As each year ends, the main problems of the year are announced by the World Economic Forum as a way to bring awareness to the plagues of the world, and solutions that can be created for the upcoming year. As the 2024 year begins, this organization surveyed 1,490 leaders on the top global risks for 2024 and their potential impacts.
While some of the listed issues are important to students, some don’t align with their interests. Senior Sarah Novak said, “Personally I believe that protecting the diversity of nature on earth is really important. Even if nature isn’t part of the equation, we need to protect the planet to make sure humans have somewhere to live in 50 years.” With climate change being such a popular topic, it was expected to appear on the list, and it did.
The top risk world issue listed is extreme weather which also has high severity for the future years as well. These extreme weather conditions are the result of climate change, destruction of food sources and attacks on infrastructure. From extreme cold to extreme heat, unregulated weather harms animals and populations across the globe. Novak said, “We just passed the point of no return global temperatures where the effects of global warming can’t be reversed. This is becoming a very immediate problem.” This explains the reasoning behind the WEF including severe weather patterns as a top risk.
Somalia is one of the countries that is most impacted by these weather conditions. From extreme heat and drought, to a surprise flash flood, many things in the country were affected. These issues are happening to countries all over the world, and unless a change is made, they will continue to be affected.
Climate change and extreme weather have been worsened by human actions. Easy solutions everyone can do to help are to save energy at home, carpool or use public transportation, throw away less food, and recycle.
Sophomore Lucy Enyeart said, “The worst thing affecting the world is probably the amount of pollution that is created mindlessly by using single use materials or by large corporations like Exxon. Protecting the earth is important because it is our only home and houses millions of other organisms that survive based on their needs being met.”
The next risk of 2024 is AI-generated misinformation. Misinformation spread by apps can affect schools, politics and relations with other countries. A recent scare of potential consequences of these AI apps is in elections where false images can be used to deter voters from supporting certain candidates. With false information and the ability to create fake situations without a human brain, the consequences are still unknown of how these apps will be used in the future.
Enyeart said, “Education is the first step in solving a problem 99 percent of the time. It is important that we educate people who may not know that they are damaging the environment through everyday practices.”
The cost of living crisis is only increasing. Being in the top 5 issues of the year, it is a serious concern for many countries. Prices of goods and services continue to rise, and there isn’t enough money for many families to sustain this inflation. The need for gas, food and housing are all rising issues around the world. Some proposed solutions for lowering the cost of living are renting spaces in your home, making a monthly budget and buying generic groceries over name brand.
Another major world issue is the outbreak of armed conflict such as the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars. Many factors can lead to war, but one major factor is a leader not being able to support the people in the nation. Political and ideological differences are creating tensions across countries. Armed conflict can occur between two people or two counties. Both can be decreased with solutions. With armed conflict within communities, stronger gun bans based on age or other factors can decrease this issue. Using diplomatic channels can help decrease war between countries.
Some of the other issues for the upcoming year are labor shortages, violent civil strikes, attacks on infrastructure and disrupted supply chains. These major issues are split into 5 categories, economic, geopolitical, societal, technological and environmental.
Novak said, “I think people need to start looking a lot more closely at the impacts of their actions on the future. Global warming is getting worse, wars are tearing apart the globe, and if a lot of people actually cared enough to say something about it, they might be enough to make governments start enacting new legislation.” The list from the WEF allows citizens to be aware of global issues and their own impact on them. With these problems increasing as the year begins, every person and country can begin finding solutions to help save the world.
