Global problems of the world table. Global problems

Global problems humanity. essence and solutions

Global problems are those that cover the whole world, all of humanity, pose a threat to its present and future and require joint efforts, joint actions of all states and peoples for their solution.

In the scientific literature, one can find various lists of global problems, where their number varies from 8-10 to 40-45. This is explained by the fact that along with global problems there are many more private problems.

There are also various classifications global problems. Usually they include:

1) problems of the most “universal” nature;

2) problems of a natural and economic nature;

3) social problems;

4) problems mixed character.

The main global problems include the following.

I. Environmental problem. Depletion of the environment as a result of irrational nature management, pollution with solid, liquid and gaseous wastes, poisoning radioactive waste led to significant degradation of the global environmental problem. In some countries, the tension of the environmental problem has reached an ecological crisis. The notion of a crisis ecological area and about an area with a catastrophic ecological situation. A global environmental threat has arisen in the form of uncontrolled climate change on the Earth, the destruction of the ozone layer of the stratosphere.

Currently, an increasing number of countries are beginning to join forces to solve the environmental problem. Global community proceeds from the fact that the main way to solve an environmental problem is such an organization of production and non-production activities of people that would ensure normal eco-development, preservation and transformation of the environment in the interests of mankind and every person.

II. demographic problem. The population explosion around the world has already subsided. In order to solve the demographic problem, the UN adopted the "World Population Action Plan", in the implementation of which both geographers and demographers participate. At the same time, progressive forces proceed from the fact that family planning programs can help improve the reproduction of the population. For this, one demographic policy is not enough. It must be accompanied by an improvement in the economic and social conditions of people's lives.

III. The issue of peace and disarmament, prevent nuclear war . An agreement on the reduction and limitation of offensive arms between the countries is currently being developed. Civilization is faced with the task of creating a comprehensive security system, the phased elimination of nuclear arsenals, reducing the arms trade, and demilitarizing the economy.


IV. Food problem. Currently, according to the UN, almost 2/3 of humanity lives in countries where there is a constant shortage of food. To solve this problem, humanity must make fuller use of the resources of crop production, animal husbandry and fisheries. However, it can go in two ways. The first is an extensive path, which consists in the further expansion of arable, grazing and fishing lands. The second is an intensive way, which consists in increasing the biological productivity of existing lands. Biotechnology, the use of new high-yielding varieties, further development mechanization, chemicalization and melioration.

V. Energy and raw materials problem- first of all - the problem of providing humanity with fuel and raw materials. Fuel and energy resources are constantly depleted, and in a few hundred years they may disappear altogether. Enormous opportunities for solving this problem are opened up by the achievements of scientific and technical progress, and at all stages of the technological chain.

VI. The problem of human health. Recently, when assessing the quality of life of people, the state of their health has come to the fore. Despite the fact that great strides were made in the 20th century in the fight against many diseases, a large number of diseases still continue to threaten people's lives.

VII. The problem of using the oceans, which plays an important role in the communication of countries and peoples. Recently, the aggravation of the raw materials and energy problem has led to the emergence of the marine mining and chemical industries, marine energy. The aggravation of the food problem has increased interest in the biological resources of the Ocean. The deepening of the international division of labor and the development of trade are accompanied by an increase in shipping.

As a result of all industrial and scientific activities within the World Ocean and the contact zone "ocean - land", a special component of the world economy arose - the marine economy. It includes mining and manufacturing, fishing, energy, transport, trade, recreation and tourism. Such activity gave rise to another problem - the extremely uneven development of the resources of the World Ocean, pollution marine environment, using it as an arena of military activity. The main way to solve the problem of using the World Ocean is rational oceanic nature management, a balanced, integrated approach to its riches, based on the combined efforts of the entire world community.

VIII. The problem of space exploration. Space is the common property of mankind. Space programs have recently become more complex and require the concentration of technical, economic, and intellectual efforts of many countries and peoples. World development space is based on the use the latest achievements science and technology, production and management.

Each of the global problems has its specific content. But they are all closely related. Recently, the center of gravity of global problems has shifted to the countries of the developing world. The food problem has become the most catastrophic in these countries. The plight of most developing countries has become a major human and global problem. The main way to solve it is to carry out fundamental socio-economic transformations in all spheres of life and activity of these countries, in the development scientific and technological progress, international cooperation.

2) Global studies - a field of knowledge that studies the global problems of mankind.

Global problems:

They concern all mankind, affecting the interests of all countries, peoples, strata of society;

Lead to significant economic and social losses, may threaten the existence of mankind;

Can be solved only with cooperation on a planetary scale.

The main reason for the emergence (or rather, close study) of global problems is the globalization of economic, political relations! è the realization that the world is interdependent and that there are common problems, the solution of which is vital.

Dr. reasons: the rapid growth of mankind.

Great pace of technological progress

Scientific and technological revolution è transformation of productive forces (introduction of new technologies) and industrial relations(including the relationship between man and nature).

The need for a large amount of natural resources and the realization that many of them will end sooner or later.

"Cold War" people really felt the threat of the destruction of mankind.

The main global problems: the problem of peace and disarmament, demographic, environmental, food, energy, raw materials, the problem of the development of the oceans, space exploration, the problem of overcoming the backwardness of developing countries, nationalism, the lack of democracy, terrorism, drug addiction, etc.

Classification of global problems according to Yu. Gladkov:

1. The most universal problems of polit. and social economy. nature (prevention nuclear war, providing sustainable development world community)

