuclear submarines pose an even greater danger.

The impact of military conflicts on the World Ocean is especially dangerous. "War in

Gulf" led to the fact that almost 2/3 of the western coast of the Persian Gulf was covered with a layer of oil and a huge number of marine animals and birds died.

More obscure problems may arise from a warming climate

Earth. There is another type of contamination - radioactive contamination from the disposal of radioactive waste. Pollution of seas and oceans radioactive waste is one of the most important problems of our time.

In recent years, a number of important international agreements have been adopted to protect the seas and oceans from pollution. In accordance with these agreements, tanker washing and waste ship water discharge must be carried out in special port facilities.

Problems of space exploration

Before the start of the first space flights, all near-Earth space, and even more so the “distant” space, the universe, was considered something unknown. And only later did they begin to recognize that between the Universe and the Earth - this smallest particle of it - there is an inextricable relationship and unity.

The close interaction of the Earth's biosphere with the cosmic environment gives grounds to assert that the processes occurring in the Universe have an impact on our planet.

It should be noted that already at the birth of the foundations of theoretical cosmonautics, environmental aspects played an important role, and, above all, in the works of K.E. Tsiolkovsky. In his opinion, the very entry of man into space represents the development of a completely new ecological “niche”, different from the earthly one.

Near space (or near-Earth space) is the gaseous envelope of the Earth, which is located above the surface atmosphere, and whose behavior is determined by the direct influence of solar ultraviolet radiation, while the state of the atmosphere is influenced mainly by the Earth's surface.

Until recently, scientists believed that near space exploration had almost no impact on the weather, climate and other living conditions on Earth. The appearance of ozone holes has given scientists pause. But the problem of preserving the ozone layer is only a small part of a much larger common problem protection and rational use of near-Earth space, and above all that part of it that forms the upper atmosphere and for which ozone is only one of its components. In terms of the relative force of impact on the upper atmosphere, the launch of a space rocket is similar to the explosion of an atomic bomb in the surface atmosphere.

Space is a new environment for humans, not yet inhabited. But here, too, the eternal problem of contamination of the environment, this time in space, arose.

There is also the problem of contamination of near-Earth space with spacecraft debris. Space debris appears during the operation of orbital spacecraft and their subsequent deliberate destruction. It also includes spent spacecraft, upper stages, detachable structural elements such as pyrobolt adapters, covers, last stages of launch vehicles, and the like.

According to modern data, there are 3000 tons of space debris in near space, which is about 1% of the mass of the entire upper atmosphere above 200 kilometers. Growing space debris poses a serious threat to space stations and manned flights. Space debris is dangerous not only for astronauts and space technology, but also for earthlings. Experts have calculated that out of 150 spacecraft debris that reaches the surface of the planet, one is likely to seriously injure or even kill a person.

Outer space is not under the jurisdiction of any state. This is in its purest form an international object of protection. Thus, one of the important problems arising in the process of industrial space exploration is the determination of specific factors of the permissible limits of anthropogenic impact on the environment and near-Earth space.

It must be admitted that today there is a negative impact of space technology on the environment (destruction of the ozone layer, contamination of the atmosphere with oxides of metals, carbon, nitrogen, and near space

– parts of spent spacecraft). Therefore, it is very important to study the consequences of its influence from an environmental point of view.

2.13 The problem of AIDS and drug addiction.

Fifteen years ago, it was hardly possible to foresee that the media would pay so much attention to the disease, which received the short name AIDS - “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.” Now the geography of the disease is striking. The World Health Organization estimates that at least 100,000 cases of AIDS have been detected worldwide since the outbreak began. The disease has been detected in 124 countries. The largest number of them are in the USA. No less evil is the international mafia and especially drug addiction, which poisons the health of tens of millions of people and creates a breeding ground for crime and disease. Already today, even in developed countries, there are countless diseases, including mental ones. In theory, hemp fields should be protected by workers of the state farm - the owner of the plantation.

2.14 The problem of thermonuclear war.

No matter how serious the dangers for humanity are that accompany all other global problems, they are not even in the aggregate comparable to the catastrophic demographic, environmental and other consequences of a global thermonuclear war, which threatens the very existence of civilization and life on our planet. Back in the late 70s, scientists believed that a global thermonuclear war would be accompanied by the death of many hundreds of millions of people and the resolution of world civilization. Studies on the likely consequences of a thermonuclear war have revealed that even 5% of the currently accumulated nuclear arsenal of the great powers would be enough to plunge our planet into an irreversible environmental catastrophe: soot rising into the atmosphere from incinerated cities and forest fires will create a screen impenetrable to sunlight and lead to a drop in temperature by tens of degrees, so even in tropical zone a long polar night will come. The priority of preventing a global thermonuclear war is determined not only by its consequences, but also by the fact that a non-violent world without nuclear weapons creates the need for prerequisites and guarantees for the scientific and practical solution of all other global problems in the conditions of international cooperation.

3. Interrelation of global problems.

All global problems of our time are closely related to each other and mutually conditioned, so that an isolated solution to them is practically impossible. Thus, ensuring the further economic development of mankind with natural resources obviously presupposes the prevention of increasing environmental pollution, otherwise this will lead to an environmental disaster on a planetary scale in the foreseeable future. This environmental problem can only be solved along the path of a new type of environmental development, fruitfully using the potential scientific and technical revolution, while simultaneously preventing its negative consequences. The inability of humanity to develop at least one of the global problems will most negatively affect the ability to solve all the others. In the view of some Western scientists, the interconnection and interdependence of global problems form a kind of “vicious circle” of disasters insoluble for humanity, from which there is either no way out at all, or the only salvation is the immediate cessation of environmental growth and population growth. This approach to global problems is accompanied by various alarmist, pessimistic forecasts for the future of humanity.

