Emerging Sociological Issues

Unemployment

     A serious issue on the minds of many Americans today is unemployment. The rates are staggering; even many people who are employed are uneasy because they have little job security. We often see reports of current unemployment rates on the news, both locally and nationally, but those are not the real unemployment rates; the numbers reported include people who are jobless and searching for work. This leaves a large number of people who cannot work, who settle for part-time work, and who have given up looking for work, unreported. An additional concern is that only one-third of the working population qualifies for unemployment, so in the case of unexpected job loss, two-thirds of workers are left helpless.
     As a result of the recession beginning in 2009, the Department of Labor estimated the increase of would-be workers who had given up on finding employment increased by three-quarters of a million. These unemployment rates are being felt nationwide, from the smallest towns to the largest, and are affecting everyone. Anyone in the service industry can see their own jobs suffering, from wait staff with decreased tips to fewer hours available, industry-wide.
     This is obviously a national concern, but it also has a lot to do with the global economy. While American jobs are being shipped overseas, Americans are losing jobs while foreigners are gaining them, however at what cost? Industries are able to increase profit margins by exploiting under-aged and adult workers alike, forcing them to work in poor conditions for pennies a day. While American workers want and deserve their jobs back, what would happen to the global economy if industries came back to the United States? Thanks to the greed of American industries, we have dug ourselves into a hole that may be too deep to get out of.

Environmental Concerns

     Increasing global populations are contributing to the rapid depletion of our natural resources. This problem is bigger than many realize, and what's worse is that many people make decisions today without thinking about the effect on future generations. Some fossil fuels are nonrenewable, while others are renewable, but we must keep in mind that if we wipe everything out, there will be nothing to 'renew.' Even the most essential of resources, water, is being used faster than it can be replaced. Some agencies are concerned with stopping the rapid depletion of the the use and pollution of resources, however we must also be aware that some resources are too polluted to be saved. Again, this is a result of overuse and negligence by people from the past and present; issues that we are starting to see today are going to be major daily concerns for generations to come.

     The environmental destruction is not only affecting us as humans, but it is also affecting many species around the world. Although we could go much deeper into that topic, the point is that what we are doing today is going to have a profound effect on the world our children and grandchildren are going to grow up in.

     Americans use much more than their fair share of resources, and therefore we are highly responsible for the way our planet is suffering. However we did not do this single handedly; the whole world needs to take responsibility for the state of the planet. More importantly than placing blame on anyone, we need to take immediate steps to renew what can be renewed, and slow the consumption of what cannot be renewed. We as a generation have caused a lot of harm to a planet that does not belong to us, and now is the time to fix what we've broken.