Students Reflect on GC

WVC students enrolled in pre-collegiate and transfer-level writing courses were asked to reflect on the role of global citizenship in their lives, and to consider the relationship between being a Global Citizen and being more effective writers. These are sample excerpts from their insightful essays.


Students in the WVC Campus Center during the “Art and Terror” event in November 2015. (Photo by DMG)

 “A Call to Action: The Power of Global Citizenship”

Sofia Skavdahl

As the necessity for higher education becomes more and more prominent, more of society is being introduced to the term and challenged to become a “global citizen.” However, what exactly defines a global citizen is often up for debate. While some claim it is those who act on resolving conflicts they see in the world, others say it is the ones who try to best educate themselves on the world around them. Madeline Green argues that, “A foray into the literature or a look at the many ways colleges and universities talk about global citizenship reveals how broad a concept it is and how different the emphasis can be depending on who uses the term” (Green). Regardless of how one attempts to categorize global citizenship, there are key aspects that remain agreeable across every definition.

What all global citizens have in common, regardless of how one wants to define the concept, is the “call to action.” Quite often it is forgotten that such action begins at a local community level. It is becoming increasingly possible, through platforms like the Internet, for citizens to become well versed in world matters and educated on their roles in society. Though all global citizens may have the desire to travel and insinuate bold change throughout the world, those who can’t do not necessarily have to fall short: “At the global level, people who identify as active global citizens develop a cosmopolitan mindset or a feeling of being at home in the world, with a willingness to take upon themselves obligations and responsibilities that transcend national boundaries” (Lough, McBride). As long as the knowledge and will is there, global citizens can make change through various outlets, wherever they are in the world. Being a global citizen stimulates a “call to action” disposition, encouraging individuals to live the ideals of global citizenship in various outlets.

Global citizens are often effective writers, due to their strengths in critical thinking and contextualizing. Global citizens who do not have the ability to go forth into the world and embark on intercontinental projects can generally establish equal impact through the power of their written voice. With the rapid advancement of technology in the twenty-first century, the Internet has become an outlet for those who are not in positions of power to express their frustrations with the world and their potential solutions for current conflicts. Lough and McBride argue that “[g]lobal citizens may have no direct democratic capacity to vote or to formally negotiate legal terms on a global scale in the absence of a global governance body. However, advocacy and action with transnational NGOs and multilateral institutions may influence human rights issues directly and indirectly through engagement and political pressure – allowing individuals to engage indirectly in democratic action”—including by utilizing their writing skills.

Community service is often a notable starting point for those who carry the “call to action.” For a global citizen, community service allows the opportunity to see the direct results of their actions implemented into society. Even with the varying definitions of global citizenship. Whether it is volunteering at a local organization or moving to a less fortunate country for several months to help teach English, this type of work is extremely rewarding for both the individual and society. In turn, simply gaining knowledge about the world and its current standings gives global citizens an increased incentive to implement change.

Volunteer work challenges the boundaries and divides that society has forced between cultures. Global citizens have most likely already looked past these separations, but volunteer work allows them to actively work against imposed divisions. This gives global citizens not only the incentive to help improve their local society, but also the world. While volunteer work can often begin at the community level, the work itself creates a desire for larger projects and bigger aspirations: “Globalisation challenges national citizenship from two directions: from within the nation state, where it has become increasingly plural as diverse social and ethnic groups assert their rights; and as individuals increasingly take on global affiliations that extend beyond a single nation” (Myers).

A teacher, a writer, a parent—regardless of one’s position in the world, the most important element of global citizenship is the call to action. Wherever he or she ends up, global citizenship makes for a better parent, a better friend, a better citizen. As long as the inclination for action exists, global citizens will create prosperity wherever they are.

Works Cited

Green, Madeline. “What Are We Talking About and Why Does It Matter?” Inside Higher Ed. 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.

Lough, Benjamin J., Amanda M. McBride. “Navigating the Boundaries of Active Global Citizenship.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. (2014): 458-460. Print.

Myers, John P. “‘To benefit the world by whatever means possible’: adolescents’constructed meanings for global citizenship.’” British Educational Research Journal. (2010): 483-484. Print.

Depicted on a Greek vase from 500 BCE": man writing with a stylus on a folding wax tablet.

Depicted on a Greek vase from 500 BCE”: man writing with a stylus on a folding wax tablet.