4. Ways and possibilities for solving global problems.

The aggravation of global contradictions puts on the agenda the common problem of human survival. Various specialists are investing different content concepts of survival.

For optimal solution global problems of the modern stage social development two groups of prerequisites are needed: scientific-technical and socio-political. The content of the first is to ensure scientific and technological progress to the extent necessary to regulate natural processes; secondly, in creating such socio-political conditions that will make it possible to practically solve global problems. The most complete solution to global problems obviously requires a radical transformation of social relations on the scale of the world community. This means that for the nearest foreseeable period, the only way to solve global problems is the deployment of mutually beneficial, broad international cooperation.

It is necessary to rethink the entire system of value orientations and change life attitudes, shifting the emphasis from the means of life with which people have been occupied for so long, to the goals of life. Perhaps these great trials will lead not only to a transformation of existence, but also to a spiritual transformation.

The aggravation of global problems has created fundamentally new conditions for the development of humanity, conditions of a constant, real threat to life on Earth.

In objective reality, we are dealing not with a totality, but with a system of global problems. Its characteristic feature is that it is extremely complex and multifactorial. And this is manifested, first of all, in the fact that the essential basis of the system of global contradictions are social relationships determined by the fundamental laws of social development. There are no purely social or purely socio-natural global problems. All of them express one or another aspect of a single process of socio-natural development. A characteristic feature of the global problems of our time is that they, having arisen for social reasons, lead to consequences that are more than social, affecting biological and physical basis human existence.

The central link in the strategy for solving global problems is the development of comprehensive international cooperation, the unification of the diverse efforts of all mankind. So, the world community has an objective opportunity to save itself and life on the planet. The problem is: will it be able to take advantage of this opportunity?

Ways to solve environmental problems

The main thing, however, is not the completeness of the list of these problems, but in understanding the reasons for their occurrence, their nature and, most importantly, in identifying effective ways and means of resolving them.

The real prospect of solving the environmental crisis lies in change production activities a person, his way of life, his consciousness.

Scientific and technological progress not only creates “overloads” for nature; In the most advanced technologies, it provides a means of preventing negative impacts and creates opportunities for environmentally friendly production. Not only an urgent need has arisen, but also an opportunity to change the essence of technological civilization and give it an environmental character.

One of the directions of such development is the creation of safe production facilities.

Using the achievements of science, technological progress can be organized in such a way that production waste does not pollute the environment, but returns to the production cycle as secondary raw materials. An example is provided by nature itself: carbon dioxide released by animals is absorbed by plants, which release oxygen necessary for animal respiration.

Waste-free production is a production in which all raw materials are ultimately transformed into one or another product. Considering that

98% raw materials modern industry transforms into waste, then the need for the task of creating waste-free production will become clear.

Calculations show that 80% of waste from the thermal power, mining, and coke-chemical industries is suitable for use. At the same time, the products obtained from them often surpass in quality products made from primary raw materials. For example, ash from thermal power plants, used as an additive in the production of aerated concrete, approximately doubles the strength of building panels and blocks. Of great importance is the development of environmental restoration industries (forestry, water, fisheries), the development and implementation of material-saving and energy-saving technologies.

F. Joliot-Curie also warned: “We cannot allow people to direct to their own destruction those forces of nature that they were able to discover and conquer.”

Time doesn't wait. Our task is to stimulate, using all available methods, every initiative and entrepreneurship aimed at creating and implementing the latest technologies that help solve any environmental problems.

Promote the creation of a large number of control bodies consisting of highly qualified specialists, based on clearly developed legislation in accordance with international agreements on environmental issues. Constantly convey information to all states and peoples on ecology through radio, television and the press, thereby raising the environmental consciousness of people and promoting their spiritual and moral revival in accordance with the requirements of the era.

Humanism

Humanism (from Lat. humanitas - humanity, Lat. humanus - humane, Lat. homo - man) is a worldview centered on the idea of ​​man as the highest value; arose as a philosophical movement during the Renaissance

According to the definition of the ancient Roman politician and philosopher Cicero, humanism is the highest cultural and moral development of human abilities into an aesthetically complete form, combined with gentleness and humanity.

Humanism today

Yuri Cherny in his work “Modern Humanism” offers the following periodization of the development of the modern humanistic movement:

Origin (mid-19th century - early 1930s);

The formation and development of the organized humanistic movement (early 1930s - early 1980s);

The identification of secular (secular) humanism as an independent ideological movement, its final demarcation from religious humanism (early 1980s - present).

Modern humanism represents diverse ideological movements, the process of organizational formation of which began in the period between the two world wars and continues intensively today. The concept of “humanism” as a definition of their own views on life is used by agnostics, freethinkers, rationalists, atheists, members of ethical societies (seeking to separate moral ideals from religious doctrines, metaphysical systems and ethical theories in order to give them independent force in personal life and public relations ).

Organizations of supporters of humanistic movements, existing in many countries of the world, are united in the International Humanistic and Ethical Union (IHEU). Their activities are based on program documents - declarations, charters and manifestos, the most famous of which are:

Humanist Manifesto I (1933),

Humanist Manifesto II (1973),

Declaration of Secular Humanism (1980),

Humanist Manifesto 2000 (1999),

Amsterdam Declaration 2002,

Humanism and Its Aspirations (2003),

Other international and regional humanist organizations (World Union of Freethinkers, International Academy of Humanism, American Humanist Association, Dutch Humanist League, Russian Humanist Society, Indian Radical Humanist Association, International Coalition) also play a significant role in the development of humanistic views, the promotion of humanistic values ​​and the coordination of the efforts of humanists “For Humanism!”, etc.)

