2008 — Most Philosophical 5th Grader in America:

Laura Christenson, Minnesota.

Is global warming the greatest challenge facing humankind?

 

I think that ignorance is the greatest challenge facing humankind.

Ignorance means the absence of knowledge and understanding. And without understanding, problems can't be understood and addressed. Ignorance is one of the problems behind global warming. It is because people didn't know and didn't want to know that global warming got so out of hand.

People may choose to not educate themselves and remain ignorant because they don't want to deal with the problem. They may think that a problem is too hard or overwhelming to fix. But people can't care if they don't know. And no problem has ever been solved by ignorance. More information is generally better. It gives you better understanding of the problem and how to fix it.

If people share information they can work together to solve a common problem. Coordinated individuals can make a difference. If a group of coordinated individuals decided that they were going to use less trash then there would be less trash in the world.

But if just one person decided that they were going to use less trash, then there would be less trash in the world. Most big changes start with one caring individual. Ignorance is one of the foundations of many things one of which is global warming. People can't fix what they don't know about.

 

 

 

 

Kids Philosophy Slam Home Page