There's so much that's wrong in this world today, and certainly the least any of us can do is to be aware of them, not just the problems themselves (anybody can list them all: poverty,disease, war,corruption,greed etc.) but also to know the facts and details of these problems.
One problem that is really apparent in North america, even in Toronto is materialism. This rampant obsession and lust for material items and brands has become so widespread that materialism has ceased to become an obsession but more an addiction and ordinary and necessary part of life- shopping is up there with breathing oxygen and eating to survive.

(I can easily attest to materialism as shamefully, I used to put a lot of emphasis on CDs and brandname items for clothes and shoes. I have tried to cut my spending these last few years and curbed my attraction for brandnames except for sneakers)

I think materialism is the most obvious problem with society up here and especially Christians need to know that, that putting a lot of emphasis and enthusiasm on buying clothes, jewelry, Cds,DVDs, electronics and even cars saps us of our reliance and appreciation of God.

I recently bought and read my first copy of Adbusters, and the information is quite direct, detailed and of course, critical and largely accurate. The magazine is full of information, sometimes in the form of witty satires and sarcasm, on the prominenece of corporate control and manipulation of people in society in all aspects of life from shopping, eating, government and getting our news.
Adbusters is not just about materialism though, as corporations do control more than just our shopping habits but they also affect people in various ways such as exploiting lesser-deveolped countries taking advantage of cheap labour, weak economies, and political power.

Check this out and consider the society we live in- what the Flag of America
should be.