At first glance, the phrase “humanism and ecology” looks quite natural and consonant. However, upon a more rigorous examination of these concepts, almost nothing in common can be found between them. And yet, the main direction of modern human development is most accurately expressed by the unification of the ideas of ecology and humanism.

Ecology arose in the middle of the 19th century in the depths of biological science, which by that time had become interested not only in the classification of all living things and the structure of organisms, but also in the reaction of animals and plants to living conditions. Gradually, ecology took shape into an independent biological discipline with several main sections examining the peculiarities of the existence of organisms, populations and communities. In none of them is there even a hint of the priority of humane relations between species, much less of ensuring the beneficial existence of only one of the many species, namely Homo sapience.

Humanism as a cultural trend arose in the 14th century in Italy and spread to Western Europe from the 15th century. At first, humanism manifested itself in the form of a defense of secular values ​​against oppression by the ascetic medieval church. Some Italian universities have returned to the half-forgotten and rejected ancient cultural and scientific heritage of the Middle Ages. The humanism of that time was initially prone to politicization and reorganization of society, which manifested itself over time in revolutions.

The Renaissance, which replaced the Middle Ages, “built on” Christian ethics and contributed to the further development of humanism. Without initially denying the foundations of Christian morality, the reformers introduced, in the form of studying ancient works, recognition of the intrinsic value of the human person and earthly life.

Humanism as a phenomenon turned out to be a historically changing system of views. Originating in art, it opened the way to science, the scientific and technological revolution, and contributed to an economic boom, enlightenment, social transformations and revolutions. Its consequences include both modern fantastic achievements of science, which have completely transformed our way of life, and numerous troubles caused by the excessive arrogance of people seeking to reshape the world according to their own understanding. In this sense, humanism has given rise to an anti-ecological worldview of consumerism and the priority of human interests on Earth, thereby contributing to the approach of an environmental crisis.

Ecology has also undergone a striking metamorphosis. From a private biological discipline, in just the last half century, it has turned into a colossal interdisciplinary field of science in its scope - megascience, studying the impact on living things not only of natural environmental factors that have always existed in nature, but also of numerous processes generated by human activity. Applied ecology began to study ways to prevent undesirable consequences of anthropogenic impact on nature and on the health of people themselves.

Ecology has opened the world's eyes to processes of global significance, and at the same time, it is with these processes that the most unpleasant expectations, and perhaps the troubles of humanity, are associated.

Any species of living beings can theoretically multiply without limit. IN real life This does not happen, and surges in the numbers of individual populations are quite rare. This is explained by the fact that the number of any species is limited by the limited resources necessary for its life, and above all food. Every ecology textbook provides examples of such “waves of life.” However, gradually people became less and less dependent on natural limitations. They learned to grow their own food, store it, buy it in other countries and transport it to places of deprivation. Humanity has learned to look for new resources, i.e. take more and more from nature. There has never been anything like this before in the history of the biosphere. While remaining one of the species of living beings, humanity has escaped the control of natural regulations.

It is no longer possible to rely on the omnipotence of nature. Natural mechanisms are insufficient to preserve the biosphere and prevent its destruction from the inside. Natural regulations are blind - they are “oscillations of a pendulum” with going off scale at the edges: a cataclysm is often necessary to switch processes. Anthropogenic regulation is the anticipation of cataclysms, it is a timely reduction in the speed of the process, it is a choice between immediate benefits and long-term sustainability. Hence the priority " sustainable development». Modern strategies should be based on a choice between short-term and long-term benefits in environmental management.

Now people are obliged to live by different rules - not natural ones at all. This is the essence of the “ecological imperative” - a concept that has recently become widely known thanks to the works of Nikita Nikolaevich Moiseev. A new worldview of humanity must be formulated taking into account the fact that one living species assumes full responsibility for observing the “safety rules on the planet”, for maintaining a stable balance of energy and material flows.

Such laws did not exist in nature, although the rudiments of them appeared long ago in the history of mankind and were reflected in the evolution of the humanistic worldview, either in the form of religious teachings, then in the form of social utopias and theories, or in various manifestations of secular culture. However, there can be no doubt about the fact that humanity has already begun to live according to laws different from natural ones, and its participation in the regulation of natural processes has no analogues in the entire history of the Earth.

In the famous first report of the Club of Rome, “The Limits to Growth,” it was proven that the development of humanity according to existing rules must inevitably lead soon to global collapse. Cosmopolitanism and concerns about the fate of all humanity have ceased to be the lot of individual moralists and thinkers.

Christian humanism turned out to be dual: while preaching love for one's neighbor, the church at the same time propagated asceticism, the extreme forms of which were inhuman. In addition, there was no place for nature in Christian teaching. Humanity harmed nature even outside of Christianity, but Christianity not only did not resist this, but actually blessed such a policy of people. While fighting against paganism, with the veneration and deification of natural forces, the great religion simultaneously destroyed the centuries-old traditions of the unity of man with nature. Christianity sought to separate man from nature, to contrast the spiritualized creature with other creatures, and especially with inanimate nature. Man was torn out of the biological world by religion, and nature was given over to him for consumption. This is the reason for the fact that environmental movements began and grew outside the church.

The practical implementation of the ideas of humanism was the spread of accessible and universal secular education throughout the world, the recognition of equal rights of women with men, the emergence of a social security (support) system for the population, including, in particular, the regulation of working hours, vacations, and benefits. In many countries, for humane reasons, they have abandoned the use of the death penalty as capital punishment.