“Global Citizenship”

Alan Pan

People in the 21st century have become much more open minded than their predecessors from the 20th century by learning to be more accepting of cultures and ideas that are different from their own. The idea of global citizenship has emerged out of an interest for exploring and understanding the cultures and ideas of people from other parts of the world. As humans who inhabit this planet, people around the world have come to realize that every person on this planet is a part of an international and global community. As members of an international community, global citizens constantly interact with people from different countries and experience the different cultures of the world first hand. These interactions and experiences open up a person’s mind allowing him/her to more effectively contextualize and think critically.

There are two important characteristics of a global citizen that serve to improve a person’s ability to discern through contextualization and critical thinking. An individual contextualizes by placing certain ideas, statements, and/or events within a larger setting in order to acquire a full and complete understanding of the situation. One would achieve this by asking questions like who, what, when, where, why, and how. An individual thinks critically by evaluating different perspectives, being open minded, and evaluating information gathered from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication.

Taking on a global identity can lead to successful interactions with others in a very diverse world. At its root, global citizenship pushes students to embrace society in whole. The concept of viewing oneself as a person of the world, rather than a person of a particular nation, can translate to characteristics such as open-mindedness, awareness of different cultures and perspectives, and ultimately a lack of discriminatory or prejudiced behaviors, which can be detrimental to a workforce that aims to globalize and turn into a global economy. By implementing the concept of global citizenship into college course material, students will be much better prepared for the future workforce and the world when they graduate from college.

"Boy Writing with His Sister" by Swiss painter Albrecht Samuel Anker (1831-1910).

“Boy Writing with His Sister” by Swiss painter Albrecht Samuel Anker (1831-1910).

“Global Citizens Impact the Writing Process”

Sheri Zmolek

Global citizens are typically defined as people who placess their identities with a “global community” above their identities as citizens of a particular nation or place. Global citizens are aware of the wider world and they have a sense of their roles as world citizens. Global citizens respect and value diversity. They understand how the world works economically, politically, socially, culturally, technologically and environmentally. Global citizens take responsibility for their own actions (and that of the society in which they participate). They follow up their knowledge and understanding with action. As people begin to identify more as global citizens, they find a sense of belonging to a world community, one that involves continued education and shared learning through writing and communications.

We are all students in the world. We are always seeking to understand or learn something new. As students we need to have empathy and be teachable. As one international educator, Madeline Green, puts it, “it is difficult to teach understanding to students who are unaware.” Writing plays an important role in educating. An effective writer can help others recognize and embrace their global responsibilities. This allows people the ability to come together and break down cultural barriers. Writing informs, motivates and allows readers to feel emotion. Writing can influence point of view and tone. It can include factual information or personal experience. Clearly, it is important for a writer to understand and discover what it means to be a global citizen.

The impact of writing becomes clearest when it begins to broaden the reader’s world view and therefore infuses writing with deeper insight. Weather the writer is speaking directly to a point of view, these ideas are ultimately based on the writer’s opinion. Effective writing has the ability to share the facts of a situation or story. The reader forms opinions that are based on those facts. Having an abundance of information can help to make more informed opinions on a topic. Relating to a personal experience can broaden our insight. Writing also broadens our views when we come across a subject matter that is new. This helps to educate the readers as they try to learn and gather more information.

Being a Global citizen allows the writer to understand concepts from various points of view. The writer can draw from different points of view in order to make a point or educate the reader in a specific point. Global citizens are moved by emotion when they read about something happening in the world that is unjust or inhumane. They are moved by articles that report on starvation and basic healthcare necessities that we take for granted. The emotion that they stir grips you so that you become more fully engaged and you trust what their saying. Emotion can be a catalyst for action. Being a global citizen impacts the writing process because it broadens our view and infuses in our writing deeper insight. The writer writes with different viewpoints. It produces in the writer the ability to let go of local politics and to embrace the things that will make for a better global citizen and then that will make for a better writer. With a broader focus the writer can be more persuasive. The focus shifts to global thinking.


