"The vast majority of human beings do not understand the potential for environmental disaster that we're facing, including many of the pundits you see on the Sunday T.V. shows who continue to think that very serious problems like gun control and crime and the budget deficit and so on are the biggest problems."
-- Paul Ehrlich
We're all aware there are a lot of problems in the world. Our TVs and newspapers provide us with daily updates on the latest and most interesting calamities -- three whales trapped near the north pole, little Jessica McClure trapped in a well, O.J. Simpson fleeing from the police, or David Koresh's cult of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. This media coverage inevitably colors our perceptions about which problems are most crucial.
But what should our priorities be? The list on this page shows a sampling of some newsworthy, "popular" problems along with examples of the hardships that these problems cause. The media presents us with a good collage of these problems, but offers us little information to compare, contrast, and prioritize them. Which are the most serious and not just the most newsworthy? Which cause the most harm -- the most suffering and misery? Which directly affect the most people? Which are the most readily addressed? Which are the most cost-effective to address -- which ones yield the most prevented suffering per dollar of remedy?
| Newsworthy Problems | Example Hardships |
| War Civil Unrest Violent Crime Domestic Violence Civil Liberties Abuse Nuclear Weapons Chemical Weapons Biological Weapons CO2 Emissions SO2 Emissions Air Pollution Acid Rain CFC Emissions Oil Spills Nuclear Waste Growing Deserts Global Warming Species Extinction Flooding Soil Erosion Vanishing Forests Ozone Depletion The Energy Crisis Excess Military Spending Energy Waste Economic Inefficiency Beef Production Traffic Alcoholism, Drug Abuse Illiteracy Poor Basic Shelter Poor Basic Health Care Food Shortages Contaminated Drinking Water AIDS |
Death, destruction Riots, looting Murder, rape Rape, abuse, fear Political imprisonment Hiroshima & Nagasaki Illness and death Disease and death Global warming Acid rain Lung cancer Damage to forests Ozone depletion Loss of wildlife Contamination of soil and water Loss of fertile land Rising oceans, crop losses Loss of genetic diversity Loss of land, homes Loss of food supply Loss of genetic diversity Cancer The Gulf War Loss of $1 trillion/year Pollution, financial loss Food shortages Deforestation, extinction Irritation, wasted time, pollution Wasted lives, violence Wasted potential Disease and death Disease and death Starvation Disease and death Disease and death |
| Exercise Have a look at the list of newsworthy problems. For each of the descriptions here, list a few problems that you think fit the description. |
Get the most media coverage: | Affect the most people: |
| Cause the most misery: | Most inexpensively addressed: |
| Exercise | Name a few, serious, tangible problems
which aren't on the list. |
The Bottom Line
There are a lot of problems. In attacking them, how do we
distribute our resources to best meet our objectives?
