In the United States, everyone is concerned with the presidential election. According to a statistical formula that has only been wrong once since 1912, Trump has a 97-99 percent chance of winning if he gets the Republican nomination. Everyone is discussing how Trump is violent and will never make America great again, but then who is voting for him? Trump is promoting violence across America. Since February 29, there have been at least 20 incidents of physical altercations at Trump rallies even though Trump claims that his campaign is injury-free. At least 52 people have been arrested or cited at a Trump rally between February 29 and March 14 (Huffington Post). Does this sound like a way our country should be portrayed?
If you don't believe this violence exists, here are some videos for you to check out:
*Warning this video contains a lot of swearing*
In the past few decades, America has been plagued with school shootings, racial violence and police brutality. If this is what America is coming to what hope does the rest of the world have? Here are some issues around the world that you might not know about.
Maternal Mortality
This is a personal issue for me because it can be easily preventable. Every year, around 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Of these deaths, 99 percent of them occur in developing countries. These deaths can be prevented with proper care before, during, and after birth. Not many developing countries have hospitals or midwives to properly assist expectant mothers. In some countries, women have to travel hours to a hospital when they have complications (World Health Organization). In that time, anything can go wrong. If you have a chance, watch the documentary "No Woman, No Cry" on Netflix. It shows the horrible state of health care, especially for mothers, in developing countries.
Human Trafficking
As someone from the United States, I value my freedom greatly and for 20.9 million people their freedom is taken away. For those who don't know, human trafficking is a modern form of slavery that involves taking people from their daily lives and putting them to work in whatever way traffickers seem fit. This work could be commercial sex, forced labor, or forced services. Of the people taken, 26 percent are children and 55 percent are women and girls. This is a money-making industry, racking in $150 billion worldwide. It's estimated that 136 goods from 74 countries are produced from forced and child labor (Idea + Gift = Love ). This is an industry that not a lot of attention is brought to but needs to be surfaced. A good documentary for more information is "Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids."
Water Crisis
In developing countries, there are children that die every hour from unclean water, 171 to be exact. In most developing countries, drinking water is contaminated, but it is people's only option. This unsafe water is the primary cause of poverty and disease around the world. Unsafe water causes a number of diseases, including cholera, typhoid, trachoma, and intestinal worms. These are things that aren't as common here in the United States because of modern technology and healthcare. Unsafe drinking water also increases poverty in these countries. People can't work when they're sick, so they lose money. Also, the discrepancy between income and cost of water is huge in developing countries. These issues can be prevented by simple inventions that make drinking water safe, but not enough people have access to these things. If there was clean water in countries, deaths by water-caused diseases could be reduced by 65 percent (Project Humanity). A documentary that discusses not only the crisis of unsafe drinking water but also the scarcity of available water is "A World Without Water."
Climate Change
It is not a little-known issue, but it is one that people refuse to believe. Climate change is happening and global warming is real. The climate has changed a lot over the last 650,000 years, but not significantly like it has over the past 1,300 years. In the past 1,300 years, climate change has most likely been human caused. Heat has been trapped because of carbon dioxide and other gases in our ozone layer. The reduction in glaciers and ice shows how the world is reacting to greenhouse gases. Just a few examples of evidence for climate change are sea level rise, global temperature rise, warming oceans, and extreme events (http://climate.nasa.gov/ ). These are just a few examples and if you are one of those people that doesn't believe in global warming, you need a reality check. My own personal example is the fact that I'm from central New Hampshire and we didn't get our first snow until after Christmas. It has been awhile since we've gone without a white Christmas. Up until the week before Christmas, it was still in the 50s when the normal temperature around that time is in the 30s. Wake up and face the facts that our Earth can't support the industrialization of our society that we choose not to fix. A documentary on climate change that you should watch is "Chasing Ice" and if you want to see the drastic reality of climate change and what it could do, watch "The Day After Tomorrow."
These are some of the problems facing our world in modern times and we as the humans that inhabit this Earth are the ones that need to do something about it. Trump is not America's only concern in the next few years. The next issue could be terrorism, climate change, or something else in the upcoming years. And taking the very cliche words of Mahatma Gandhi:
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