2. Problems of a natural and economic nature (food, environmental)

3. Problems of a social nature (demographic, lack of democracy)

4. Mixed problems leading to loss of life (regional conflicts, technological accidents, natural disasters)

5. Problems clean scientific nature(space exploration)

6. Small synthetic problems (bureaucratization, etc.)

The problem and its essence Causes of occurrence (or exacerbation) Solutions Achieved results and creatures. difficulties
1. War prevention; the problem of peace and disarmament - the world is under the threat of destruction by a nuclear war or something like that 1. Two world wars of the 20th century 2. Technical progress. Creation and distribution of new types of weapons (in particular, nuclear weapons) 1. Establish tighter control over nuclear and chemical weapons 2. Reduction of conventional armaments and arms trade 3. General reduction of military spending 1) Signing international treaties: on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (1968 - 180 state-in.), on the ban on nuclear tests, the convention on the prohibition of the development, production, chemical. weapons (1997), etc. 2) The arms trade has decreased by 2 p. (from 1987 to 1994) 3) Reducing military spending by 1/3 (for the 1990s) 4) Strengthened control over the nonproliferation of nuclear and other weapons by the international community (Ex: IAEA activities, etc. international organizations), but not all countries have joined treaties on the nonproliferation of various types of weapons, or some countries are withdrawing from such treaties (Ex: the United States unilaterally withdrew from the ABM treaty in 2002); The activities of some countries give reason to believe that they are developing nuclear weapons (DPRK, Iran) Armed conflicts do not stop (Lebanon - Israel, the war in Iraq, etc.) - In a word, it is still far from perfect ...
2. Environmental problem - Expressed in the degradation of the environment and the growth of the ecological crisis - Manifested in various natural disasters, climate change, deterioration in the quality of water, land, resources 1. Irrational nature management(deforestation, resource waste, drainage of marshes, etc.) 2. Environmental pollution by human waste. activities (metallization, radioactive contamination ... etc.) 3. Economy. development without taking into account the possibilities of the natural environment (dirty industries, giant factories, And all these negative factors accumulated and finally è awareness of the environmentalist. Problems! Holding environmental policy at the state, regional and global levels: 1. Optimization of the use of natural resources in the process of social production (Ex: introduction of resource-saving technologies) 2. Nature protection (Ex: creation of specially protected natural zones; regulation harmful emissions) 3. Ensuring the environmental safety of the population. Success depends on the level of social economic development individual countries(it is clear that developing countries cannot afford to produce environmentally friendly garbage bags) + international cooperation! 1) The existence of the problem was recognized and measures were taken 2) Implementation international conferences and forums (United Nations World Conferences on the Environment) 3) Signing int. conventions, agreements, etc. (World Charter for Conservation of Nature (1980), Declaration on Environment and Development (during a conference in Rio de J. in 1992), Helsinki Protocol (set the task of reducing CO2 emissions), Kyoto Protocol (1997 - limited emissions into the atmosphere greenhouse gases), Earth Charter (2002), etc. 4) Creation and operation of international governmental and non-governmental organizations, programs (Greenpeace, UNEP) 5) Strict environmental legislation in a number of countries + introduction of environmental technologies, etc. IPOs spend 1-1.5% of GDP on "environment" IPOs deduct 0.3% of GDP for "ecology" in poor countries (should be 0.7%), but little attention and funds are paid to this problem. Transfers of dirty industries are practiced, but the general condition of the Earth does not improve from this. Many developing countries are still on an extensive development path and cannot afford to spend money on "greening".
3. Demographic problem - The world's population is growing too fast (population explosion since the 1960s) food shortages, poverty, epidemics, unemployment, migration, etc. Most developing countries have entered the second phase of reproduction (ç wider use of the achievements of world medicine, small successes in the economy) Mortality has decreased, and the birth rate for 2-3 generations has remained very high Implementation of demographic policy: - Economic measures (Ex: benefits, allowances) - Administrative and legal (Ex: regulation of the age of marriage, permission for abortions) · Educational Because. to conduct demographic politics needs a lot of money, then international cooperation is needed In some countries (China, Thailand, Argentina), where demog. policy managed to reduce the population growth rate to 1% per year. Some of them are demographers. the explosion subsided (Brazil, Iran, Morocco, Chile). Basically, this problem is solved only by "advanced" from developing countries. In the poorest countries (Afghanistan, Uganda, Togo, Benin), the situation has not yet changed for the better. World conferences and forums are held on the problem of population. Organizations (UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund)
4. Food problem Human diet per day = 2400-2500 kcal (on average in the world per person - 2700 kcal) 25% of people do not get enough. protein, 40% - dot. vitamins This is mainly for developing countries (number of undernourished can reach 40-45%) 1) Population growth outstrips the growth in the production of grain and other foodstuffs (population explosion, erosion, desertification, lack of fresh water, climate factor) 2) Low social economy. the level of development of many developing countries (no money to produce or buy food) A. Extensively: Expansion of arable and pasture (1.5 billion land is in reserve) B. Intensively: Use of the achievements of the Green Revolution (see the question about the green revolution). 1) International cooperation in this field (1974 World Food Conference; World Food Council established) 2) Food aid (Ex: 40% of all food imports to Africa)

(according to UN report 2006)

5. Energy and raw materials - the problem of reliable supply of mankind with fuel, energy, raw materials This problem has always existed, especially aggravated (manifested on a global scale) in the 70s (energy crisis) Main reasons: too much growth in the consumption of mineral fuels and other resources wa) => depletion of many deposits, deterioration of conditions for resource extraction and development of deposits Add. reasons for energy. problems: the need to abandon some types of "too dirty" fuel, global competitive fight for fuel A. Traditional Increasing resource extraction New deposits Increasing "recoverability" B. Energy and resource saving policy (many measures, including focus on the use of renewable and non-traditional fuels, use of secondary raw materials) C. Radical new way solutions - using the achievements of scientific and technological revolution (Ex: nuclear energy, the use of hydrogen engines, etc.) Many new deposits were found (Ex: number of proven oil reserves - 10 rubles since 1950 + world resources are being actively developed) + new technologies are being introduced into production Energy saving policy is actively pursued (mainly in WIS) Ex: Energy intensity of GDP VIS by 1/3 (compared to 1970). Activities of the IAEA and other int. organizations (including coordination of international programs for the development of new types of fuel) BUT: The economy of most countries remains energy-intensive Most countries are trying to solve this problem “by force” Natural resources are still used inefficiently beneficial use primary resources does not exceed 1/3)

Causes of global problems

Scientists and philosophers at the level of generalizations put forward ideas about the relationship of human activity with 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 the restructuring of the biosphere into the noosphere (the sphere of activity of the mind).

What gave rise to global problems? These reasons include a sharp increase in the number of mankind, and the scientific and technological revolution, and the use of space, and the emergence of a unified world information system, and many others.

The first people who appeared on Earth, getting food for themselves, did not violate natural laws and natural circuits. With the development of tools, man increasingly increased his "pressure" on nature. So, even 400 thousand years ago, synanthropes destroyed significant areas of vegetation in northern China by fire; and in the once wooded Moscow region in the time of Ivan the Terrible there were fewer forests than now - due to the use of slash-and-burn agriculture since antiquity.

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

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

So, we can name the causes of global problems:

globalization of the world;

catastrophic consequences of human activity, the inability of mankind to rationally dispose of its mighty power.

The main global problems of our time

By their nature, global problems are different. These include, first of all, the problem of peace and disarmament, the prevention of a new world war; ecological; demographic; energy; raw materials; food; use of the oceans; peaceful exploration of outer space; overcoming the backwardness of developing countries (Fig. 3).

Figure 3 - Global problems of mankind

There are various approaches to the classification of global problems, but the classification according to the content and severity of the problems has received the greatest recognition. In accordance with this approach, the global problems of mankind are divided into three groups, expressing the essence of the general crisis of civilization:

universal problems (for example, the prevention of an arms race);

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

problems of the relationship between society and man (for example, the elimination of the most dangerous diseases).

However, there is no stable list and unified classification of global problems, however, the most relevant are the following.

The problem of world 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 whose main goal was to develop interstate cooperation and, in the event of a conflict between countries, to assist the opposing parties in resolving disputes peacefully. However, the division of the world into two systems, capitalist and socialist, which soon took place, 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. A particularly real threat of the start of a third world war was during the so-called Caribbean 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 arms limitation agreements were signed by the world's leading nuclear powers, and some of the nuclear powers committed themselves to ending nuclear testing. Government decisions are influenced social movement struggle for peace, as well as the speeches of such an authoritative interstate association of scientists for general and complete disarmament as the Pugwash Movement.

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

Scientists, using scientific models, have convincingly proved that the main consequence of a nuclear war will be an ecological catastrophe, as a result of which climate change will occur on Earth. The latter can lead to genetic changes in human nature and, possibly, to the complete extinction of mankind. 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 a 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 sharply escalated.

The problem of overcoming the ecological crisis. This issue is the most pressing. The level of human impact on the environment depends primarily on the technical equipment of society. It was extremely small at the initial stages of human development. However, with the development of society, 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, engineering and technology, it colossally increases the possible and real scale of society's impact on nature, confronts humanity whole line new, extremely acute problems, first of all - environmental.