Students in the WVC Writing Lab. (Phot0 by DMG)

“Global Citizenship: Writing Benefits”

Troy Jodry

Global Citizenship, a concept that is respected by many intellectuals, is a string of thought which connects various cultures from around the globe into a singular diverse community. This community encourages and supports a safe environment to freely discuss issues that exist not only in an individual’s home country but problems that exist outside of their country of origin. A global citizen treats others from differing cultures or those with opposing ideologies with respect and without judgment. This thought process produces individuals who have the ability to think critically about a situation without a biased position. These concepts may also be translated into academic work, writing in particular can benefit greatly from these ideas created from global citizenship.

When writing a paper, especially one that focuses on two opposing views, there are many obstacles that an author may face that can intentionally or unintentionally alter the readers’ perspective. For example, say a document is created that is comparing two individuals who are running in some form of election. Bias for one view or the other may cause an author to find primarily positive information for one side. What concepts could have been applied in order to avoid this imbalance? Critical thinking, the elimination of “black and white” thinking, and having a more open mind to the prompt could have helped with the bias issue. Concepts from global citizenship can help to strengthen an individual’s writing, especially critical thinking and open-mindedness.

Critical thinking and global citizenship go hand in hand. Critical thinking on its own is an expansive topic but the common understanding of this line of thinking is that an individual does not simply look at an argument and judge it from face value alone. A critical thinker looks at an argument from multiple views. This is touched upon by Madeline Green within her article about the relevance of global citizenship: “Cultural empathy helps people see questions from multiple perspectives and move deftly among cultures.” In the same way a person can use critical thinking to gain an understanding of a conflict or debate in greater detail, global citizens use this thought process when looking into worldly issues. Though critical thinking is a great benefit for anyone, due to its ability to create a more thorough understanding of a topic, it’s certainly not the only reason why global citizenship is beneficial.

Global citizenship is a noble train of thought with characteristics of empathy, being well informed, and awareness being some of the major components. Accepting the idea of global citizenship does not only sculpt a more mature individual but also refines his/her writing capabilities. With concepts such as open-mindedness and critical thinking being used while writing, these help to create a paper which goes further into the depths of a topic rather than skimming the surface. The effects of global citizenship on an individual’s writing heightens the potential of not only his/her work but also, heightens the potential of the individual as a whole.

Work Cited




“The Importance of Critical Thinking”

Eduardo Ibarra

As technology advances at an incredible rate, people are becoming more aware of what is going on around them. It is our responsibility as human beings to acknowledge our surroundings. Being a global citizen allows people to become more aware of what is going on not just in their communities, but around the world as well. Global citizens have a responsibility to be informed, so they can take an intellectual and honest stance. They take the time to research both sides of the issue, so they can come to a better understanding as to why there are two sides. Not only does being a global citizen help with researching, it helps people become critical thinkers as well.

Certain aspects of being a global citizen can improve writing for the better. A global citizen must be compassionate and understanding of other cultures. In order to be an effective writer one must see the opposing side in order to come to a decision. This allows writers to be aware of your audience. Critical thinking allows you to accept more ideas and come to a better understanding of everything. Critical thinking as a global citizen allows you to maybe not accept, but at least understand, cultures and beliefs that sometimes seem to be insane.

Thinking critically as a writer and a global citizen can lead to better developed ideas which improves your essay. It helps the writer not just to take in information and write it down on a page, but to interpret information into his or her own words. It makes the writer have to get credible data and information so he can make a strong statement. Thinking critically allows global citizens and writers to recognize the problem and help make solutions to resolve those issues. If everyone thought critically, then maybe more people would be making decisions that could improve everyday life rather than worsen it.

Critical thinking can improve the lives of many if we start to teach children at a young age about looking at information and interpreting that information to make an intelligent decision. Too many people these days refuse to accept facts and figures because it goes against what they believe in. People will believe anything, even if the information is false, just because it was posted on the Internet. Then they go their whole lives believing something that is false and potentially could cause harm to others. If we teach critical thinking at a young age then more people will be able to make decisions based off facts. By being more aware could lead people to see past the color of someone’s skin and to accept them as individuals.


“Jeune femme écrivant /Young woman writing” (1908) by (French painter) Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947).

“Global Citizenship Pays Dividends”

Omar Cross

Free writing, outlining, prewriting, and being a global citizen are all things that can make you a better writer. Although there are many different aspects of global citizenship, almost all of them end up positively influencing your writing. A global citizen is a person who identifies with being a part of an emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building these communities’ values and practices. In other words, being a global citizen means you know and understand the way things happen in other parts of the world, not just in your own neck of the woods. Becoming a global citizen makes you empathetic, unbiased, and improves the way you think, which will improve the way you write.