The modern ecological worldview represents the next step in the development of humanistic ethics. Now we are talking not only about mutual respect between contemporaries, but also about concern for the well-being of future generations, about the preservation of the biosphere - “ common house", in which we all live together with many other species of living beings inhabiting it.

The United Nations has put a lot of effort into finding ways to prevent global environmental catastrophe since the mid-1960s. First in Stockholm in 1972, and then in Rio de Janeiro 20 years later, recommendations were made in the most general form to overcome the environmental crisis, which did not fit into the stereotypes of either the capitalist or socialist systems. Gradually and independently of government efforts, the concerned public of different countries formulated new, still scattered rules for a different, third way of development, which is associated with the concept of sustainable development of humanity. Now, at the turn of the millennium, the world is beginning to recognize itself as a single community, doomed first of all to take care of the safety of its “spaceship”, from which it has nowhere to escape.

The role of gradually transforming humanism turns out to be leading in solving global environmental problems: if ecology as a science has gone far beyond the boundaries of its originally occupied field of knowledge and now we are talking about “environmental protection”, or more precisely about eco-culture, then humanism has undergone an impressive evolution. The time has come to admit that the world is learning to live according to new rules that correspond to the logical continuation of the evolution of humanism - its noospheric phase of development. Scattered principles, representing a treasury of humanity, which have been found and successfully tested by different peoples, thinkers, and religions, can be united into a single humanistic “code of life.” It mutually complements each other: the Christian “thou shalt not kill”, the humanists’ desire for education, philanthropy and creativity, the affirmation of the principles of equality and freedom, citizenship and spirituality, current globalism and concern for the future of the entire planet.

Conclusion

The global problems of our time are of a universal nature in the broadest sense of the word, because they affect the interests of all mankind, influence the future of human civilization, and most immediately, without any temporary delays.

The universal are those prerequisite factors, those values ​​that really contribute to the survival, preservation and development of humanity, the creation favorable conditions for his being, for the revelation of his potential.

On modern stage The development of mankind has faced, perhaps, the most pressing problem - how to preserve nature, since no one knows when and in what form an environmental catastrophe can occur. And humanity has not yet even come close to creating a global mechanism for regulating the use of natural resources, but continues to destroy the colossal gifts of nature. There is no doubt that the inventive human mind will eventually find a replacement for them. Man cannot exist without nature, not only physically (bodily), which goes without saying, but also spiritually. The meaning of modern environmental ethics is to place the highest moral values ​​of man above the value of nature-transforming activities. At the same time, the principle of value equality of all living things (equivalence) appears as the basis of environmental ethics.

If humanity continues to follow the current path of development, then its death, according to the world's leading ecologists, is inevitable in two to three generations.

Modernity is a series of social problems of the development of civilization, which, however, are not limited exclusively to the social aspect, and affect almost all areas of society: economic, political, environmental, psychological. These problems have been formed over many years, which are characterized by the rapid development of various spheres of human life, and therefore the methods for solving them do not have clear options.

Philosophy and global problems of our time

Awareness of any problems is the first stage in solving them, because only understanding can lead to effective actions. For the first time, the global problems of our time were comprehended by philosophers. Indeed, who else but philosophers will be engaged in understanding the dynamics of the development of civilization? After all, global problems require full analysis and consideration of different points of view.

The main global problems of our time

So, he studies global processes. They arise as an objective factor of human existence, i.e. arise due to human activities. Global problems of our time are not numerous:

1. The so-called “neglectable aging”. This problem was first raised in 1990 by Caleb Finch. Here we are talking about expanding the boundaries of life expectancy. A lot of scientific research has been devoted to this topic, which has been aimed at studying the causes of aging and methods that can slow it down or even reverse it. However, as practice shows, the solution to this issue is quite a long way off.
2. The North-South problem. It includes understanding the large development gap between northern and southern countries. Thus, in most countries of the South, the concepts of “hunger” and “poverty” are still a pressing problem for large parts of the population.
3. The problem of preventing thermonuclear war. It implies the damage that could be caused to all of humanity in the event of the use of nuclear or thermonuclear weapons. The problem of peace between peoples and political forces, the struggle for common prosperity, is also acute here.
4. Preventing pollution and maintaining ecological balance.
5. Global warming.
6. The problem of diseases: AIDS, cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
7. Demographic imbalance.
8. Terrorism.

Global problems of our time: what are the solutions?

1. Negligible aging. Modern science is taking steps towards studying aging, but the question of the feasibility of this still remains relevant. In mythological legends different nations You can come across the idea of ​​eternal life, however, the elements that make up the concept of evolution today conflict with the idea of ​​eternal life and prolongation of youth.
2. The problem of the North and South, which is illiteracy and poverty of the population of southern countries, is solved with the help of charitable actions, but it cannot be solved until the countries lagging behind in development become developed in political and economic aspects.
3. The problem of preventing the use of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, in fact, cannot be exhausted as long as the capitalist understanding of relations dominates in society. Only with a transition to another level of assessment of human life and peaceful coexistence can the problem be solved. Acts and agreements concluded between countries on non-use are not a 100% guarantee that war will not break out one day.
4. The problem of maintaining the ecological balance of the planet today is being solved with the help of political forces that are concerned about this, as well as with the help of organizations that are trying to preserve endangered species of animals, are engaged in planting and organize events and campaigns that are aimed at attracting public attention to this problem . However, a technological society is unlikely to be able to preserve the environment 100%.
5. Questions about global warming have long worried scientists, but the causes that cause warming cannot currently be eliminated.
6. The problems of incurable diseases at the present stage find a partial solution offered by medicine. Fortunately, today this issue is relevant for scientific knowledge and the state is allocating funds to ensure that these problems are studied and effective medicines are invented by doctors.
7. The demographic imbalance between the countries of the south and north finds a solution in the form of legislative acts: for example, Russian legislation encourages high birth rates in the form of additional payments large families, and, for example, Japanese legislation, on the contrary, limits the ability of families to have many children.
8. Currently, the problem of terrorism is very acute after a number of high-profile tragic incidents. Internal security services of states are doing everything possible to counter terrorism on the territory of their country and prevent unification terrorist organizations on an international scale.

