The four environmental narratives identified in SA are;

Narrative 1:the conservation view

Narrative 2:the economic view

Narrative 3:the non-state actor view

Narrative 4:local community views

The objective and motive for each narrative is that;for narrative 1 the objective and motive is that it justifies approach by creating the alarm and panic about the state of the environment,in particular it's declining quality also view the environment as victim in need of rescue from ignorant,non caring and destructive local communities.

Narrative 2 the environment is taken as a commodity for sales and profits,whereby the one's with power can profit from it.

Narrative 3 the view comes from the external parties such as scientists and academics to use environment and nature to serve their own selfish needs, because they believe that environmental resources are finite.

Narrative 4 the view is complex and differentiated because it has a much broader context that can be influenced by individuals,circumstances as well as power and politics.

To conserve the environment all parties involved like politicians, citizens, academics and scientists should come up with innovative ways and explore each possibilities on how to protect the environment by using policy circle model as a heuristic to implement and evaluate the environmental narratives. Measures should be taken because the environmental issues primarily affects the marginalised and the poor minority neighbourhoods, whereby the industrial sites and dump toxic waste will be located next to them and yet they don't have any day because the people responsible have certain statuses and power.

The economic view is that the environment is used for profits,but in actual fact the profits only benefit certain people. Exploitation of local labour and lack of social upliftment occurs  where mining operations takes place and environmental health risks are also involved. That is  how the socio economic rights and environmental rights are being violated.

In sustainable development discourse, the proponents tend to explore the environmental costs of development activities and environmental policies,hence the concept is important,but is approached differently by developed and developing countries such as South Africa.

Environmental problems remains an inequality issue between the rich and the poor in South African context and the social Dynamics of the economy.

There is a vast gap between people who lives in the urban areas and rural in terms of environmental factors such as access to clean water and sanitation. People in rural areas like Eastern cape and Kwazulu-natal are more prone to diseases such as bacterial infections diarrhoea that is caused by contaminated water from the rivers and the streams. The people in the rural areas are marginalised in the distribution of safe water because some are situated in the moutainouse places, and therefore making it difficult for the installation of sewage pipes and tap pipes, their environment is not conducive to undertake such projects.

The impact of water insecurity is enormous, that is why the South African government has developed four different policy documents to ensure equitable distribution of water resources for the citizens. The people on the urban areas are also infected by environmental factors cause by overpopulated areas so the water supply becomes congested because of the high demand. The environmental issues are a concern because the reality is that many water supply interventions in developing countries do not last,that is why we have to take in to account the environmental issues that we are faced with.

Environmental problems has long become an issue, in this blog we will be understanding and conceptualising the role of society to the contribution of environmental problems.

The environment plays a significant role in the shaping of societies,and there are many different environmental issues that are facing the world, some are human made and some are caused by nature itself, hence there are structural/functional theories that focuses on large-scale structures and systems and their impact on environmental problems, as well as how to deal with such problems.

There are different kinds of pollution's that are harmfully to humans, animals and the environment. The types of pollution I am referring to are air pollution, water pollution and soil pollution,and these are not the only environmental problems that we are facing. The industries are currently contributing to the problems of global warming and the Earth's ozone layer getting thinner by production of gases that pollutes the air, these gases and liquid particles comes from cars,truck exhausts, dust, volcanoes and wildfires, all these pollution's are suspended in the air and pollutes the air and oxygen that we inhale, all these gases and liquids when combined are called the aerosols.

A concern for the natural environment is part of a broader concern for ecology, that is why sociologists considers environmental issues as social problems because these issues impact negatively on people's health and lively hoods. Water pollution is also the issue when it comes to the environmental problems. Water is one of the essential natural resources,because we use it for drinking, cooking, washing, irrigating crops and also a habitat for some of the animals such as fish, crocodiles etc.yet the societies are playing a role by destroying and contaminating this important resource by dumping waste products directly into rivers and oceans. The industries and manufactures dumps used oil and chemicals in the rivers, streams and lakes causing plenty of fish to die,this also causes humans fatality as contaminated water causes diarrhoea in humans.

The impact of environmental problems causes more problems that can extinguish the ecosystem and destroy the beauty of nature and the animal species.