Becoming a global citizen is not an easy process, but it is a strenuous process that eventually pays off when you try and apply it to your writing. For example, if you have to write an essay on a topic you know nothing about, you will fill it with run of the mill information that is common knowledge and therefore causes misinterpretation. However, if you are writing an essay about a topic you are thoroughly informed on (because you are a global citizen), you will provide readers with knowledge that is not commonly known, therefore making your argument seem a lot stronger.

Empathizing is another skill you develop, as you become a global citizen, and it also helps you become a better writer. Empathy can completely change the way you think, and is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathy is not simply feeling bad for somebody, but it is mentally putting yourself in the situation you are empathizing over. By simply putting yourself in a situation of the opposing view, you challenge your own integrity and honesty as your mind formulates its opinion. As Green says, “cultural empathy helps people see questions from multiple perspectives and move deftly among cultures.” Not only does empathizing improve your morality, it will also improve your writing skills by weeding out any biased misinformation you previously had before you empathized.

When we write an essay, we essentially are writing down our thoughts in an organized, scholarly manner. In other words, your essay is a formal display of your thoughts on an issue or topic. If you are putting down uninformed, unfiltered thoughts onto your paper chances are you will receive a very low grade. However, a global citizen would consider all factors and other things that influence whatever they are writing about. Global citizenship allows you to see and understand all of the factors a non-global citizen would not comprehend. “Global citizenship creates conceptual and practical connections rather than cleavages”; the “commonalities between what happens at home and over there become visible” (Green). For example, I am not that informed about the war in Iraq, therefore I might assume our troops are over there for no reason. However, after becoming a global citizen about this topic, I now have an understanding and can see why having troops overseas would be a beneficial idea for this country.

Work Cited




“Effective Writing Through Global Citizenship”

Ryan Myers

When it comes to writing there are many factors to take into account to make a paper more effective. An effective writer should always use all the tools of writing needed and in a manner that flows and has structure but the one factor that truly decides the outcome of ones work is if that writer is a global citizen. Global citizenship is the idea that someone who is involved with their world on a global scale can become conscious of their effects on others and pursue a greater living standard for everyone. A global citizen broadens his/her reach of knowledge and empathy on any topic which expands his/her ability to understand an issue from all angles and to create a scholarly opinion. As for creating effective writing, one must first understand his/her topic from all angles as well as create credibility which can only be acquired through experience or a full circle understanding of the issue. In short, the relationship between global citizenship and effective writing is simple. Being a global citizen is a fundamental requirement for becoming an effective writer.

Like any idea or issue, global citizenship has its criticisms. To some, the idea seems to be a scam to incorporate people into a different cause. As many believe with global warming, it is thought by some people that the idea of global citizenship isn’t a real concept and that we as humans can’t possibly be citizens of the globe. An example of this point of view is expressed by Liu: “In recent years, an unlikely collection of lefty environmentalists, Internet libertarians, multicultural educators, and voracious capitalists has coalesced around the idea that nations don’t really matter anymore – that all we need is state-free citizenship of the globe. It’s a powerful vision. It has in its favor much evidence and many trends. And it is a mirage.” It is understandable to see how people could view the idea of global citizenship as just a label with no relevance for writing. After all, in the modern era of technology people are connected globally now more than ever. With that in mind, it is clear to see why people would think global citizenship isn’t an effective tool for becoming an effective writer.

Yes, we are all on earth and are citizens of this planet, but that is not the only thing that makes being a global citizen. Green explains: “Global citizenship as participation in the social and political life of one’s community…. Participation can take the form of making responsible personal choices (such as limiting fossil fuel consumption), voting, volunteering, advocacy, and political activism. The issues may include the environment, poverty, trade, health, and human rights. Participation is the action dimension of global citizenship.” Being a global citizen means that you are globally aware, which is a crucial prerequisite for effective writing. This means that a writer must have the knowledge of more than just their topic but also of how that idea functions in the bigger picture. It means that a writer has to examine all angles and test all perspectives to find the root of an issue and the reason people think the way they do.

