I've found that Solving the World's Problem generally comes down to recognizing that something doesn't have to do with you, then deciding if it's a "This is none of your business, so you should leave these innocent people alone unless you know how to support them" situation or a "This is not happening to you, but you can still help these people and you should" situation. So with prejudice and defining a person based off things that really don't matter at all rather than respecting who they are, it's a "none of your business" thing, and with homelessness, world hunger, deportation, ect., ect, it's a "help these people" thing. The problem is, people don't mind their own business when they should, and do the complete opposite when they shouldn't. So we need to work on that. However, we also need to be careful not to completely ignore a community of people we don't connect with, but instead support them and try to understand them. It's all about balance, in the end, and respect. It's about realizing that there are still millions of problems in the world and we can get better by looking at everyone's ideas and deciding what works and what doesn't. Most of all, it's about listening and putting others before yourself, because if everyone did that then everybody would win. Is that about right? 

Yessss ranting thread

Ughh you're so right, humans are so greedy. Like, the main reason we aren't doing enough for climate change is that car, oil, mining etc. companies are super rich and powerful, and care about their money more than about saving the planet. Or they just convince themselves it's not real, because they don't want a reason to stop doing what gives them money.

But of course. *sigh*

Please don't fall into the trap of communism, though, Darkvine. It never seems to work as intended. It would truly be great if everyone could work hard and get "equal" wealth distribution, but there is indeed a difference between equality and equity, which shows the cracks in all systems we've had so far. Technically, capitalism is more fair, where those who work hard and have skills get more, and those who don't or can't remain in a lower position; however, I admit that it's still a very flawed system and opportunity I not provided to all in the same capacity. It's not optimal, and it's perhaps not right, but I don't think, due to the inherent issues that humanity brings upon itself, things can get much better.

Furthermore, time after time it's been shown that those who give to those lower down are so much more likely to be taken advantage of, and/or will have the hand that feeds bitten; whether that be due to jealousy, greed, an easy way out, feeling it's not enough, justifying that it's okay because the higher-ups have already had such a good life, or seeing the higher-ups as patronising for "gifting" their privilege onto those they see as lower down. If you struggled your way to the top, and felt like it was a mostly fair game, why would you ever risk losing it all to help some potentially ungrateful and unfit lazy-bones up? Why do you owe them anything when you've used your own skills to get yourself up here?

To be clear, I'm not saying I agree with this way of thinking, or think it's fair or right -- I simply hope to give and gain more insight into some of these huge issues. I'm not sure we can really ever make an enormous change for the best, but it doesn't hurt to consider that causes, reason(s) things stay this way, different perspectives and ways things connect, etc., just to better understand and perhaps even act in the future to remedy these injustices. 

Remember things are almost always more complex than they might seem on surface level. If you really want to make a difference, do your research, be sure to challenge your own assumptions and beliefs, and of course, think realistically as you move forward with your plans. That doesn't mean you can't follow your dreams, or that nothing you do will matter in the long run; it only means that you have to have actual workable well-thought-out ideas and means, even if no one else has done it quite like you before, and you have to forge your own path forward. You can most certainly get there if you make up your mind to do it, so chin up! You got this! :D

"It's not my problem". Have you ever heard that phrase? Well, it's not true. Because to solve the world's problems we have to recognize that if you have a problem, I have a problem. If anyone has a problem, everybody has a problem. And that's because we're all in the same boat! (rephrased from a story in the book Capturing the Moon to fit this thread)

I'm really worried about littering. Once I was in a pool, and I saw: a) some kind of beanbag toy in the drainage thing (I was able to get it out and give it to someone working there so they could return it) and b) two plastic water bottles in the drainage of the jacuzzi (is that how you spell it?). One major tip is: don't litter!

But remember:  If you have a problem, I have a problem. If anyone has a problem, everybody has a problem. And that's because we're all in the same boat! (The boat is analogous to Earth)

Oh yeah, and there is the whole "equality vs. equity" thing. Equality is when everyone gets the same thing. Equity is when everyone gets the thing they need to succeed in life. Have any of you ever heard of that metaphor about the adult, the child, and the smaller child trying to watch a baseball game over a fence? 

I agree with your 100%!

Earth has so many issues and barely anyone knows about it or acknowledges it! 

As for climate change, it's serious! The temperature anomaly is getter greater every year, and there's more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Animals are dying! This is kind of a lesser-known species, but the whooping crane that lives in wetlands and swamps in the US and Canada. Because of increased rain their eggs have been catching pneumonia and have been dying unhatched, so their populations are unstable. 

Also: the living conditions of other people! In Spanish we had to watch a documentary of how these people in the Sierras called the Raramuri have to walk for hours just to get to school! It's so ironic that people can make movies about these people but can't afford to help them lives better lives. 

It seems like we have become so focused on being the lastest, the greatest, and the best, that we've lost sight of our humanity and that's depressing. 

Climate change is a really big problem, but so is war. I just don't understand why people can't share the Earth and want to have their own laws for their own land and why can't they just agree? One of the amazing partial solutions is...

Enter: The language of Esperanto.

Esperanto is a really cool conlang invented by Dr. Zamenhof (I'm not sure what his first name is) in an attempt to create a language that everyone can speak because it is super simple and has connections to almost every language. For example, amiko means friend, and if you add mal- before a word it reverses the word, so malamiko means enemy. So, war is the malamiko of all of us CBers (unless it is a play war like the Lemming War or the Last to post War, then it is a amiko of us). If you have an a instead of an o at the end, then it makes it feminine, so amika means female friend. Just a short Esperanto lesson.

Maybe this is better discussed in the Languages thread, but I can't find it now and Esperanto is a partial solution to the problems.

Fun fact: Did you know that Esperanto was the second take of Dr. Zamenhof to create a universal language? The first take would have worked if his father didn't burn the papers (no seriously, that happened with it) 

Honestly, I think at this point the governments of the world are not going to manage to get anything solved, in fact mostly they're making things worse. If we want things to change, it'll have to be ordinary people who do things.

*says in a Victorian era British accent* Oh I say, do be a good fellow and top now. We will have frightfully jolly larks if you do, and there'll be no end to what people post here, and you'll be a frightfully popular thread. Come along, there's a brick!