<p>PROMPT: Is the world changing for the better?</p>
<p>Certainly the world has made great advances in terms of technology, production and organization. We are as bound together as a continent from 50 years ago and we are producing, thereby consuming much more than we ever have before, but whether these great advances in living standards can be considered as change "for the better" is an entirely different matter.</p>
<p>The largest and most threatening concern brought about by these changes is the rapid deterioration of the environment. The modern industries of the world run on non-renewable energy sources like oil, rely on non-renewable materials like rare earths, and also have byproducts that are incredibly harmful to the environment at large such as chemical wastes and chlorofluorocarbons which do irreversible damage to the ozone layer of our atmosphere. The issue is that as the world's population and economy continue to grow exponentially and outpace the progress of technology, even more strain is placed on the world to keep producing more to satisfy the needs of everyone, and thus even more of these resources are spent. These resources being non-renewable, it is clear that somewhere along the way, either the consumption has to halt, or production has to somehow keep up with demand, but further progress has only encouraged even more consumption, leading to a never-ending cycle of damage to the environment.</p>
<p>On a more personal and introspective note, this progress we are encountering does not necessarily lead to happiness. In fact, surveys indicate that as consumption increased in the decades after World War 2, Americans actually became less content with their lives. The reason behind this is that we are only working more, earning more to get things that we want like Iphones or other new gadgets, but spending less time on the things that truly make us happy like friendship , family and love, as evidenced by the superfluous amount of time the average American spends online and in shopping centers. From this it can be seen that as "progress" or "change" increased, we have actually made much less of our time and are therefore less content in general.</p>
<p>In conclusion, the world is truly changing at an alarming pace and our lives have become much more convenient and productive that they have ever been before in history, but only at great cost to the environment that sustains us, and most crucially to our own happiness as individuals who participate in society.</p>