Global citizenship is a fundamental requirement for becoming an effective writer and should be a fundamental requirement for people in general. Like effective writing, global citizenship is a skill that is built up over time. No one is born an effective writer and no one is born an effective global citizen, but anyone can become one! In other words, “all humans are global citizens; however, some individuals lack the awareness to recognize their connection with humanity as a whole” (Reysen and Katzarska-Miller). Regardless of where people are, as global citizens they can have an impact on the world and whether it is good or bad can determine a lot about who they are. As writers and as global citizens, everyone should strive to improve their work and to contribute something to this world–something that has substance and can make a difference.

Works Cited


Liu, Eric. “Why There is No Such Thing as Global Citizenship.The Atlantic 14 Aug. 2012. Web 9 November 2015.

Reysen, Stephen and Iva Katzarska-Miller. “A model of global citizenship: Antecedents and outcomes.International Journal of Psychology, 1 October 2013, 48.5: 858-870. Web. Nov 24, 2015.


“Portrait of a Young Man Writing” by (Italian painter) Franciabigio (1482-1525).

“Global Citizens Think More Critically”

Joseph Ochsner

An individual who considers himself a global citizen is likely aware of events happening around the world as well as in his local communities. Global citizens often think more critically than others, because they incorporate many different points of views into their thinking. People who can take many different points of views and integrate them into their writing become more dynamic writers. A global citizen must analyze any information given to him critically and take the time to discover if the information is biased or just untrue. The ability to think critically by analyzing information from different points of view enhances writing and the ability to  appeal to a wider range of readers.

The ability to relate with different cultures in different countries gives global citizens the understanding of how to appeal to a broader spectrum of readers. Being open minded enough to mentally place oneself into the mind state of someone who faces different conditions enriches writing. Being able to properly research a topic is an essential skill for a writer, just like it is for a global citizen. While being able to think critically and empathize with cultures from all over the world is key to being a good writer, being able to act upon these feelings can enhance one’s writing further. Global citizens use the empathy they feel with various cultures to enrich their writing by being able to answer the “so what” question with a much deeper meaning.

Teachers who are global citizens are a huge part of globalization because of the influence they have as the educators of the world’s youth. Many teachers are the first to inform their students about different global issues, and can affect the view of the student who is hearing about an issue for the first time. If a student is informed by an unbiased teacher who simply gives students the facts, and lets them decide how to feel for themselves, the student can come to his own conclusion on the issue. Preparing teachers to educate their students with global awareness gives students a chance to become global citizens themselves and to broaden their perspectives and opportunities to succeed.


“The Writing Lesson” (oil on canvas) by (American painter) Harry Herman Roseland (1866-1950).

“Being a Global Citizen Lays a Solid Foundation

for Effective Writing”

Ziqiao Chen

Global citizens’ openness, awareness, and empathy lay a solid foundation for effective writing. With global citizens’ openness in mind, it is easier for writers to accept new ideas and make changes in their writing process. Heavy learning and investigation is the foundation which allows writers to synthesize and identify their own ideas before writing. Open-minded writers tend to embrace all kinds of information, including new evidence that may disconfirm their ideas. Those process can lead to composing a tough opposing view and a solid rebuttal that is critical or even changes the writers’ stance and creates a completely new idea. Openness makes writers more capable to think differently on their ideas and the organization of their composition, thus making them do substantial revision.

Global citizens’ knowledge on other countries and cultures is the foundation of writers’ audience awareness. Studies reveal that “attention to audience can lead to increased overall quality of essays” (Roen). To make writing effective, writers have to use a language and tone acceptable for their audiences. One obvious example is that, when doing technical writing, writers need to determine what level of details need to be revealed and what kind of technical terms need to be used. Things may not be so obvious if culture differences get involved. For example, writing for U.S. readers can be very direct and explicit; yet for Japanese readers, writers may have to be more implicit and sophisticated. Better understanding and respecting of this kind of subtle differences makes writing more effective.

While I have shown that being a global citizen fundamentally helps create effective writing, others may argue that is not always true. Their concern is that being a global citizen means compromising writers’ own stances, thus preventing them from holding a strong voice. For example, if writers understand the appeals of extremists and are aware of their reasons, they might lose their strong voices when writing to protest the terrorist activities. Another example is about Russia. Just recently, Russian intervened in Ukraine and took away Crimea. If writers know the historical reason of the event and apply the same empathy with Russia, their voices of safeguarding the international principle – that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of every country has to be respected – may be compromised.