In the course of his business activity, a person for a long time occupied the position of a consumer in relation to nature, mercilessly exploiting it, believing that natural resources are inexhaustible. One of the negative results of human activity was the depletion of natural resources, environmental pollution. As a result, substances hazardous to human life and health were emitted into the atmosphere, destroying it, and falling into the soil. Not only air and land were polluted, but also the waters of the oceans. This leads both to the destruction (extinction) of entire species of animals and plants, and to the deterioration of the gene pool of all mankind.

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

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

the forest cover has been largely destroyed;

the available stock of minerals is 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 extent, and fresh air becomes a deficit

partially broken ozone layer, protecting from cosmic radiation destructive to all living things;

surface contamination and disfigurement natural landscapes: on Earth it is impossible to detect any square meter surface, wherever there are artificially created elements.

The perniciousness of man's consumer attitude to nature has become quite obvious only as an object of obtaining certain wealth and benefits. For humanity, it becomes vital to change the very philosophy of attitude towards nature.

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

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

At the same time, demographic processes at the turn of the XX - XXI centuries. define two trends:

demographic "explosion", characterized by a sharp increase in population in the countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America since the 60s;

"zero growth" of the population in the countries of Western Europe.

The first leads to a sharp aggravation 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 working and retired people, and so on.

The food problem is also ranked as a global problem: over 500 million people suffer from malnutrition today, and several million die from malnutrition a 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) the situation was different: the population of the earth doubled during this time, while the world grain harvest tripled. However, in the late 80s - early 90s. growth in world food production began to slow down, while demand for them continued to grow. The latter is associated not only with an increase in the number of inhabitants on the planet, but with such a factor as the improvement in the well-being of a large mass of people due to the extensive industrialization of developing countries, primarily in Asia. It is believed that global demand for food will increase by 64% by 2020, including in developing countries - by almost 100%. Today, the development of agriculture is no longer keeping pace with changes in the volume and structure of world food demand. If this trend is not stopped, then in the next two to three decades the need to cover the missing food may increase several times.

Therefore, the roots of this problem lie not in the lack of food as such and not 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 mankind 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 problem of "North-South") - the majority of those who were released in the second half of the 20th century. from the colonial dependence of countries, embarking on the path of catching up economic development, they could not, despite relative success, catch up with the 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 leveled the successes achieved in the economy.

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

On the whole, all the global problems of mankind can be represented as a tangle of contradictions, where various threads stretch from each problem to all other problems.

Essay. Global problems of our time

In the modern world, a person faces great amount problems on the solution of which the fate of mankind depends. These are the so-called global problems of our time, that is, a set of social and natural problems, on the solution of which depends social progress humanity and the preservation of civilization. In my opinion, the global problems that jeopardize all of humanity are the result of the confrontation between nature and human activity. It was a man with all the variety of his activities that provoked the emergence of many global problems.

Today, the following global problems are distinguished:

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

    the threat of thermonuclear war and ensuring peace for all peoples, the prevention by the world community of unauthorized proliferation of nuclear technologies, radioactive contamination of the environment;

    catastrophic environmental pollution;

    providing mankind with resources, exhaustion of oil, natural gas, coal, fresh water, wood, non-ferrous metals;

    global warming;

    ozone holes;

    terrorism;

    violence and organized crime.

    Greenhouse effect;

    acid rain;

    pollution of the seas and oceans;

    air pollution and many other problems.

These problems are characterized by dynamism, arise as an objective factor in the development of society, and for their solution require the combined efforts of all mankind. Global problems are interconnected, cover all aspects of people's lives and concern all countries. In my opinion, one of the most dangerous problems is the possibility of the destruction of mankind in the third world thermonuclear war - a hypothetical military conflict between states or military-political blocs that possess nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. Measures to prevent war and hostilities were already developed by I. Kant at the end of the 18th century. The measures he proposed were: non-financing of military operations; rejection of hostile relations, respect; the conclusion of relevant international treaties and the creation of an international union striving to implement a policy of peace, etc.

Another major problem is terrorism. In modern conditions, terrorists have a huge amount of lethal means or weapons capable of destroying a huge number of innocent people.

Terrorism is a phenomenon, a form of crime directed directly against a person, threatening his life and thereby striving to achieve its goals. Terrorism is absolutely unacceptable from the point of view of humanism, and from the point of view of law it is the gravest crime.

Environmental problems are another type of global problems. It includes: pollution of the lithosphere; pollution of the hydrosphere; pollution of the atmosphere.

Thus, today over the world looms real threat. Humanity must take measures as quickly as possible to resolve existing problems and prevent new problems from arising.

Trends in the development of human culture are contradictory, the level of social organization, political and environmental consciousness often does not correspond to the active transforming activity of man. The formation of a global human community, a single socio-cultural space has led to the fact that local contradictions and conflicts have acquired a global scale.

The main causes and prerequisites for global problems:

  • accelerating the pace of social development;
  • constantly increasing anthropogenic impact on the biosphere;
  • increase in population;
  • strengthening the interconnection and interdependence between different countries and regions.

Researchers offer several options for classifying global problems.

The challenges facing humanity in present stage development, relate to both technical and moral spheres.

The most pressing global problems can be divided into three groups:

  • natural and economic problems;
  • social problems;
  • problems of a political and socio-economic nature.

1. Environmental problem. Intensive human economic activity and consumer attitude to nature have a negative impact on the environment: soil, water, air are polluted; the animal becomes impoverished and vegetable world planet, its forest cover has been largely destroyed. Together, these processes constitute the threat of a global ecological catastrophe for humanity.

2. Energy problem. AT recent decades In the world economy, energy-intensive industries are actively developing, in connection with this, the problem of non-renewable reserves of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) is exacerbating. Traditional energy increases human pressure on the biosphere.

3. Raw material problem. Natural mineral resources, which are a source of raw materials for industry, are exhaustible and non-renewable. The stock of minerals is rapidly declining.

4. Problems of using the World Ocean. Mankind is faced with the task of rational and careful use of the World Ocean as a source of bioresources, minerals, fresh water, as well as the use of waters as natural means of communication.

5. Space exploration. Space exploration contains great potential for the scientific, technical and economic development of society, especially in the field of energy and geophysics.

Problems of a social nature

1. Demographic and food problems. The population of the Earth is constantly increasing, which entails an increase in consumption. Two trends stand out clearly in this area: the first is a demographic explosion (a sharp increase in population) in the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America; the second is low birth rates and the associated aging of the population in the countries of Western Europe.
Population growth increases the need for food, industrial goods, fuel, which leads to an increase in the load on the biosphere.
The development of the food sector of the economy and the efficiency of the food distribution system lag behind the growth rate of the world's population, as a result of which the problem of hunger is exacerbated.

2. The problem of poverty and low living standards.

It is in the poor countries with underdeveloped economies that the population grows most rapidly, as a result of which the standard of living here is extremely low. Poverty and illiteracy of the general population, lack of medical care is one of the main problems in developing countries.

Problems of a political and socio-economic nature

1. The problem of peace and disarmament. At the present stage of human development, it has become clear that war cannot be a way to solve international problems. Military operations not only lead to massive destruction and death of people, but also generate retaliatory aggression. The threat of nuclear war made it necessary to limit nuclear tests and armaments at the international level, but this problem has not yet been finally resolved by the world community.

