The Societal Impacts of Energy by Sara Jane

For a typical blog post, we are required to write in our own voice. In this blog post, I am not talking in my voice to get a good grade, but for the voices of the third world human beings who lack any voice in their own communities let alone for the attention of the rest of the world. The main issue I will be focusing on is the developmental influences of third world countries from energy.

            Equatorial Guinea’s main export is petroleum. According to a cultural studies project I had done in another class, Equatorial Guinea’s economy relies 92% on petroleum. Another massive percentage in their country is the 65% of women from 15-49 years old who have experienced domestic violence. 54% of those women had experienced domestic violence within a year of the survey. This research had been conducted by Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Health and Social Wellbeing. However, as I learned in the same cultural studies project, Equatorial Guinea’s censuses are little or none, so there is a great probability that these rates are much higher. On top of this, the UN Human Rights Council sent representatives to Equatorial Guinea in 2008. Domestic violence is not criminalized. The problem that connects petroleum and domestic violence is that our first world countries aren’t taking action to solve these conflicts. Our politicians are too busy labelling our own citizens as “terrorists” and wanting to “build a wall” so that the “rapists and murders” from Mexico don’t come in that they aren’t even focusing on the terrorist, rapists, and murders from those we import petroleum from. First world countries are too afraid to lose the petroleum if they wanted to take action.

            A similar problem can be found in Venezuela. 97.3% of Venezuela’s economy is based on petroleum. The United States invests 29.4 billion dollars in Venezuelan petroleum. This causes the same problems that can be found in Equatorial Guinea, whereas our government doesn’t want to get involved in fear of losing the petroleum they desire. Venezuela is considered the most dangerous country in all of Latin America. According to Latin Correspondence Magazine, Venezuela averages three violent deaths per hour. The number of violent deaths last year was 27,875.

            However, if the world focuses on creating renewable energy sources for third world countries, we might be able to reverse some of the economic and social conflicts of energy manufacturing within those conflicted nations. If we, as first world countries, rely too heavily upon fossil fuels from third world countries that experience social or governmental issues, we are only fueling the problems. If we pull away from petroleum and begin to use renewable energy, we might be less reserved to confront poorer nation’s problems. There is hope. Many third world countries in Africa and Asia are racing towards renewable energy instead of fossil fuels. This might increase the quality of life within these nations in relativity to the health conditions revolving around the production of fuels. However, these countries are only beginning to develop without much attention from the first world media, so the official impact of societal aspects from renewable energy isn’t well known.

            I am using this blog post to talk about the wellbeing of those who can’t talk for themselves. Most third world countries affected by the production of energy for first world countries live under terrible conditions. Some countries face uncontrollably high crime rates, and others face overwhelming domestic violence. The poison that our country is drinking is the poison of ignorance and turning a blind eye towards the conflict of others. Somehow, we manage to weigh our inconveniences over the life or death of other human beings we deem “lesser”. However, if first world nations like our own choose renewable over non-renewable there might be hope still. Also, if we can provide for third world countries to be able to provide renewable energy for themselves, who knows what global societal change could occur? If it will save the life of another human being, it is time for us to step into the unknown.