Zelenogorsk 2010

Introduction

Conclusion

Applications

Introduction

Humanity does not stand still, it is constantly developing and improving. In the course of development, humanity has constantly faced complex problems, many of which are of a global, planetary nature, affecting the interests of all countries and peoples. Humanity has experienced the tragedy of two of the most destructive and bloody world wars. An end to colonial empires and colonialism; the collapse of totalitarian regimes opens up the prospect of the civilizational unity of the world; the scientific and technological revolution and the latest technologies have transformed the material and technical basis of modern society, which is acquiring the qualitative features of a post-industrial and information society; new tools and household appliances; the development of education and culture, the affirmation of the priority of human rights, etc., provide opportunities for human improvement and a new quality of life.

They fully manifested themselves in the last quarter of the twentieth century, at the turn of two centuries and even millennia. As Gilbert Keith Chesterton, an outstanding English Christian thinker, journalist and writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, said: “Progress is the father of problems.”

One of the reasons for the diversity of the world is the difference in natural conditions and physical habitat. These conditions affect many aspects public life, but primarily on human economic activity. In countries around the world, problems of people's lives, their well-being and human rights are resolved within the framework of historical features. Each sovereign state has its own problems.

The purpose of this essay is to summarize knowledge about the global problems of our time, highlight their characteristic features, and find out the necessary conditions for solving them. Let's try to determine which problems are global in nature and into which groups they are divided. Let's discuss what measures people should take to solve these problems.

The work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references. The total volume of work is ___ pages.

1. Global problems of our time

1.1 Concept of global problems

First of all, it is necessary to decide what problems we can call “global”. Global (French Global) - universal, (Latin Globus) - ball. Based on this, the meaning of the word “global” can be defined as:

1) covering all globe, worldwide;

2) comprehensive, complete, universal.

The present time is the boundary of a change of eras, the entry of the modern world into a qualitative new phase development. The most characteristic features of the modern world (Fig. 1):

information revolution;

acceleration of modernization processes;

"compaction" of space;

acceleration of historical and social time;

the end of the bipolar world (confrontation between the USA and the USSR);

reconsidering the Eurocentric worldview;

growing influence of eastern states;

integration (convergence, interpenetration);

globalization (strengthening interconnection and interdependence of countries and peoples);

strengthening national cultural values and traditions.

Figure 1 - Modern world

Thus, global problems are a set of problems of humanity that faced it in the second half of the 20th century, and on the solution of which the existence of civilization depends and, therefore, requiring coordinated international action to solve them.

Now let's try to find out what they have in common.

These problems are characterized by dynamism, arise as an objective factor in the development of society and require the united efforts of all humanity to be solved. Global problems are interconnected, cover all aspects of people's lives and affect all countries of the world. It has become obvious that global problems not only concern all of humanity, but are also vitally important to it. Complex problems facing humanity can be considered global, since (Fig. 2):

firstly, they affect all of humanity, touching the interests and destinies of all countries, peoples and social strata;

secondly, global problems do not respect borders;

thirdly, they lead to significant losses of an economic and social nature, and sometimes to a threat to the existence of civilization itself;

fourthly, they require broad international cooperation to solve these problems, since not one state, no matter how powerful it may be, is unable to solve them on its own.

Figure 2 - Features of global problems

Until the middle of the 20th century, the political language lacked the concept of “global problems” as universal problems of world civilization. Their emergence was caused by a whole complex of reasons, which most clearly manifested themselves during this period. What are these reasons?

1.2 Causes of global problems

Scientists and philosophers, at the level of generalizations, have put forward ideas about the connection between human activity and the state of the biosphere (the environment that supports life on Earth). Russian scientist V.I. Vernandsky in 1944 expressed the idea that human activity is acquiring a scale comparable to the power of natural forces. This allowed him to raise the question of restructuring the biosphere into the noosphere (the sphere of activity of the mind).

What caused global problems? These reasons include the sharp increase in the human population, the scientific and technological revolution, the use of space, the emergence of a unified world information system, and many others.

The first people to appear on Earth, while obtaining food for themselves, did not violate natural laws and natural circulations. With the development of tools, man increasingly increased his “pressure” on nature. Thus, 400 thousand years ago, synanthropes destroyed significant areas of vegetation cover in northern China with fire; and in the once forested Moscow region during the time of Ivan the Terrible there were fewer forests than now - due to the use of slash-and-burn agriculture since ancient times.

The industrial revolution of the 18th-19th centuries, interstate contradictions, scientific and technological revolution of the mid-20th century, and integration aggravated the situation. Problems grew like a snowball as humanity moved along the path of progress. The Second World War marked the beginning of the transformation of local problems into global ones.

Global problems are a consequence of the confrontation between natural nature and human culture, as well as the inconsistency or incompatibility of multidirectional trends in the development of human culture itself. Natural nature exists on the principle of negative feedback, while human culture exists on the principle of positive feedback. On the one hand, there is the enormous scale of human activity, which has radically changed nature, society, and people’s way of life. On the other hand, it is a person’s inability to rationally manage this power.