2. Overcoming the backwardness of underdeveloped countries. The problem of eliminating the gap in the level of economic development between the countries of the West and the countries of the "third world" cannot be solved by the forces of lagging countries. The states of the "third world", many of which remained colonially dependent until the middle of the 20th century, embarked on the path of catching up economic development, but they still cannot provide normal conditions life for the vast majority of the population and political stability in society.

3. The problem of interethnic relations. Along with the processes of cultural integration and unification, the desire of individual countries and peoples to assert national identity and sovereignty is growing. Manifestations of these aspirations often take the form of aggressive nationalism, religious and cultural intolerance.

4. The problem of international crime and terrorism. The development of means of communication and transport, the mobility of the population, the transparency of interstate borders contributed not only to the mutual enrichment of cultures and economic growth, but also to the development of international crime, drug trafficking, illegal arms business, etc. The problem of international terrorism became especially acute at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Terrorism is the use of force or the threat of its use to intimidate and suppress political opponents. Terrorism is no longer the problem of one single state. The scale of the terrorist threat in the modern world requires the joint efforts of different countries to overcome it.

Ways to overcome global problems have not yet been found, but it is obvious that in order to solve them, it is necessary to subordinate the activities of mankind to the interests of human survival, the preservation of the natural environment and the creation of favorable living conditions for future generations.

The main ways to solve global problems:

1. Formation of humanistic consciousness, a sense of responsibility of all people for their actions;

2. A comprehensive study of the causes and prerequisites leading to the emergence and exacerbation of conflicts and contradictions in human society and its interaction with nature, informing the population about global problems, monitoring global processes, their control and forecasting;

3. Development the latest technologies and ways of interacting with the environment: waste-free production, resource-saving technologies, alternative sources energy (sun, wind, etc.);

4. Active international cooperation to ensure peaceful and sustainable development, exchange of experience in solving problems, creating international centers to exchange information and coordinate joint efforts.

  • Commoner B. Closing Circle. Nature, man, technology. L., 1974.
  • Pechchen A. Human qualities. M., 1980.
  • global issues and human values. M., 1990.
  • Sidorina T.Yu. Mankind is between death and prosperity. M., 1997.

Global problems of the world - a breakthrough into the future world order

global studies, global forecasting and modeling has been emerging and rapidly developing since the middle of our century. This is due to the awareness and study of the global problems of the modern world.

The concept of "global" comes from lat. globus is the globe and is used to fix the most important, planetary problems modern era facing humanity.

Problems before people, before humanity have always been and will continue to be.

Which of the totality of problems is called global?

When and why do they occur?

Global issues highlight by object , in terms of the breadth of coverage of reality, these are social contradictions that embrace humanity as a whole as well as every person. Global problems affect the fundamental conditions of being; this is such a stage in the development of contradictions that poses the Hamlet question to humanity: “to be or not to be?” – touches upon the problems of the meaning of life, the meaning of human existence.

Different global problems and methods for their solution. They can be solved only by joint efforts of the world community and by complex methods. Here, private technical and economic measures can no longer be dispensed with. To solve today's global problems, it is necessary a new type of thinking, where moral and humanistic criteria are the main ones.

The emergence of global problems in the 20th century is due to the fact that, as V.I. Vernadsky predicted, human activity has acquired a planetary character. There has been a transition from a thousand-year spontaneous development of successive local civilizations to a world civilization.

The founder and president of the Club of Rome (the Club of Rome is an international non-governmental organization that brings together about 100 scientists, public figures, businessmen, established in 1968 in Rome to discuss and research global problems, to promote the formation of public opinion regarding these problems) A. Peccei wrote: “The diagnosis of these difficulties is as yet unknown, and no effective remedy can be prescribed for them; at the same time, they are aggravated by the close interdependence that now binds everything in the human system ... In our artificially created world, literally everything has reached unprecedented sizes and scales: dynamics, speed, energy, complexity - and our problems too. They are now both psychological, and social, and economic, and technical, and, in addition, political.”

In the modern literature on globalistics, several main blocks of problems are distinguished. The main problem is the problem of the survival of human civilization.

What is the first threat to humanity?

Production and stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction that could get out of control.

Strengthening anthropogenic pressure on nature. Ecological problem.

Raw material, energy and food problems associated with the first two.

Demographic problems (uncontrolled, rapid population growth, uncontrolled urbanization, excessive concentration of the population in large and largest cities).

Overcoming by developing countries of comprehensive backwardness.

Fight against dangerous diseases.

Problems of exploration of Space and the World Ocean.

The problem of overcoming the crisis of culture, the decline of spiritual, primarily moral values, the formation and development of a new public consciousness with the priority of universal human values.

Let us characterize the last of these problems in more detail.

The problem of the decline of spiritual culture has long been named among the main global problems, but right now, at the end of the twentieth century, scientists and public figures it is defined as the key on which the decision of all others depends. The most terrible of the catastrophes threatening us is not so much atomic, thermal and similar variants of the physical destruction of mankind as anthropological - the destruction of the human in man.

Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov wrote in his article “The World Through Man”: “Strong and conflicting feelings embrace everyone who thinks about the future of the world in 50 years, about the future in which our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will live. These feelings are dejection and horror before the tangle of tragic dangers and difficulties of the immensely complex future of mankind, but at the same time hope for the power of reason and humanity in the souls of billions of people, which alone can withstand the impending chaos. Further, A.D. Sakharov warns that… “even if the main danger is eliminated — the death of civilization in the fire of a big thermonuclear war — the situation of mankind will remain critical.

Humanity is threatened by the decline of personal and state morality, which is already manifesting itself in the deep disintegration in many countries of the basic ideals of law and legality, in consumer egoism, in the general growth of criminal tendencies, in international nationalist and political terrorism, in the destructive spread of alcoholism and drug addiction. AT different countries the causes of these phenomena are somewhat different. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the deepest, primary reason lies in the inner lack of spirituality, in which the personal morality and responsibility of a person are crowded out and suppressed by an abstract and inhuman in its essence, an authority alienated from the individual.

Aurelio Peccei, reflecting on various options for solving global problems, also calls the “Human Revolution” the main one - that is, the change of the person himself. “Man has subjugated the planet,” he writes, “and now he must learn to manage it, comprehend the difficult art of being a leader on Earth. If he finds the strength in himself to fully and completely realize the complexity and instability of his current situation and assume some responsibility, if he can reach the level of cultural maturity that will allow him to fulfill this difficult mission, then the future belongs to him. If he falls victim to his own internal crisis and will not cope with the high role of the protector and chief arbiter of life on the planet, well, then a person is destined to become a witness of how the number of such people will sharply decrease, and the standard of living will again fall to the mark passed several centuries ago. And only New Humanism is able to ensure the transformation of man, to raise his quality and capabilities to a level corresponding to the new increased responsibility of man in this world.” According to Peccei, three aspects characterize the New Humanism: a sense of globality, a love of justice, and intolerance of violence.

From the general characteristics of global problems, let's move on to the methodology of their analysis and forecast. In modern futurology, global studies, attempts are made to study global problems in a complex, in interconnection. The Limits to Growth model, developed by the MIT project team led by Dr. D. Meadows, is still considered a classic example of global predictive models. The results of the group's work were presented as the first report to the Club of Rome in 1972.