That opposing argument, however, doesn’t seem to have a solid ground. Understanding the background reasons doesn’t mean the writers have to agree with the behaviors. Rather, having the whole picture of those behaviors helps them to think more critically, to ook from the other side, and to better build up their rebuttal. At the end of the day, being a global citizen should give people more opportunity and confidence to reflect and share different points of view. By applying equity and respect to everybody, people will feel more comfortable to hold their own stances and voices, rather than compromise them.

Writing can be powerful, but people aren’t born with the skill of effective writing unfortunately. As being a global citizen plays such a fundamental role on writing, people dreaming to become a successful writer can shorten their dream path by being educated as global citizens. Driven by the globalization trend, more and more institutions recognize the importance of being a global citizen and are working on “creating global citizens” (Jones). With this attempt, colleges and universities are helping students to make their writing more effective and farther-reaching, but also in teaching them that the world is becoming even smaller.

Work Cited

Roen, Duane H., and R. J. Willey. “The Effects Of Audience Awareness On Drafting And Revising.” Research In The Teaching Of English 22.1 (1988): 75. Supplemental Index. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

Portrait of a Merchant by Jan Gossaert Oil on panel, Netherlandish, c. 1478-1532.

“Portrait of a Merchant” by Jan Gossaert. Oil on panel, Netherlandish, c. 1478-1532.

“Global Citizenship Helps Us Understand Other Cultures”

by Rebecca Meuer

Why should we as Americans care bout global citizenship? Why should we care to understand how global citizenship works? I care because global citizenship ideals help me to understand and respect other people with different cultures. That is why I believe in education about global issues. The world is shrinking and it means that more than ever before our actions here can have consequences for people far away. But at the same time it also means that we have more opportunities to make a difference. Traveling is education. I learned a lot about myself and about other people when I was younger and my grandparents took me with them to different cities and countries. While traveling you meet new people and you have to face the fact that they are different from you. And in those situations you have to try to understand them and to learn from them.

A Lady Writing a Letter by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, oil on canvas 1665.

“A Lady Writing a Letter” by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, oil on canvas 1665.

“Being a Global Citizen will Reduce Global Warming”

by Jossian Pineda

Being a global citizen is very important in maintaining our world clean and out of the dangerous disasters that affect all of humanity. A person who puts his identity within a global community above his identity in a place or nation is a global citizen. Being a global citizen means that your attitude transcends geography and political borders, and that you know that the human community is interdependent, which is very important to maintain our environment. Scholars agree “that the environmental challenges we face are serious, especially scientists’ predictions about long-term changes in global climate. Atmospheric CO2 concentration levels are expected to double from 250 to about 500 parts per million by mid-century, causing massive global warming. The consequences of these climatic changes will be ecologically diverse and are likely to accelerate…. In fact, the effects of climate change are already severe” (Running)

Global warming is a real issue to humanity. It does not matter if you are rich or poor, global warming will affect everybody in this world. Our actions on one side of the world affects everyone on the other side of the world too. The only way we can all stay alive is to care and to start being global citizens who will do something about global warming. Caring about being a global citizen is caring about the life of your family, and starting to solve global warming right from your home.

Work Cited

Running, Karina. “World Citizenship and Concern for Global Warming: Building The Case for A Strong International Civil Society.” Social Forces 92.1 (2013): 377-399. Religion and Philosophy Collection. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

Santa Claus in his library at the north pole writing a list of who's been naughty or nice, Chromolithograph, circa 1890.

Santa Claus in his library at the north pole writing a list of who’s been naughty or nice, Chromolithograph, circa 1890.

“A Global Citizen”

by Seon Young Park

We can send Email around the world in just seconds. We can watch YouTube videos shared from around the world, and share  comments with people who watched the same video in far off places. We can fly anywhere we want to go. We can watch global news immediately in online newspapers. Our global world is connecting and interacting. Globalization is common in every area and borders are becoming meaningless. It is time to think about being a global citizen to help ourselves and contribute to others. A global citizen is someone who identifies with being part of an emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building her community’s values and practices. It seems huge, but we can be global citizens even with small participation.