So, we can name the reasons for the emergence of global problems:

globalization of the world;

the catastrophic consequences of human activity, the inability of humanity to rationally manage its mighty power.

1.3 The main global problems of our time

Global problems are different in nature. These include, first of all, the problem of peace and disarmament, the prevention of a new world war; environmental; demographic; energy; raw materials; food; use of the World Ocean; peaceful space exploration; overcoming the backwardness of developing countries (Fig. 3).

Figure 3 - Global problems of humanity

There are different approaches to the classification of global problems, but the most widely accepted classification is based on the content and severity of the problems. In accordance with this approach, global problems of humanity are divided into three groups, expressing the essence of the general crisis of civilization:

universal human problems (for example, preventing an arms race);

problems of human relations with nature (for example, the study and exploration of space);

problems of relationships between society and people (for example, eliminating the most dangerous diseases).

However, there is no stable list and unified classification of global problems; however, the most pressing ones include the following.

The problem of global thermonuclear war. The search for ways to prevent world conflicts began almost immediately after the end of World War II and the victory over Nazism. At the same time, a decision was made to create the UN - a universal international organization, the main goal of which was to develop interstate cooperation and, in the event of a conflict between countries, to assist opposing parties in resolving controversial issues peacefully. However, the division of the world that soon occurred into two systems - capitalist and socialist, as well as the beginning of the Cold War and the arms race more than once brought the world to the brink of nuclear disaster. The threat of a third world war was especially real during the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, caused by the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. But thanks to the reasonable position of the leaders of the USSR and the USA, the crisis was resolved peacefully. In the following decades, a number of nuclear weapons limitation agreements were signed by the world's leading nuclear powers, and some of the nuclear powers committed themselves to ending nuclear tests. Government decisions were influenced social movement struggle for peace, as well as the performance of such an authoritative interstate association of scientists for universal and complete disarmament, like the Pugwash movement.

Researchers from different countries have come to a unanimous assessment that the third world war, if it breaks out, will be the tragic finale of the entire history of human civilization; the most disastrous consequence of the possible use of nuclear weapons, as well as global accidents as a result of the use of atomic energy, will be the death of all living things and the onset of “nuclear winter”; 5 percent of accumulated nuclear reserves is enough to plunge the planet into an environmental catastrophe.

Scientists, using scientific models, have convincingly proven that the main consequence of a nuclear war will be an environmental disaster, which will result in climate change on Earth. The latter could lead to genetic changes in human nature and, possibly, to the complete extinction of humanity. Today we can state the fact that the likelihood of conflict between the leading powers of the world is much less than before. However, there is the possibility of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of totalitarian reactionary regimes or into the hands of individual terrorists. After the events in New York on September 11, 2001, the problem of combating international terrorism.

The problem of overcoming the environmental crisis. This problem is the most pressing. The level of human impact on the environment depends primarily on the technical level of society. It was extremely small at the initial stages of human development. However, with the development of society and the growth of its productive forces, the situation begins to change dramatically. The 20th century is the century of scientific and technological progress. Associated with a qualitatively new relationship between science, technology and technology, it enormously increases the possible and real scale of society’s impact on nature, and poses a whole series of new, extremely acute problems for humanity, primarily environmental ones.

In the process of his economic activity, man has long occupied the position of a consumer in relation to nature, mercilessly exploiting it, believing that natural reserves are inexhaustible. One of the negative results of human activity has been the depletion of natural resources and environmental pollution. As a result, substances hazardous to human life and health were released into the atmosphere, destroying it, and ending up in the soil. Not only the air and land were polluted, but also the waters of the World Ocean. This leads both to the destruction (extinction) of entire species of animals and plants, and to the deterioration of the gene pool of all humanity.

Today, the environmental situation in the world can be described as close to critical. Among the global environmental problems the following can be noted:

Thousands of species of plants and animals have been destroyed and continue to be destroyed;

forest cover has been largely destroyed;

the available reserves of mineral resources are rapidly declining;

The world ocean is not only depleted as a result of the destruction of living organisms, but also ceases to be a regulator of natural processes;

the atmosphere in many places is polluted to the maximum permissible levels, and clean air is becoming scarce;

the ozone layer, which protects all living things from cosmic radiation, is partially damaged;

surface contamination and disfigurement natural landscapes: on Earth it is impossible to find a single square meter of surface where there are no artificially created elements.

The harmfulness of man's consumer attitude towards nature only as an object for obtaining certain wealth and benefits has become completely obvious. It is becoming vitally necessary for humanity to change the very philosophy of attitude towards nature.

The demographic problem is becoming increasingly important for humanity. It is associated with the continuous increase in the population living on the planet, but it is obvious that the Earth’s resources (primarily food) are limited.

It is the number of people living on the planet, the territorial location and the scale of their economic activity that determine such important parameters as the provision of resources to the population, the state of the Earth’s biosphere, and the global social and political environment.

At the same time, demographic processes at the turn of the 20th - 21st centuries. identify two trends:

demographic “explosion”, characterized by a sharp increase in population in the countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, starting from the 60s;

“zero population growth” in Western European countries.

The first leads to a sharp exacerbation of socio-economic problems in developing countries, including hunger and illiteracy of tens of millions of people. The second is to a sharp aging of the population in developed countries, including a deterioration in the balance between workers and pensioners, etc.