J. Forrester proposed (and the Meadows group implemented this proposal) to calculate from a complex set of global socio-economic processes several decisive ones for the fate of mankind, and then “play” their interaction on a cybernetic model using a computer. As such, they chose the growth of world population, as well as industrial production, food, a decrease in mineral resources and increased pollution of the natural environment.

Modeling showed that at the current growth rates of world population (over 2% per year, doubling in 33 years) and industrial production (in the 60s - 5-7% per year, doubling in about 10 years) during the first decades of the 21st century, mineral resources will be exhausted, production growth will stop, and environmental pollution will become irreversible.

To avoid such a catastrophe and create a global equilibrium, the authors recommended a sharp reduction in the rate of population growth and industrial production, reducing them to the level of simple reproduction of people and machines according to the principle: new only to replace the outgoing old (the concept of "zero growth").

Let us reproduce some elements of the methodology and methodology of predictive modeling.

1) Building a basic model.

The main indicators of the base model in our case were:

Population. In the D. Meadows model, population growth trends are extrapolated to the coming decade. Based on this, a number of conclusions are drawn: (1) there is no way to flatten the population growth curve before the year 2000; (2) most likely parents of 2000 have already been born; (3) it can be expected that in 30 years the world population will be about 7 billion people. In other words, if reducing mortality is as successful as before, and, as before, unsuccessfully trying to reduce fertility, then in 2030 the number of people in the world will increase 4 times compared to 1970.

Production. There was a conclusion that the growth of production outpaced the growth of population. This conclusion is inaccurate, because it is based on the hypothesis that the growing industrial production of the world is evenly distributed among all earthlings. In fact, most of the world's industrial growth occurs in the industrialized countries, which have very low population growth rates.

Calculations show that in the process of economic growth, the gap between the rich and poor countries of the world is tirelessly widening.

Food. One third of the world's population (50-60% of the population in developing countries) suffers from malnutrition. And although the world's total agricultural production is increasing, per capita food production in developing countries is barely remaining at its current, rather low level.

Mineral resources. The ability to increase food production ultimately depends on the availability of non-renewable resources.

At modern pace consumption of natural resources and their further increase, according to D. Meadows, the vast majority of non-renewable resources will become extremely expensive in 100 years.

Nature. Will the biosphere survive? man has only recently begun to show concern about his activities on the natural environment. Attempts to quantify this phenomenon arose even later and are still imperfect. Since environmental pollution is intricately related to population size, industrialization, and specific technological processes, it is difficult to accurately estimate how fast the exponential curve of total pollution rises. However, if there are 7 billion people in the world in 2000, and the gross national product per capita is the same as that of the United States today, then general pollution environment for at least 10 times the current level.

Whether natural systems will be able to withstand this is still unknown. Most likely, allowable limit will be achieved on a global scale with exponential growth in population and pollution produced by each person.

Model 1 “standard type”

Initial postings. It is assumed that there will be no fundamental changes in the physical, economic or social relationships that historically determined the development of the world system (for the period from 1900 to 1970).

Food and industrial output, as well as population, will grow exponentially until the rapid depletion of resources slows down industrial growth. After that, the population will continue to increase by inertia for some time, and at the same time, environmental pollution will continue. Eventually, population growth will be halved as a result of an increase in the death rate due to lack of food and medical care.

Model 2

Initial premises. It is assumed that "unlimited" sources of nuclear energy will double the available natural resources and implement an extensive program of recycling and replacement of resources.

Forecasting the development of the world system. Since resources will not be depleted as quickly, industrialization can achieve more high level than when implementing a standard type model. However, a large number of large enterprises will pollute the environment very quickly, which will lead to an increase in the death rate and a decrease in the amount of food. At the end of the corresponding period, resources will be heavily depleted, despite the doubling of the initial reserves.

Model 3

Initial postings. Natural resources are fully utilized and 75% of them are reused. The emission of pollutants is 4 times less than in 1970. The yield per unit of land area has been doubled. Effective birth control measures are available to the entire population of the world.

Projected development of the world system. It will be possible (albeit temporarily) to achieve a stable population with an average annual per capita income almost equal to the average income of the US population today. However, in the end, although industrial growth will be halved and the death rate will increase as a result of resource depletion, pollution will accumulate and food production will decline.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….3

1. The concept of global problems modern society…………………….5

2. Ways to solve global problems…………………………………………….15

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….20

List of used literature………………………………………………23

Introduction.

The control work in sociology is presented on the topic: "Global problems of modern society: the causes of their occurrence and aggravation at the present stage of human development."

The purpose of the control work will be the following - to consider the causes of global problems of modern society and their aggravation.

Tasks control work :

1. Expand the concept of global problems of modern society, their causes.

2. To characterize the ways of solving global problems at the present stage of human development.

It should be noted that sociology studies the social.

social in our life is a combination of certain properties and features of social relations, integrated by individuals or communities in the process of joint activity (interaction) in specific conditions and manifested in their relationship to each other, to their position in society, to the phenomena and processes of social life .

Any system of social relations (economic, political, cultural and spiritual) concerns the relationship of people to each other and to society, and therefore has its own social aspect.

A social phenomenon or process occurs when the behavior of even one individual is influenced by another or a group (community), regardless of their physical presence.

Sociology is designed to study just that.

On the one hand, the social is a direct expression of social practice, on the other hand, it is subject to constant change due to the impact of this very social practice on it.

Sociology is faced with the task of cognition in the socially stable, essential and at the same time constantly changing, analysis of the relationship between constant and variable in specific state social object.

In reality specific situation appears as unknown social fact which must be realized in the interest of practice.

A social fact is a single social significant event typical for this sphere of public life.

Humanity has survived the tragedy of two of the most destructive and bloody world wars.

New means of labor and household appliances; the development of education and culture, the assertion of the priority of human rights, etc., provide opportunities for human improvement and a new quality of life.

But there are a number of problems to which it is necessary to find an answer, a way, that solution, that way out of a disastrous situation.

That's why relevance control work is that now global problems - this is a multidimensional series of negative phenomena that you need to know and understand how to get out of them.

The control work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, a list of references.

We were greatly helped in writing the control work by such authors as V.E. Ermolaev, Yu.V. Irkhin, Maltsev V.A.

The concept of global problems of our time

It is believed that the global problems of our time are generated precisely by the all-penetrating uneven development of world civilization, when the technical power of mankind has immeasurably exceeded the level of social organization it has achieved and political thinking has clearly lagged behind political reality.

Also, the motives of human activity and its moral values ​​are very far from the social, environmental and demographic foundations of the era.

Global (from French Global) is universal, (lat. Globus) is a ball.

Based on this, the meaning of the word "global" can be defined as:

1) covering the entire globe, worldwide;

2) comprehensive, complete, universal.

The present time is the boundary of the change of epochs, the entry of the modern world into a qualitatively new phase of development.

Therefore, the most characteristic features of the modern world will be:

information revolution;

acceleration of modernization processes;

compaction of space;

acceleration of historical and social time;

the end of the bipolar world (confrontation between the US and Russia);

revision of the Eurocentric point of view on the world;

the growth of the influence of the Eastern states;

integration (rapprochement, interpenetration);

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

strengthening of national cultural values ​​and traditions.

