Week 9: World issues of concern to Global Citizens

The lecture this week began by defining the characteristics that define what an issue of global concern actually is. According to the guidelines created by Vinay Bhargava of the World Bank the issues of concern are global economy, global human development, global environment and natural resources, peace and security and global governance.
It is true that global issues are there in every area of our lives as citizens of this world. They can have a direct and indirect impact on our economies, our environment, our abilities as humans, and our processes for decision-making at the global level which is known as global governance. Also the issues are actually interconnected for instance, energy consumption leads to climate change, which consecutively threatens marine life through changes in ocean temperatures.

In the lectures Annabelle pointed out that these problems can be seen as daunting and impossible to solve but she mentioned Jared Diamond who in his book “Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed “gives practical examples and advice on how to think globally and act locally.

For example, he advises to vote for those who show a preference to solve global issues. He advises to make donations to organisations promoting actions on global issues which reminds me to continually keep supporting some of my favourite charities like UNICEF. He also advises to influence the policies of big companies by choosing to buy based on the company’s corporate social and environmental responsiveness. I think there is some very practical advice given by Jared Diamond as well such as talking to family and friends about global issues and getting them involved as well.