Understanding and knowing other cultures, being responsible for our communities, and participating, even in small ways, by helping and supporting our neighbors: these are ways to be a global citizen. We don’t need to be a big hero to help the world. People live in one earth and they are affecting each other even though they’re living on opposite sides. Understanding that is being a global citizen. Being a global citizen is not an option any more these days. It’s time to consider our next steps. We have to find out the way to participate aggressively and the ways to support our world effectively.

Young Girl Writing a Love Letter by Italian painter Pietro Antonio (1707-1762), early 1700s.

“Young Girl Writing a Love Letter” by Italian painter Pietro Antonio Bernabei (1707-1762), early 1700s.

“Human Participation in Global Warming”

by Nicole Bartel

As an individual, I should care about global citizenship be­cause it helps me become more aware of global warming. It is important to become aware of others globally. No matter where we are from, we all have one huge thing in common: we all live on the same planet, and that planet is being affected by global warming due to the contribution of human activity. Aside from natural disasters and climate change, things humans have little or no control over, emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from human activity is the next most serious contribution to global warming. These activities include operating factories and automobiles, which produce carbon dioxide and water vapors. Power plants that consume fossil fuel such as coal, oil or other natural gas, release massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air and contribute to the heating of the atmos­phere.  This means that slow­ly, the entire world has been playing a part in the warming of our planet.

Global warming is a drastically urgent and serious problem. We don’t need to wait for governments to find a solution for this problem. Each individual can have an important role by adopting a more responsible lifestyle, starting from little everyday things. On the Global Warming-Facts web­site, there are a list of things individuals can do to prevent more green house gasses from being emitted into our atmosphere. I will list a few easy steps everyone can help take to prevent global warming from worsening.

One thing you could do as an individual is to replace all of your regular incandescent light bulbs with a compact fluorescent light bulb (these bulbs use 60% less energy than regular bulbs). Also, recycle at home. You can save up to 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates. In addition, reducing your car use is another way of helping to save the planet from becoming more polluted. By avoiding just 10 miles of driving per week you can elimi­nate 500 pounds of carbon emissions a year. It is also ideal that you keep your car tuned up. Not only is it safe and healthy for your car, but when just one percent of owners properly maintain their cars, near­ly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere. Such simple things everyday, can help reduce pollution and the warming of our planet, keeping us all safe and healthier.

"Woman Writing a Letter," oil on panel c. 1655 by Dutch painter Gerard her Borch (1617-1681).

“Woman Writing a Letter,” oil on panel c. 1655 by Dutch painter Gerard her Borch (1617-1681).

“Global Citizenship and Education”

Justin Barker

Being a global citizen is how you feel and how you look at the problems in the world. Being a global citizen could be as simple as just being aware, educated, and knowing what is going on in your community. Reysen and Iva Katzarska-Miller write: “Global Citizenship is defined as awareness, caring, and embracing cultural diversity while promoting social justice and sustainability, coupled with a sense of responsibility to act.” In other words, if you are educated and aware of what is happening around you, that helps you declare that you are a global citizen. When determining yourself as being a global citizen, it can affect your education and knowledge because, it makes you think more critically and it makes you see different situations from multiple points of view. Thinking critically and having global citizenship also makes you unbiased. Therefore, every college class should incorporate Global Citizenship ideas to help raise awareness.

Awareness is a major key to being a global citizen. Being aware helps in so many ways. It helps you make better choices. Therefore, college classes need to incorporate Global Citizenship ideas, since they affect the students, like with voting and life decisions. As a student in the United States of America you have many life decisions to be made. Some decisions can be stressful or simply hard to make. For example, a student might have to make a decision about going to school full time or part time, getting a job so that they can be financially stable while in school, and figuring out how to manage having a job and going to school. Doing both can be very hard and time consuming, and you have to make difficult choices.

The idea of incorporating Global Citizenship ideas in college classes produces great students. The students will leave college with an expanded mindset and enhanced skills of thinking critically. Students also will have an understanding of different issues not only from their own view points, but also from multiple and opposing views. Students will be able to interpret data and learn to not be biased. Students will be ready for the world. Therefore, every college class must incorporate Global Citizenship ideas in all the classes.

Work Cited

Reysen, Stephen and Iva Katzarska-Miller. “A model of global citizenship: Antecedents and outcomes.” International Journal of Psychology, 1 October 2013, 48.5: 858-870. Web. Nov 24, 2015.

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