So, global problems is a set of problems of mankind, on the solution of which the existence of civilization depends and, therefore, requiring coordinated international action for their solution.

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

These problems are characterized by dynamism, they arise as an objective factor in the development of society, and for their solution they require the combined efforts of all mankind. Global problems are interconnected, cover all aspects of people's lives and concern all countries of the world. It has become obvious that global problems not only concern all of humanity, but are also vital to it. The complex problems facing humanity can be considered global, because:

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

secondly, global problems do not recognize 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 no state, no matter how powerful it may be, is not able to solve them on its own.

The relevance of the global problems of mankind is due to the action of a number of factors, the main of which include:
1. A sharp acceleration of the processes of social development.

Such an acceleration clearly revealed itself already in the first decades of the 20th century. It became even more evident in the second half of the century. The reason for the accelerated development of socio-economic processes is scientific and technological progress.

In just a few decades of scientific and technological revolution, more changes have occurred in the development of productive forces and social relations than in any similar period of time in the past.

Moreover, each subsequent change in the ways of human activity occurs at shorter intervals.

In the course of scientific and technological progress, the earth's biosphere has undergone a powerful impact various kinds human activity. The anthropogenic impact of society on nature has increased dramatically.
2. Population Growth. He posed a number of problems for mankind, first of all, the problem of providing food and other means of subsistence. At the same time environmental problems associated with the conditions of human hostel.
3. The problem of nuclear weapons and nuclear catastrophe.
These and some other problems affect not only individual regions or countries, but humanity as a whole. For example, the effects of a nuclear test are felt everywhere. The depletion of the ozone layer, caused largely by the violation of the hydrocarbon balance, is felt by all the inhabitants of the planet. Usage chemical substances, used to control pests of fields, can cause mass poisoning in regions and countries geographically remote from the place of production of contaminated products.
Thus, the global problems of our time are a complex of the most acute socio-natural contradictions affecting the world as a whole, and with it local regions and countries.

Global problems must be distinguished from regional, local and local.
Regional problems include a range of acute issues that arise within individual continents, large socio-economic regions of the world or in large states.

The concept of "local" refers to the problems of either individual states, or large territories one or two states (for example, earthquakes, floods, other natural disasters and their consequences, local military conflicts, the collapse of the Soviet Union, etc.).

Local problems arise in certain regions of states, cities (for example, conflicts between the population and the administration, temporary difficulties with water supply, heating, etc.). However, one should not forget that unresolved regional, local and local problems can acquire a global character. For example, a disaster Chernobyl nuclear power plant directly affected only a number of regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (a regional problem), but if you do not accept necessary measures security, its consequences may in one way or another affect other countries, and even acquire a global character. Any local military conflict can gradually turn into a global one if in its course the interests of a number of countries other than its participants are affected, as evidenced by the history of the emergence of the first and second world wars, etc.
On the other hand, since global problems, as a rule, are not solved on their own, and even with targeted efforts, a positive result is not always achieved, in the practice of the world community, they are trying, if possible, to transfer them into local ones (for example, to legally limit the birth rate in a number of individual countries with population explosion), which, of course, does not exhaustively solve the global problem, but gives a certain gain in time before the onset of catastrophic consequences.
Thus, global problems affect the interests not only of individuals, nations, countries, continents, but may affect the prospects for the future development of the world; they are not solved by themselves and even by the efforts of individual countries, but require purposeful and organized efforts of the entire world community.

Unresolved global problems can lead in the future to serious, even irreversible consequences for humans and their environment. Generally recognized global problems are: environmental pollution, the problem of resources, demography and nuclear weapons; a number of other problems.
The development of a classification of global problems was the result of long-term research and generalization of the experience of several decades of studying them.

Other global problems are also emerging.

Classification of global problems

Exceptional difficulties and high costs for solving global problems require their reasonable classification.

According to their origin, nature and methods of solving global problems, according to the classification adopted by international organizations, they are divided into three groups. The first group consists of problems determined by the main socio-economic and political tasks of mankind. These include the preservation of peace, the cessation of the arms race and disarmament, the non-militarization of outer space, the creation of favorable conditions for world social progress, and overcoming the developmental lag in countries with low per capita incomes.

The second group covers a complex of problems that are revealed in the triad "man - society - technology". These problems should take into account the effectiveness of the use of scientific and technical progress in the interests of a harmonious social development and the elimination of the negative impact of technology on man, the growth of population, the assertion of human rights in the state, its release from the excessively increased control of state institutions, especially over personal freedom as an essential component of human rights.

The third group is represented by problems related to socio-economic processes and the environment, i.e. problems of relations along the line of society - nature. This includes solving the raw material, energy and food problems, overcoming the environmental crisis, covering more and more new areas and capable of destroying human life.

End of XX and beginning of XXI centuries led to the development of a number of local, specific issues of development of countries and regions into the category of global ones. However, it should be recognized that internationalization played a decisive role in this process.

The number of global problems is growing, in some publications of recent years more than twenty problems of our time are named, but most authors identify four main global problems: environmental, peacekeeping and disarmament, demographic, fuel and raw materials.

The energy and raw material problem in the world economy

The energy and raw material problem as a global one was discussed after the energy (oil) crisis of 1972-1973, when, as a result of coordinated actions, the member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) simultaneously increased almost 10 times the prices for the crude oil they sell. A similar step, but on a more modest scale (OPEC countries were unable to overcome internal competitive contradictions), was taken in the early 1980s. This made it possible to talk about the second wave of the world energy crisis. As a result, for 1972-1981. oil prices rose 14.5 times. This has been referred to in the literature as the "global oil shock" which marked the end of the era of cheap oil and set off a chain reaction of rising prices for various other commodities. Some analysts of those years regarded such events as evidence of the depletion of the world's non-renewable natural resources and the entry of mankind into an era of prolonged energy and raw materials "hunger".

Energy and raw material crises of the 70s - early 80s. dealt a heavy blow to the existing system of world economic relations and caused severe consequences in many countries. First of all, this affected those countries that, in the development of their national economies, were largely oriented towards relatively cheap and stable imports of energy resources and mineral raw materials.

The most profound energy and raw material crises affected most developing countries, calling into question the possibility of implementing the strategy in them. national development, and in some - the possibility of the economic survival of the state. It is known that the vast majority of mineral reserves located in the territory of developing countries are concentrated in about 30 of them. The rest of the developing countries, in order to ensure their economic development, which was based in many of them on the idea of ​​industrialization, are forced to import most of the necessary mineral raw materials and energy carriers.

Energy and raw material crises of the 70-80s. also contained positive elements. First, the cohesive actions of suppliers of natural resources from developing countries allowed outsider countries to pursue a more active foreign trade policy in relation to individual agreements and organizations of countries exporting raw materials. Thus, the former USSR became one of the largest exporters of oil and other types of energy and mineral raw materials.

Secondly, the crises gave impetus to the development of energy-saving and material-saving technologies, the strengthening of the regime for saving raw materials, and the acceleration of the restructuring of the economy. These measures, taken primarily by developed countries, made it possible to mitigate the consequences of the energy and raw material crisis to a large extent.

Particularly in the 1970s and 1980s. energy intensity of production in developed countries decreased by 1/4.

Increased attention has been paid to the use of alternative materials and energy sources.

