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B. People and Environments: Canada's Interactions with the Global Community · Canada's Interactions with the Global Community

What Are Global Issues?

B2.1 B1About 45 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can explain what a global issue is.
  • I can sort global issues as political, social, economic and/or environmental.
  • I can describe the impact of a global issue on the global community.
  • I can ask good questions about a global issue.

Words to know

global issue
A problem that affects people in many parts of the world and needs countries to work together to solve it.
political
About governments, power, laws and decisions.
social
About people's lives, health, education, rights and communities.
economic
About money, jobs, trade, goods and services.
environmental
About the natural world: land, water, air, plants and animals.
child labour
Work that harms children, is dangerous, or stops them from going to school.

A pebble in a pond

Drop a pebble in a pond and ripples spread out in every direction. Some problems are like that. They start in one place, but their effects ripple out across the world.

These are global issues: problems that affect people in many countries and need countries to work together to solve them.

Circular ripples spreading out across a calm pond after a pebble dropped in.
Like these ripples, a global issue can start in one place and spread its effects outward across the world. AI-generated image

Four lenses

Social scientists look at an issue through four lenses:

  • Political: Which governments make decisions about it? Who has power? What laws exist?
  • Social: How does it affect people's health, education, rights and families?
  • Economic: How does it affect money, jobs, prices and trade?
  • Environmental: How does it affect land, water, air, plants and animals?

Most global issues fit more than one lens. For example, access to fresh water is environmental (rivers and lakes), social (health) and economic (water for farms and factories). It can also be political when countries argue about who owns a river.

EnvironmentalEconomicSocialfreshwater
Many global issues fit more than one lens. Access to fresh water sits where the environmental, economic and social circles overlap (it can be political too).
Global issueWhat it meansSome lenses
Child labourChildren doing harmful work instead of going to school. The ILO and UNICEF estimated that 160 million children were in child labour at the start of 2020.Social, economic, political
Access to fresh waterNot everyone has safe drinking water. In 2022, about 2.2 billion people did not have safely managed drinking water (WHO and UNICEF, 2023). Some First Nations communities in Canada have also lived for years under drinking water advisories.Environmental, social, economic, political
Food shortagesNot enough food because of drought, war, high prices or poverty.Social, economic, environmental
Climate changeEarth's climate is warming, mostly because of gases from burning fuels like oil, gas and coal.Environmental, economic, social, political
Dwindling oil suppliesOil is a non-renewable resource: once used, it is gone. Countries must plan for other energy sources.Economic, environmental, political
RefugeesPeople forced to flee war or persecution.Political, social
Natural disastersEarthquakes, floods, hurricanes, droughts and wildfires.Environmental, social, economic
Some global issues. Numbers are estimates from the organizations and years named.

Impact on the global community

A global issue affects people far from where it starts:

  • A drought in one farming region can raise food prices in stores around the world.
  • A war can force people to become refugees in other countries.
  • Products made with child labour can end up on store shelves in Canada.
  • Gases from every country add to climate change, which affects everyone.

Because the impact is shared, responses are shared too: governments, the UN, NGOs and individuals all respond.

A global issue ripples outwarddroughtless wheatprices rise1. A drought hits one farming region.2. Less wheat is harvested there.3. Food prices go up in stores around the world, even in Canada.Same pattern: war → refugees inother countries; gases from everycountry → climate change for all.
Like ripples from a pebble, a problem in one place spreads outward. A drought in one region can raise food prices around the world.
Worked example

Let's look through the lenses

Look at the issue of child labour through each lens.

  1. Social: Children who work long hours may miss school, get hurt or become sick. They lose their childhood.
  2. Economic: Families may need the money because they are poor. Some businesses use child labour because it is cheap. Products made this way may be sold around the world.
  3. Political: Governments make laws about the age children can work. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says children must be protected from harmful work.
  4. Environmental: Not a main lens here, though some children work in dangerous places like mines or farms that use harmful chemicals.

Child labour is mainly a social, economic and political issue. Looking through all four lenses helps us understand causes, impacts and possible responses.

Just for fun

Why do the circles in a Venn diagram get along so well?

They have so much in common! ⭕

Asking good questions

The first step of any inquiry is a good question. Good inquiry questions:

  • are open (they can't be answered with just yes or no);
  • ask about causes, impacts or responses;
  • can be investigated with evidence.

Examples:

  • Why do some children work instead of going to school?
  • How does a lack of clean water affect girls' education?
  • How effective are fair trade programs at reducing child labour?
  • What is Canada doing about food shortages, and how well is it working?
Hands-on activity

Global issues news hunt

With a grown-up, look at a children's news website or a newspaper for one week.

  1. Find three stories about issues that affect more than one country.
  2. For each, write the issue and circle the lenses that fit: Political, Social, Economic, Environmental.
  3. Write one open inquiry question about each issue, starting with Why, How or How effective.

What to look for: the issue really affects many places; the lenses make sense; the questions are open and can be investigated.

Your turn

1

What is a global issue?

2

Name the four lenses for looking at an issue.

3

Which lenses fit climate change?

4

What is child labour?

5

Give one way a global issue can affect people in Canada.

6

Turn this into an open inquiry question: "Is water important?"

More practice: warm-up

1

Is a law about the age children can work political, social or environmental?

2

Is pollution in a river mainly an environmental or an economic issue?

3

Is oil a renewable or non-renewable resource?

4

Name two natural disasters.

5

Can a global issue fit more than one lens?

More practice: on your own

1

Explain how a drought in one region can affect families in Ontario.

2

Why is "dwindling oil supplies" an economic issue?

3

Which is a better inquiry question, and why? (a) "Do refugees exist?" (b) "How do Canadian communities help refugees settle?"

4

Look through the social lens at food shortages. What might you notice?

5

Why do responses to global issues need to be shared?

Challenge

1

Choose a global issue from the table. Write one inquiry question for each of: cause, impact, response.

2

Explain how one global issue can cause another. Give an example.

3

The table says some First Nations communities in Canada have lived under drinking water advisories. Why is it important to include this in a lesson on global issues?

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

A global issue is a problem that...

2.

Which lens asks about money, jobs and trade?

3.

According to the ILO and UNICEF, about how many children were in child labour at the start of 2020?

4.

Which is an open inquiry question?

5.

Access to fresh water is...

6.

Why can a drought far away raise food prices in Canada?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Global issues (such as child labour, access to fresh water, food shortages, climate change, dwindling oil supplies, refugees and natural disasters) affect many countries. Looking at them through political, social, economic and environmental lenses helps students understand causes, impacts and responses, and ask good inquiry questions.

How to help at home:

  • Do the news hunt with a child-friendly news source and help your child write open questions.
  • Some issues, like child labour, can be upsetting. Focus on the people and organizations working to solve them.
  • Numbers in this lesson are estimates from the organizations and years named. If you look up newer ones, note the source and year.

Common difficulties:

  • Choosing only one lens. Ask: "Could money, people, nature or governments also be part of this?"
  • Writing yes/no questions. Start with Why, How or How effective.