2008 – Eighth Grade Honorable Mention:

Emily Stone, Washington, D.C.

Is global warming the greatest challenge facing humankind?

Global warming is most certainly a bad problem in the world, but is it the worst? The answer to this question is no. Sure, the multiple affects of Global Warming could very gradually cause the sun to die down and go black; but this should happen in some five billion years. Obviously, this could (and will) cause many people, animals, and plants to die but shouldn’t we be more focused on the issues facing humanity that are occurring now? The same thing is happening to people and animals today but its not from Global Warming… The cause is disease.

Instead of worrying about the issues that are going to occur, we should be more focused on the major problems that are facing us now such as disease. There are many fatal diseases in the world (many of these diseases are either un-known or un-cured). Just a few examples of these fatal illnesses are; AIDS/HIV, Ebola, Small Pos, and Scarlet Fever. Many more diseases don’t have a known cure and are killing many people around the world today. This shows that Global Warming is not the worst problem facing humanity, because millions of people are dying from disease all over the world now days.

Instead of spending as much time worrying about what we can do to stop Global Warming, we should be spending more time researching cures for the disease that are killing so many people. Of course, trying to stop Global Warming is very important to keeping our children’s, children’s, children’s (etc.) safe; but as a country we should be focusing on stopping/researching/curing illnesses. There are some places in the world that don’t even have enough money for people to get good health care. For example; in Africa it has been estimated that fifteen million children under the age of eighteen have AIDS/HIV. It is much more important to try to help these people (as well as many others) get cured now, than to spend so much time and money on Global Warming.

Now obviously, Global Warming is very dangerous, but as of right now… it isn’t the worst thing facing humanity. There are many terrible things facing us in the year of 2008, and most likely here will be many more to come, but which of these things effect us the most? Disease. Which has caused more deaths – disease or Global Warming? Disease. Which is making more people suffer? Disease.

 

 

 

 

 

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