For example, in France in the 90s. Nuclear power plants produced about 80% of all electricity consumed. At present, the share of nuclear power plants in the global electricity production is 1/4.

Thirdly, under the influence of the crisis, large-scale geological exploration began to be carried out, which led to the discovery of new oil and gas fields, as well as economically viable reserves of other types of natural raw materials. Thus, the North Sea and Alaska became the new major areas for oil production, and Australia, Canada, and South Africa for mineral raw materials.

As a result, the pessimistic forecasts of the security of world needs in energy carriers and mineral raw materials were replaced by optimistic calculations based on new data. If in the 70s - early 80s. availability of the main types of energy carriers was estimated at 30-35 years, then in the late 90s. it increased: for oil - up to 42 years, for natural gas - up to 67 years, and for coal - up to 440 years.

Thus, the global energy and raw material problem in the former understanding as the danger of an absolute shortage of resources in the world does not exist now. But in itself the problem of reliable supply of mankind with raw materials and energy remains.

Ecological problem.

ECOLOGICAL PROBLEM

(from the Greek oikos - dwelling place, house and logos - teaching) - in broad sense the whole complex of questions caused by the contradictory dynamics of the internal self-development of nature. At the heart of the specific manifestation of E.p. At the biological level of the organization of matter, there is a contradiction between the needs of any living unit (organism, species, community) in matter, energy, information to ensure its own development and the capabilities of the environment to satisfy these needs. In a narrower sense, E. p. understand a set of issues that arise in the interaction of nature and society and related to the preservation of the biosphere system, the rationalization of resource use, and the extension of ethical norms to the biological and inorganic levels of organization of matter.
E. p. is characteristic of all stages of social development, since it is a problem of normalization living conditions. Definition of E.p. how the problem of the survival of mankind at the present stage simplifies the understanding of its content.
E. p. is pivotal in the system of global contradictions ( cm. GLOBAL PROBLEMS). The main factors destabilizing the world global situation are: the build-up of all types of weapons; lack of effective technological and legal support for the destruction process certain types weapons (eg chemical); development of nuclear weapons, operation of nuclear power plants in economically and politically unstable countries; local and regional military conflicts; attempts to use cheaper bacteriological weapons for the purposes of international terrorism; population growth and extensive urbanization, accompanied by a gap in the levels of resource consumption between "having" countries and "have-not" other countries; poor development of both alternative clean energy sources and decontamination technologies; industrial accidents; uncontrolled use of genetically modified crops and organisms in Food Industry; ignoring the global consequences of the storage and disposal of toxic military and industrial waste, uncontrolled "buried" in the 20th century.
The main reasons for the emergence of the current environmental crisis include: the industrialization of society on the basis of multi-waste technologies; the predominance of anthropocentrism and technocracy in scientific support and socio-economic and political decisions in the field of nature management; the confrontation between the capitalist and socialist social systems, which determined the content of all global events of the 20th century. Modern ecological crisis characterized by a sharp increase in all types of pollution of the biosphere with substances that are evolutionarily unusual for it; reduction of species diversity and degradation of stable biogeocenoses, undermining the ability of the biosphere to self-regulate; anti-ecological orientation of the cosmization of human activity. The deepening of these tendencies can lead to a global ecological catastrophe - the death of mankind and its culture, the disintegration of the evolutionarily established spatio-temporal connections of the living and non-living matter of the biosphere.
E. p. is complex, is in the center of attention of the entire system of knowledge, starting from the second. floor. 20th century In the works of the Club of Rome, the ecological prospects of mankind were studied by building models modern ratio society and nature and futurological extrapolation of the dynamics of its tendencies. The results of the studies carried out revealed the fundamental insufficiency of private scientific methods and purely technical means for solving this problem.
From Ser. 1970s interdisciplinary study of socio-ecological contradictions, causes of exacerbation and alternatives for future development is carried out in the course of interaction between two relatively independent areas: general scientific and humanitarian. Within the framework of the general scientific approach, we received significant theoretical development ideas of V.I. Vernadsky, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, representatives of "constructive geography" (L. Fsvr, M. Sor) and "human geography" (P. Marsh, J. Brun, E. Martonne).
The beginning of the humanitarian approach to environmental sociology was laid by the Chicago school of environmental sociology, which studied various forms of human destruction of the environment and formulated the basic principles of environmental protection (R. Park, E. Burgess, R. D. Mackenzie). Within the framework of the humanitarian approach, regularities of abiogenic, biogenic and anthropogenically modified factors and their relationship with a combination of anthropological and sociocultural factors are revealed.
The general scientific and humanitarian areas are united by a qualitatively new task for the entire system of cognition to comprehend the nature of changes in the structure of life caused by global expansion. modern man. In the process of sequential consideration of this task, in line with the greening of knowledge at the junction of the humanities and natural sciences, a complex of environmental disciplines is being formed (human ecology, social ecology, global ecology etc.), the object of study of which is the specificity of the relationship between different levels of the fundamental life dichotomy "organism - environment". Ecology as a set of new theoretical approaches and methodological orientation provided significant influence on the development of scientific thinking in the 20th century. and the formation of ecological consciousness.
Established in the second. floor. 20th century philosophy interpretations of the problem of interaction between nature and society (naturalistic, noospheric, technocratic) have undergone certain stylistic and content changes over the years of ecological alarmism, the development of the international environmental movement and interdisciplinary studies of this problem.
Representatives of modern naturalism are traditionally based on the ideas of the inherent value of nature, eternity and the binding nature of its laws for all living things and the predestination of nature as the only possible environment human existence. But "return to nature" is understood as the continued existence of mankind only in conditions of stable biogeochemical cycles, which means the conservation of the existing natural balance by stopping large-scale technological and social changes in the environment, reducing population growth, ethical principles to all levels of life.
Within the framework of the "noospheric approach", the idea of ​​the noosphere, first expressed by Vernadsky in his theory of the biosphere, is being developed as the idea of ​​co-evolution. Vernadsky understood the noosphere as a natural stage of biospheric evolution, created by the thought and labor of a single humanity. At the present stage, co-evolution is interpreted as a further joint dead-end development of society and nature as interrelated, but various ways self-reproduction of life in the biosphere.

Humanity can develop, in terms of representatives of the noospheric approach, only in the self-developing biosphere. Human activity must be included in stable biogeochemical cycles. One of the main tasks of co-evolution is the management of human adaptation to changing environmental conditions. The project of co-evolutionary development provides for a radical restructuring of technologies and communication systems, large-scale waste disposal, the creation of closed production cycles, the introduction of environmental control over planning, and the dissemination of the principles of environmental ethics.
Representatives of the post-technocratic version of the future interaction between society and nature complement the basic idea of ​​removing any limits from the transformational activity of mankind through a radical technological restructuring of the biosphere with the idea of ​​a qualitative improvement in the mechanism of evolution of man himself as species. As a result, humanity will supposedly be able to exist in environmentally uncharacteristic environments, both outside the biosphere and in a completely artificial civilization within the biosphere, where social life will be provided by artificially reproduced biogeochemical cycles. As a matter of fact, we are talking about the development of the radical idea of ​​the autotrophy of mankind, expressed at the time by Tsiolkovsky.
Ontological and epistemological analysis of E.p. at the present stage, it makes it possible to avoid one-sided theoretical conclusions, the hasty implementation of which can drastically worsen the ecological situation of mankind.

