Essay

Essay by Daniel (94) from United States - Author's age: 22 years old

Summary

In the face of great crises, great action is required. The current food and energy crises have been caused by the actions of our entire society and, thus, can only be solved when our entire society works together. It is time now to stop looking for heroes that will save us and time to save ourselves, as ordinary people, in an ordinary way, working together to do extraordinary things. This will be accomplished through the daily, individual economic decisions that each of us make, which produce pressure on businesses, infrastructure, government, and the system responsible for the problems at hand.

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Comment by Thomas on Tuesday 03 March 2009 at 14:47

Interesting perspective, although I disagree very much with you on your opening point, the crisis is as embedded in political and economic factors, as well as climate change among others. I agree with you that the developing world is often (unfairly) blamed for the world’s woes. I like your idea of individual responsibility, but I think it will be required in conjunction with governments and international agencies living and promoting the same values – the individual and collective together are needed to make these changes.

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Comment by Nancy on Tuesday 03 March 2009 at 06:36

I agree with the author's assertion that individuals must work together in order to affect change. It is no longer possible to leave the task to others, but rather, as smaller communities within a global community, we must each shoulder the responsibility to preserve the resources we have, and to create newer, sustainable resources.

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Comment by Sayanti on Tuesday 03 March 2009 at 17:57

The perspective is very much acceptable however, at some instances the political bodies are also to be included for an assertive development along with the individual task..besides this, the ideas are very well potrayed.

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Comment by Packiaraj on Wednesday 04 March 2009 at 10:38

Its not an effect of individual consumtion alone but driven by
global politics of selfishness and hierarchy.

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Comment by Donald on Friday 06 March 2009 at 15:26

I agree with Thomas' point that a combination of both bottom-up and top-down approaches is needed to tackle the current crises. This is often lacking in some of the other essays. Additionally, I think these issues must be addressed horizontally in combination with a vertical approach that I mentioned. As such, all aspects and sectors are covered so as to have a truly holistic approach to deal with these global problems.

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Comment by Benoit on Tuesday 10 March 2009 at 17:29

Hello Daniel. I like your essay ;) However, I am worried that the depth and urgency of the crisis is considerable and thus requires solutions that have potential to bring about faster changes than a mere call to responsibility. Moreover, I wonder through which mechanism do you expect responsible consumer habits to diffuse in society? Finally, as a comment to Donald and Thomas about the top-down/bottom-up debate, bottom-up initiatives have potential to generate purely bottom-up alternatives but also influence and pressure much needed and desirable top-down decisions.

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