An Assignment Submission for Prof Snow's APPH1040 Class at Georgia Tech
Documentary Title: Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times | Presented by Thandie Newton
Uploaded on September 19th, 2020
[Video Linked at the bottom of Blog Post]
This documentary opens with a series of prominent issues that the world has faced in 2020. These issues are urgent and nations must come together to solve them soon for the sake of mankind and the planet. The most impactful and widely spread, the Coronavirus Pandemic. The film acknowledges that the world was not prepared and that regions with lower socioeconomic status may have suffered more than others. Climate change was another problem that was heavily stressed. This year has seen some of the most brutal climate catastrophes that we have seen in recent history including wildfires in Australia and California, extreme weather in Jakarta causing flooding, Locust plagues in east Africa leading to food shortages, Cyclone Amphan and Cyclone Harold, heatwaves in Western Europe and the Siberian Arctic, Flooding in the Sahel, and drought in Southern Africa. It was stated that the best way to address these environmental changes is by halving emissions and eliminating pollution caused by plastic waste which leads to the ocean. The video celebrated that in the last few decades, over a billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty. However, many people around the world including children are living day-to-day in hunger, homeless, or in coerced-servitude. The UN advocated for justice for all races, particularly minorities living in America, and for the empowerment of all women across the world in the workplace, in healthcare, in education, and in social status.
The take-home message of this documentary was to work to achieve positive change at the basic level, you as an individual. Make adjustments in your life that are sustainable, respectful, healthy, and ethical to benefit your community and in turn, all of the earth. Use your knowledge to take action to bring about political and social change and demand that our leaders take an active stance in solving these global concerns. “Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times” in the context of our campus can inspire young people who will become the next leaders to consider the strife in different areas around the world and to implement solutions swiftly to solve them. This is important because the next generation must understand that there are global troubles that must be addressed. Often times, politics and finances must be set aside in order to see the big picture and act before it is too late.
Personally, I found the documentary to be quite eye-opening and a great resource to realize the magnitude of the issues that the planet faces. The hostess appropriately pointed out serious problems where work must be done and then provided valid responses that would lessen the impact of the obstacle. However, I was disappointed that many issues that are equally, perhaps more important than the ones presented were not acknowledged. I immediately turn to China and the extermination and maltreatment of Uyghur Muslims, the suppression and “silencing” of free speech, the persecution of Christians, and the authoritarian approach to handling protests in Hong Kong. I believe that these threats to human rights are far more pressing, and much more fatal, than racial injustice in the United States. In addition, China is the largest producer of CO2 emissions and the greatest polluter on the planet, yet the UN fails to hold this nation accountable. In many middle-eastern and African countries, women are systemically oppressed and do not exercise the same rights as their male counterparts. Moreover, homosexuality in many of these countries is still banned and offenders are sentenced to death. In socialist countries like Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba, people are starving and denied basic rights such as making a living, travel, and free speech. I’m not simply dismissing the serious concerns for democratic countries such as the United States, I’m only concerned that the UN ignores these threats to human life and dignity in these less stable countries. If we want to work together for a better world, we can’t be afraid to call out the issues, all of the issues.