Friday, November 04, 2011

Blog #10: UN: failure to reduce environmental risks will set back human development

Many countries are on the right road towards human development. Countries such as Bangladesh and India have been working towards clean drinking water. Those efforts could be worthless if people do not reduce the environmental risks. Both Bangladesh and India are prone to rising sea levels, flooding, and tsunamis. The human development index (HDI) combines measures of health, education, and income to measure how much human development a country is having. Norway, Australia, and the Netherlands are at the top of the list with the highest HDI while The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, and Burundi have the lowest HDI rating. The HDI for the least developed countries, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, and Burundi, has risen by 84% over the past 40 years. But by 2050 those trends could come to a halt if the environmental risks are not dealt with. The poorest countries could be at most risk for climate change which would cause many other problems, like poverty, malnutrition, and ecological damage. If we switch to renewable energy then that cause be a solution for dealing with environmental risks and could advance sustainability and human development.

The population is already 7 billion. The Earth may not be able to hold much more if we keep living the way we do by not addressing environmental risks. With ocean levels rising, areas of the world experiencing worse drought conditions, flooding, etc. countries are have to deal with these problems in way that is not good for human development. Lots of people think that human development is progress so if they want to see progress then they should realize how many people are in poverty, experiencing malnutrition, and economic disaster because of the environmental risks that we have created. Using nonrenewable resources is not the way to change the environment because they are limited resources and will run out eventually. We have already started to use some renewable resources, but if we do not switch over soon then human development will come to a halt. That will cause many people to go into poverty because they do not know how to live without energy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/02/environment-human-un

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