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INTRODUCTION…………………..…………………………………………………............

1. Classification…………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………….

2. Global problems

2.1 Demographic………………….…………………………………………..4 page

2.2 Ecological………………….……………………………………………...5 p.

2.3 Warming………………….……………………………………………………6 p.

2.4 Ozone holes………………….…………………………………………….7 p.

2.5 The problem of the greenhouse effect………………….…………………………..7 p.

2.6 Deforestation and deforestation………………….……………………………………8 p.

2.7 Desertification………………….……………………………………………..8 p.

2.8 Clean water………………….………………………………………………….9 p.

2.9 Energy problem………………….……………………………………………….

2.10 Raw material problem………………….……………………………………….10 p.

2.11 Problems of the World Ocean………………….……………………………..11 p.

2.12 Problems of space exploration………………….……………………………… 12 p.

2.13 The problem of AIDS and drug addiction. ………………….……………………… 13 p.

2.14 The problem of thermonuclear war………………….………………………… 13 p.

3. The relationship of global problems……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

4. Ways and opportunities for solving global problems…………………………..14 p.

5. Humanism and ecology……………………………………………………………..15 p.

CONCLUSION………………………………………………………….………..19 p.

LITERATURE

INTRODUCTION

Global problems of mankind - problems and situations that cover many countries, the Earth's atmosphere, the World Ocean and the near-Earth space and affect the entire population of the Earth.
The global problems of mankind cannot be solved by the forces of one country; jointly developed provisions on environmental protection are needed, an agreed economic policy, assistance to backward countries, etc.

Everything is interconnected with everything - says the first ecological law. This means that one cannot take a step without hitting, and sometimes without violating, something from the environment. Each step of a person on an ordinary lawn is dozens of destroyed microorganisms, frightened off insects, changing migration routes, and perhaps even reducing their natural productivity.

Already in the last century, human anxiety arose for the fate of the planet, and in the current century it has come to the crisis of the world ecological system due to renewed pressure on the natural environment.

The global problems of our time are a set of problems of mankind, on the solution of which social progress and the preservation of civilization depend.

What are global issues? It would seem that the question has been clear for a long time, and their range was determined back in the early 70s, when the term "globalistics" itself began to be used, the first models of global development appeared.

One of the definitions refers to the global "problems arising as a result of the objective development of society, creating threats to all mankind and requiring the combined efforts of the entire world community for their solution."

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 fully consistent with the truth. If we add here such problems 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, limiting, which is its meaning.

Firstly, global problems are those problems that affect the interests of not only individuals, but can affect the fate of all mankind. Here the word “fate” is important, which means the prospects for the future development of the world.

Secondly, global problems are not solved by themselves and even by the efforts of individual countries. They require purposeful 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 each other. Therefore, it is so difficult even theoretically to single out and systematize them, not to mention developing a system of successive steps to solve them. Generally recognized global problems are such as: environmental pollution, problems of resources, population, 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, the urgency of revising many of the usual stereotypes came to us late, much later than the publication in the West of the first global models, calls to stop the growth of the economy. Meanwhile, all global problems are closely interconnected.

Until recently, nature conservation was a matter for individuals and societies, and ecology initially had nothing to do with nature conservation. This name Ernest Haeckel in 1866 in the monograph "General Morphology" christened the science of the relationship of animals and plants living in a certain area, their relationship to each other and to living conditions.

Who eats what or whom, how it adapts to seasonal climate changes - the main questions of the original 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 world's population and the scientific and technological revolution.

The rapid growth of the world's population is called the population explosion.
It was accompanied by the seizure of vast territories from nature for residential buildings and public institutions, automobile and railways, airports and marinas, crops and pastures.

At the same time with population explosion There was also a scientific and technological revolution. Man mastered nuclear energy, rocket technology and went into space. He invented the computer, created electronic technology and the industry of synthetic materials.

The population explosion and the scientific and technological revolution have led to a colossal increase in the consumption of natural resources. At such a rate of consumption, it became obvious that many natural resources would be depleted in the near future. At the same time, the waste from giant industries began to pollute the environment more and more, destroying the health of the population. In all industrialized countries, cancerous, chronic pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases are widespread.

Scientists were the first to sound the alarm. Beginning in 1968, the Italian economist Aurelio Pecchen began to gather annually in Rome major experts from different countries 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 with an appeal to create special state institutions for these purposes. In different countries, ministries, departments and committees on ecology began to be created, and their main goal was to monitor the natural environment and combat its pollution in order to preserve public health.

To conduct research on human ecology, a theoretical basis was required. First, Russian and then foreign researchers recognized the teachings of V.I. Vernadsky about the biosphere and the inevitability of its evolutionary transformation into the environment human mind- noosphere.

However, the anthropogenic impact on nature has reached such proportions that global problems have arisen that no one could even suspect 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 studying them.

Researchers have proposed many classification options. Let us consider here a variant 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.

first group constitute those problems that are associated with the relationship between the main social communities 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 just international economic order. Environmental problems are especially acute here, like a huge number of others. The backward and moderately developed countries make up the vast majority of the world's population - about five billion out of six. The general trend of modern development, unfortunately, is such that the gap between the "golden billion" and the rest of humanity is not shrinking, but growing.

Second group unites those problems that are generated by the interaction of society and nature. They are associated with the limited capacity of the environment to endure anthropogenic loads. These are such problems 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 exploration of the oceans and outer space.

It, firstly, environmental problems; Secondly, problems associated with the development of nature by society, i.e. problems of raw materials and energy resources; third, problems associated with relatively new global objects - outer space and the oceans.

And even goes beyond its borders. Given the heterogeneity of humanity, its activities simply cannot but be accompanied by certain contradictions. If they cover the entire planet and near-Earth outer space, then these are global problems.

peace cover all aspects of human life, affect all countries, peoples and strata of the population, relate both to the surface of the earth and to the oceans, atmosphere, space, and lead to serious economic and social losses. Consequently, the solution of these problems is the task of the whole world, requiring universal unification.

Global problems are divided into several types:


Global problems of mankind at the state and international levels at this moment are considered, unfortunately, as something very abstract and requiring a solution only in the distant future. Concerning individual level, then, with rare exceptions, people take a position of neutrality, they say, this does not concern me personally. All this testifies to the lack of understanding by the masses of the degree of seriousness of global problems.

The global problems of society have several characteristic features:

  • They are universal in nature, covering the interests of all peoples (and sometimes all living things) and each person in particular.
  • In the absence of their solution, sooner or later they will lead to a global catastrophe and the death of mankind.
  • They require the joint efforts of all mankind.
  • They require an integrated, synergistic approach.

In fact, the global problems of mankind reflect the unevenness and imbalance of its development. Developing industry, man lost touch with nature, resulting in exacerbated environmental problems. The trend towards the creation of an information society and the dominance of capitalism has led to a spiritual crisis. The predominance of individualism and infantile egoism brought to the fore political, weapons and social problems. This is how causal relationships between seemingly crises in completely different areas are carried out. However, the solution of one problem will not, according to the law, cause a positive correlation of the solution of others: here a single integrated approach is required, based on the global reconstruction of the consciousness of mankind in favor of a collective mode of existence, effective interaction and harmonious development in connection with nature and next and previous generations.