People's participation became more pronounced in humanist approach since 1970s. The approach allows grassroots people to become active partners and participants in the development process. In South Africa this approach has become null and void because of people who come outside our country to start their businesses and don't participate in the development since they fail to comply in terms of paying tax,and their businesses do not employ South African citizens.

Participation comes in form of structural changes and access to resources as an empowerment strategy. For people to be able to participate effectively,they need resources the government of South Africa should start empowering it's people with resources like buying them fresh produce(fruits & veggies) for them to sell and make profit, and such businesses should be registered and be formalised for tax purposes. In South Africa the government has started the initiative of giving unemployed people grants of R350,in my opinion this is not helping in any way,instead it encourages the culture of poverty which makes it difficult for societies to engage in meaningful development,because such people become dependant on government for money.

These grants sometimes don't help in any way as some of the beneficiaries are addicts to drugs and gambling,so the grants serve as enablers and therefore hinders participatory development.

Gender inequality has been the most talked about subject globally, and all possibilities have been explored in terms of closing the gap gap towards gender equality.

Feminism has taken a stand in the modernization and development,the world is realising that a woman's place is not only in the kitchen,their world is far more broader in spectrum in terms of development. Female illiteracy has significantly declined and women have access to higher level of education, and hence securing positions in top management and in some countries there are female presidents even. I believe that the country that invest in their women in terms of support and development will reap much more rewards because if one teaches a woman,one teaches the whole community.

Feminists stated that previously women were either ignored by the development process or assigned roles which did not allow them to benefit fully from development as much as men. This is true ,women were used to be given domesticated jobs such as making tea and cleaning,even women who had academic qualifications were denied the priviledge because men thought they were not completed enough.

The tables have turned drastically because now not only the illiteracy has declined,but now an average female wages have increased as a percentage of an average male counterparts even though the world will never be rid of patriarchy completely,but there are organisations and theorists who stand for women empowerment and development.

The first important statement of the position of women in development was made by Ester Boserup,she stand for restructuring development programmes,welfare,equity,antipoverty and empowerment of women.

Women life expectancy has increased and their health continue to improve because they have become liberated in terms of education and life in general. Women now know how to make the right choices concerning their health,because in the past women especially in the rural areas relied on their husbands decisions on health matters such as STI s like drops ,ghonorea and syphyllis,women were to blame for this kind of infections,and the husband would insist on traditional medicines and also decide on how many children they should have,now women are liberated and are able to make critical decisions about their reproductive system.

Modernization is crucial for the development of the economy and country in general, and in contrast with the dependency theory change is not that significant for a country that depends on other country for modernization and development.

The basic tenet of modernization theory maintains that countries fail to modernize because they lack certain qualities that first world countries possess, and that in fact is quite true because the first world countries focuses on the bigger picture which is the development of a country, for instance here in South Africa and Africa at large, there are acres of land that can be utilised for farming and building industrial sites for the development of the economy, but because third world countries lack certain values those vaccant lands are used as political battlefields and end up mushrooming into informal settlements. These lands could be used for producing different kinds of crops that can help eradicate poverty and pave way for modernization. The government has started the initiative of giving back the land to the people.

The very same people lacks the skill to put them to good use. The modernization theory maintains that poor countries are poor because they are yet to develop into modern economies and they fail because of internal factors. On the other hand the dependency theory suggests that all contemporary societies should be interested into a single world economic system which is capitalist. In comparison with the two theories, I think this will benefit the capitalist better because the  third world countries have the resources that the first world countries need in order to modernize and develop their economy.

The two theories are in conflict because they exploit other countries, while benefiting for themselves, hence inequalities of power and social class are totally ignored. It is like taking candy from a child and sell that candy for ones selfish benefit.

Development in a country is necessary, so that there can be change,economic growth and stability. The countries that are developing have less crime rate and high success rate. In my blog I will be focusing on factors that constitute development in South African context.

1.Growth and structural change- for development to happen,growth and structure is required in terms of creating and developing a solid economic transformation. South Africa as a country is capable of growth because our country is Rich in natural resources and minerals, such as Gold, platinum, diamonds and coal. The problem is we don't have the machineries to refine those minerals, in that way other developed countries buys those raw minerals from us and sell them at a high cost,that is why the country should invest by buying the kind of machineries and skilled people to teach South African students in the relevant field to refine those minerals.

