Reflection Post

Global issues have an impact on everyone in the same way; this statement would not be true what so ever around 50-100 years ago but today in this world filled with so much technology it is 100% true.  Since child labour In Brazil is a global issue this means that it impacts everybody including us here in Canada.  An example of this would be with people just having kids.  When people have kids it raises the global population which means more consumers resulting in more people buying the things made with child labour in Brazil.

Everybody is capable of contributing to a positive change which in this case is with child labour. Nobody is saying to stop having kids because it would be very extreme. There are little things that you could do to help such as buying fair trade or researching the products before you get them. Just by doing this little thing could potentially save a kid from a life of physical and sexual harassment. You would also be giving them a chance to live with their parents and to get an education so they can prepare for their futures.

Every small action can result in a huge change, how might you say? Well let’s say for example that I decide to donate $1 to a charity even if that doesn’t seem like it could help a whole lot, it does.  If the whole population of Canada also donate 1 dollar that would mean that we would be donating a total of about 37 million dollars! That’s insane! So next time you’re at a grocery store and they ask you to donate a dollar for a random charity go for it because it helps a lot more than you think.

Every problem, not just global and local issues require a logical well thought out plan to solve. You can’t just jump into a random issue and think that you can solve it. That is why one of the most efficient ways to help is by simply supporting NGOs. These NGOs are well thought out organizations that are professionally done so you can be sure that your money is going to a good use. An example of this would be with the ALS ice bucket challenge that happened earlier this year. That organization made a viral trend (their plan) which ended up with millions and millions of dollars being donates to the cause.

How do we balance the worlds need for resources and products with the protection of the people and the environment?  Well there are many different ways that we could accomplish this but the first one that pops into my mind would have to be fair trade. This organization does this exact thing they make sure that we consumers get all the things that we need. They do this while ensuring that the people who made the product are being paid fairly and get the benefits that they deserve. They also make sure that the factories where the products are being produced are being efficient so that they hurt the environment as little as possible.

Who should be responsible for solving child labour in Brazil the government, corporations, or individuals? In my opinion I believe it should be the government even though the corporations and individuals are the one who are making the problem worse the government is the only one that has enough power to change it quickly. The government could very easily put a law in place stating that we can only buy materials from Brazil if they are made using no child labour. If they made this law it would encourage companies in Brazil to get approved by fair trade so that they could sell to Canada. Just by doing this it would dramatically lower the child labour rates in Brazil.

Globally, have things changed for the better or remained the same over the past few decades? I would defiantly say that they have changed for the better. Now unlike a couple of decades ago our technology has improved drastically. With this new technology our world is a lot more connected. For example around 30 years ago I doubt anybody was ever talking about how child labour was happening in Brazil or anywhere else in the world. Now though since we have this technology we can actually have a chance to help with these issues. This is why we see these child labour rates dropping over the last couple of years. Even though some things are getting better there is always room for improvements and we should never stop supporting these issues. Thank you for reading my blog!