The food problem is also considered a global one: today more than 500 million people suffer from malnutrition, and several million die from malnutrition every year. Throughout human history, food production has generally not kept pace with population growth. Only during the 40 years of the 20th century (from 1950 to 1990) was the situation different: the world's population doubled during this time, while the world grain harvest tripled. However, in the late 80s - early 90s. The growth of global food production began to slow while demand for food continued to rise. The latter is associated not only with an increase in the number of inhabitants on the planet, but with such a factor as an increase in the well-being of a large mass of people due to the widespread industrialization of developing countries, primarily in Asia. It is believed that global food demand will increase by 64% by 2020, including almost 100% in developing countries. Today's development agriculture no longer keeps pace with changes in the volume and structure of global food demand. If this trend is not stopped, then in the next two to three decades the need to cover food shortages may increase several times.

Therefore, the roots of this problem lie not in food shortages as such or in the limitations of modern natural resources, but in their unfair redistribution and exploitation both within individual countries and on a global scale. The fact that in the modern world people can be malnourished, and even more so die of hunger, is a completely immoral, criminal and unacceptable phenomenon. This is a disgrace to humanity and, above all, to the most developed countries.

The problem of the gap in the level of economic development between the developed countries of the West and the developing countries of the "third world" (the "North-South" problem) - the majority of those who were liberated in the second half of the 20th century. From the colonial dependence of countries, having embarked on the path of catching-up economic development, they were unable, despite relative successes, to catch up with developed countries in terms of basic economic indicators (primarily in terms of GNP per capita). This was largely due to the demographic situation: population growth in these countries actually neutralized the economic successes achieved.

Of course, global problems are not limited to the above. In reality there are more of them. These include the crisis of culture and spiritual values, the deficit of democracy in the modern world, the spread of dangerous diseases, terrorism, bureaucracy and many others (Appendix 1).

In general, all global problems of humanity can be represented as a tangle of contradictions, where from each problem there are various threads stretching to all other problems.

2. Ways to solve global problems

Solving global problems is a task of extreme importance and complexity, and so far it cannot be said with confidence that ways to overcome them have been found. According to many social scientists, no matter what individual problem we take from the global system, it cannot be solved without first overcoming the spontaneity in the development of earthly civilization, without moving to coordinated and planned actions on a global scale. Only such actions can save society, as well as its natural environment.

In the current situation beginning of XXI century conditions, humanity can no longer function spontaneously without the risk of disaster for each country. The only way out is in the transition from self-regulating to controlled evolution of the world community and its natural environment. It is necessary that universal human interests - preventing nuclear war, mitigating the environmental crisis, replenishing resources - prevail over the private economic and political benefits of individual countries, corporations and parties. In the 1970s last century, various kinds of programs were introduced, local, national and transnational organizations began to work. Currently, to achieve this goal, humanity has the necessary economic and financial resources, scientific and technical capabilities and intellectual potential. But realizing this opportunity requires new political thinking, good will and international cooperation based on the priority of universal human interests and values.

Globalist scientists offer various options for solving global problems of our time (Fig. 4):

changing the nature of production activities - the creation of waste-free production, heat-energy-resource-saving technologies, the use of alternative energy sources (sun, wind, etc.);

creation of a new world order, development new formula global management of the world community on the principles of understanding the modern world as an integral and interconnected community of people;

recognition of universal human values, attitude towards life, man and the world as the highest values ​​of humanity;

renunciation of war as a means of resolving controversial issues, search for ways of peaceful resolution international problems and conflicts.

Figure 4 - Ways to solve global problems of humanity

Only together can humanity solve the problem of overcoming the environmental crisis.

First of all, we must move from the consumer-technocratic approach to nature to the search for harmony with it. For this, in particular, a number of targeted measures are needed to green production: nature-saving technologies, mandatory environmental assessment of new projects, and the creation of waste-free closed-cycle technologies. Another measure aimed at improving the relationship between man and nature is reasonable self-restraint in the consumption of natural resources, especially energy sources (oil, coal), which are of utmost importance for the life of mankind. Calculations by international experts show that, based on the current level of consumption (late 20th century), coal reserves will last for another 430 years, oil - for 35 years, natural gas - for 50 years. The period, especially for oil reserves, is not that long. In this regard, reasonable structural changes in the global energy balance are necessary towards expanding the use of nuclear energy, as well as the search for new, efficient, safe and maximally harmless to nature energy sources, including space energy.

The Planetary Society today is taking specific measures to solve environmental problems and reduce their danger: they are developing maximum permissible standards for emissions into the environment, creating waste-free or low-waste technologies, using energy, land and water resources, save minerals, etc. However, all of the above and other measures can produce a tangible effect only if all countries unite the efforts to save nature. Back in 1982, the UN adopted a special document - the World Conservation Charter, and then created a special commission on environment and development. In addition to the UN, a non-governmental organization such as the Club of Rome plays a major role in developing and ensuring the environmental safety of humanity. As for the governments of the world's leading powers, they are trying to combat environmental pollution by adopting special environmental legislation.

Global problems require compliance with certain moral standards, allowing us to correlate ever-increasing human needs with the planet’s ability to satisfy them. A number of scientists rightly believe that a transition of the entire earthly community from a dead-end technogenic-consumer one to a new spiritual-ecological, or noospheric, type of civilizational existence is necessary. Its essence is that “scientific and technological progress, the production of material goods and services, political and financial-economic interests should not be a goal, but only a means of harmonizing relations between society and nature, a tool for establishing the highest ideals of human existence: endless knowledge , comprehensive creative development and moral improvement."