2.Political transformation- this is one dynamic factor that can bring about change and stability in development by cutting off corruption within the political spheres, corruption hinders the economy from growth as politicians enrich themselves and their friends and families, hence there is no growth in the economy,another thing is there are too many parties, if there can only be one party that represents the interest of all citizens that will bring about change and have a positive impact on the economic development.

3.Rural to urban migration- this phenomenon has long been associated with economic development, Gauteng is an example of rural to urban migration- because 70% of it's inhabitants are from the rural areas in persuit of better living, and that contributes greatly in development.

4.improvements in education and health- education is the biggest contributor to the economy,that is why the government started the NSFAS initiative for poor students.

According to experts the word poverty has different meanings according to individual's understanding of this word. In this article we will look at different definitions of poverty according to experts definitions.

One of the expects defined poverty as fractions of the income distribution,which means a household is considered poor if  is in  the bottom 20% or 40% of the expenditure distribution,that means that the overall expenditure should be above  this numbers for a household to  be sustained. In South Africa poverty is at high rate,because at the moment there are households who does not even fall in those categories of 20-40%,to an extend that the government saw the necessity to implement  poverty eradication measures of giving unemployed people who does not benefit anything Fromm the government the R350 just so they can be able to buy the basics,and that amount does not even fall to the definition of fraction expenditure distribution,it is way less

Then there is $1 and $2 a day,it has been developed by the World bank in 1996 and it has been used to  measure poverty in many developing countries ,this method I'm not sure how it is used because the value of money differ from country to country,because here in South Africa for their $1 they can buy a loaf of bread at least but for me my 1rand is nothing so that is why this definition has received a fair amount of criticism because it is both difficult to operationalize and it's actual value is in an extremely arbitrary measure of calibration. Poverty is one subject that every individual will come with their own definition, Peter Townsend believed that poverty must be defined in relation to the standard of a particular society at a particular time,i totally agree with his definition,like now particularly here in South Africa we are in poverty because of the Corona virus,because many people lost their source of income and the economy is currently in "Junk"status  for me that is poverty at it's best.

In comparison of the two theories the core issue is not to focus on the social problems as such, but rather the causes that influenced the problem to become a social one.

Symbolically people are directly and indirectly influenced by others to behave in a certain way, for instance the use of nyaope drug in the black communities because that is where is most commonly used. The drug is used by teenager and young adults males and partly females, when I was doing my research and asking some of the boys in my neighbourhood, I discovered that not all nyaope addicts comes from poor background, in fact mostly are what we call "the cheese boys" they had everything and went to the best schools, that is where the symbolic theory applies that could it be that other users have reinforce their use of the drug in a sense that they felt cool and wanted to fit in with their peers by going down to their level, so that they all have something in common.

In contrast a conflict theorist would argue that this nyaope boys and girls are victims of circumstances and economic distress such as unemployment, poverty and scarce resources to stimulate young minds, such as recreational facilities like to that of their white counterparts,which could be a point again,because at the end of the day "an idle mind becomes a devil's workshop".

In conclusion every theory that is applied to a social problem, has a base to be true because as people we come from different background and are influenced by different circumstances.

1.Depresssion

In my opinion depression is not a social problem because it affects only a certain number of people some that we are not even aware of, if a person is suffering from depression only that person and their family members will know their  illness and only if it was diagnosed in a proper way,because some of the people suffering from this condition don't even know.

2.Smash-and-grab

It is a social problem because it has become a known trend especially here in South AFrica, this trend is influenced by unemployment, hunger and drug addiction hence it has become a social problem.

3.Rape

Rape is a social problem because the cause o rape is unknown for all we know it could be a psychological problem in a case of the perpetrators, but the reality is that it affects a large number of people to a point that the numbers  are increasing rapidly to a point that the government is imposing maximum punishment on the perpetrators but still women and children are still been victimised daily.

4.Fast food

This has become a social problem because people are dying because of obesity related illnesses such as high blood pressure, strokes, diabetics and heart deceases and so forth and all this illnesses are caused by the fats and sugars from this kind of food, government are implementing measures to cut off sugar from fizzy drinks and replace it with the substance that contains less sugar just to save lives.once the government intervenes it is a social problem.

5.HIV/AIDS

It is a social problem because a large number is infected and affected directly or indirect with this virus that currently does not have a cure, the government is popping up millions of rand's for the treatment of this pandemic to show that really it is a social problem not only in South Africa but globally.