One of the most popular points of view for solving this problem is to instill in people new moral and ethical values. So in one of the reports to the Club of Rome, it is written that the new ethical education should be aimed at:

1) the development of global consciousness, thanks to which a person realizes himself as a member of the world community;

2) formation of a more thrifty attitude towards the use of natural resources;

3) development of such an attitude towards nature, which would be based on harmony, and not on subordination;

4) fostering a sense of belonging to future generations and a willingness to give up part of one’s own benefits in their favor.

It is possible and necessary to successfully fight for the solution of global problems now on the basis of constructive and mutually acceptable cooperation of all countries and peoples, regardless of the differences in the social systems to which they belong.

Solving global problems is only possible through the joint efforts of all countries coordinating their actions at the international level. Self-isolation and development features will not allow individual countries to remain aloof from the economic crisis, nuclear war, the threat of terrorism or the AIDS epidemic. To solve global problems and overcome the danger that threatens all of humanity, it is necessary to further strengthen the interconnection of the diverse modern world, change the interaction with the environment, abandon the cult of consumption, and develop new values.

Conclusion: Without appropriate human qualities, without the global responsibility of each person, it is impossible to solve any of the global problems. All the problems are too large and complex for one country to cope with; the leadership of one power cannot ensure a stable world order and solutions to global problems. Complex interaction of the entire world community is necessary.

Let's hope that the main wealth of all countries in the 21st century will be the preserved resources of nature and the cultural and educational level of people living in harmony with this nature. It is likely that the formation of a new - information - world community, with humane goals, will become the highway of human development that will lead it to the solution and elimination of major global problems.

Conclusion

Concluding this work, let us briefly note the following.

The international community has started talking seriously about global problems since the mid-60s of the twentieth century. They immediately began to include environmental degradation and a population explosion, the threat of depletion of the world's natural resources and shortages of energy and food sources, and the growing gap between rich and poor countries. This sad list of problems was crowned by the danger of World War III and thermonuclear catastrophe.

Thus, global problems are the problems that confronted all of humanity in the second half of the twentieth century, on the solution of which its existence depends.

Features of global problems:

arose in the second half of the 20th century;

all global problems are interconnected;

cover all aspects of people's lives;

apply to all countries of the world without exception.

Main global problems:

a) overcoming the environmental crisis and its consequences: depletion of natural resources, pollution of the environment;

b) demographic problem (the problem of world population growth);

c) the problem of reducing the gap in the level of economic development between countries;

d) the problem of preventing the threat of a third world (nuclear) war;

e) the fight against international terrorism, drug mafia and drug addiction;

f) preventing the spread of AIDS.

All global problems are closely interconnected, and the problem of maintaining peace and preventing nuclear war can, without exaggeration, be considered problem number one, since the existence of civilization itself depends on it.

The environmental problem can be conditionally placed in second place, since a disdainful attitude towards nature also threatens the destruction of the civilization of the planet.

To the number social consequences Scientific and technological progress includes: increased requirements for the training of specialists, an increase in the share of workers in the service sector, an increase in the duration of schooling, and an increase in the education of the population.

Causes of global problems:

exploitation of resources,

arms race,

low culture of people,

population growth.

Conclusion: Global problems are diverse, complex, and contradictory. They are closely intertwined and interconnected with each other; there is a complex of global problems. Global problems need to be solved by everyone together.

To summarize the consideration of global problems of our time, we should name the main ways to solve them:

eliminating wars from the life of society;

creation of effective international environmental control bodies;

rational limitation of scientific and technical progress;

humanization of the world community;

formation of a non-aggressive personality of the 21st century;

increasing the reliability of scientific forecasts for the development of the planetary community;

joint solution of global problems and others.

I think that the expression: “We did not inherit the Earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our descendants” very well emphasizes the importance and necessity of solving global problems.

List of used literature

1. Bogolyubov, L.N. Man and society. Social studies textbook for 11th grade students. general education institutions. / Edited by L.N. Bogolyubova, A.Yu. Lazebnikova. - M.: Education, 2006. - 270 p.

2. Kishenkova O.V. Recent history 9 - 11 grades: Methodical manual/ O.V. Kishenkova. - M.: Bustard, 2001. - P.150-163.

3. Kravchenko A.I. Social studies. 10th grade / A.I. Kravchenko. - M.: Russian Word, 2005.

4. Nizhnikov S.A. Global problems of our time. Philosophy: course of lectures / S.A. Nizhnikov. - M.: publishing house "Exam", 2006. - 383 p.

5. Man and society. The modern world: A textbook for students in grades 11 of general education institutions / Ed. V.I. Kuptsova. - M.: Education, 2000.

Applications

Appendix 1

Classification of global problems of our time

Global problem	Content
Environmental	"Ozone hole" Greenhouse effect (global warming) Deforestation Environmental pollution: atmosphere, soil, ocean waters, food Natural disasters: typhoons, tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, droughts Environmental disturbances associated with space and ocean exploration
Economic	Food problem, poles of development "North - South" The Problem of the Limits to Economic Growth Resource depletion Economic globalism
Social	Demographic problem The problem of health protection (the spread of dangerous diseases: cancer, AIDS, SARS...) The problem of education (1 billion illiterate people, ethnic, interfaith conflicts)
Political	The problem of war and peace: the possibility of local conflicts escalating into global ones, the danger of nuclear war, remaining poles of confrontation struggle for spheres of influence (USA - Europe - Russia - Asia-Pacific region) Differences political systems(democracy, authoritarianism, totalitarianism) Terrorism (international, domestic, criminal)
Spiritual	Degradation of "mass culture" Devaluation of moral and ethical values, people’s departure from reality into the world of illusions (drug addiction), increase in aggression, neuropsychiatric diseases, c. including due to computerization The problem of scientists' responsibility for the consequences of their discoveries