Sustainable Good

Where do you get your news?

I had goose bumps last night. When Hillary Clinton said at her DNC debut that her mother was born before women were allowed to vote and her daughter was able to vote for her mom for president she showed us how much has changed in the last few decades – not only for women’s rights but for the rights of all of us who are not white, non-disabled, heterosexual men. While we have much work to do, the democratic presidential races of both Clinton and Obama have spurred me to choose to see the glass half full.

Just Scraping By in Appalachia

I am spending the week in my hometown in Southeastern Ohio on the edge of Appalachia. This area is the epitome of rural US poverty. As I drive through the town where I grew up, I see anew just what rural poverty looks like. I see the trailers that are rapidly deteriorating, the abandoned farms and the rusting vehicles. I also see signs of great hope as the moldy, dilapidated schools I attended have been replaced by beautiful, new buildings. As I take all of this in, I think about the ways in which my neighbors living paycheck to paycheck, day to day and meal to meal are surviving.

The Impact of Cluster Bombs on the Poor

Human rights groups have strongly condemned Russia's alleged use of cluster bombs in the fighting in Georgia.  These weapons, which target whole areas and often create de facto minefields, are considered illegitimate by much of the international community -- 107 countries have signed on to a new cluster munition ban treaty.  The US is not a signator -- contact your elected officials and ask them to support the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act. 

Beginners' Books on Poverty, Aid and Development

Do you want to learn more about poverty, aid and international development without getting bogged down in technical social scientific literature? There are many interesting books (including the one reviewed here by Karyn this week) written for interested laypersons but the following are some of the best non-fiction and fiction choices:

Non-Fiction:

One of the best introductions to development issues is Development as Freedom by Nobel Economics Laureate Amartya Sen.  He has been influential voice calling for an understanding of poverty and development that goes beyond simple measures of income. In a similar vein, Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher is a classic in the field. First published in 1973, Schumacher provided a critique of the classical Western approach to economics.

Summer Reading

Because I’ve had the whole summer off, I’ve been reading incessantly. My mother just sent me a book called Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It’s about a man (Mortenson) who decides to build much needed schools for remote villages in the mountainous regions of Pakistan. Mortenson raises the funds, buys the materials, and gets the village to commit to building the small school. But the project moves at a snail’s pace and Mortenson gets more and more anxious about reaching his self-determined deadlines and line iteming the budget – accounting for every rupee. The leader of the village finally takes him aside and gives Mortenson the most important lesson of his life:

Sustaining Our Seas

In this video, I talk to Chris Holmes, a marine biologist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (their acronym, appropriately, is NOAA).  He told me about some of the dangers faced by our seas and our responsibility to seek sustainable solutions.  Many people's livelihoods -- such as fishing, tourism and shipping -- rely on our good stewardship of the oceans.

Make American Aid Better

While the amount of aid that the US provides each year is a small proportion of our annual budget, it is no small figure. However, is that aid being used effectively? That is the question that will be asked at a conference  this September 2-4 in Ghana.

You have the opportunity to tell policy leaders to improve international aid. To me, this represents one of the most powerful things we in the Western world can do: join with poor people all over the world by advocating for better aid.

 

Gardening as activism: Working for the earth, one organic tomato at a time

I am participating in a growing network of anti-globalization environmental activists.  We have no centralized headquarters, no bylaws, no mission statement.  We also tend to be a dirty bunch – especially the fingernails!  I’m speaking of a quiet sector of the local food revolution known as home gardeners.  As a passionate organic gardener, I grow way more than my family can eat. 

Smog at the Olympics and in Our World

Have you been keeping up with the Olympics in Beijing?  Having lived in southwestern China for almost two years, I find myself glued to the TV – not necessarily during the gymnastics competitions or the swimming races but the B-roll of the vast landscape, the sea of bikes, the glistening food.  These images bring me back to those two years – I can almost taste the lotus root and fish-smelling eggplant right now (I promise it’s amazing.)  Unfortunately, I also taste the grime on my tongue and in my nose from a long bike ride in the smog.  While Beijing has dramatically cut the smog for the Olympics, the athletes and visitors can still see those dirty molecules in the air and feel it in their lungs.  I remember the claustrophobia I felt almost every time I walked outside to enjoy the day.

Questioning the War on Drugs

I'm 5 feet away from Uribe, the president of Colombia, but I can't help but question the way the billions of dollars the US provides to fight drugs in Colombia is being used.

Dignity, Charity and Poverty

In addition to the material realities of deprivation, those living in poverty also are forced to grapple with a daily assault on their dignity and self-worth. This can be difficult to understand when living in a situation of privilege, where one often only has to ask for help from loved ones who assume one's intentions are good. I gained a inkling of how it might feel to rely on the charity of strangers was when I was 17 and working at a church campground, a job that required a lengthy commute by train and then bus.  I would go up on Sundays and return on Friday nights. One time, I completed the three hour train journey, only to arrive at the bus station and find, to my horror, only 20 pence (about 40 cents) in my wallet. I used that money to call my boss to see if he, or someone else at the campground, could give me a ride, but they were all preoccupied with other important jobs. I was stuck.

Women and the Food Crisis

I recently read an article in the Washington Post about how women have been faring in the midst of the continuing food crisis. Women all over the world have an interesting and ironic relationship with food but no more ironic than women in poverty. In this case women plant and harvest in their gardens, shop in the markets, cook, and pass meals to their husbands and children. When – actually I should say IF the women eat, they eat only the cold scraps that have been left over after everyone else has finished their meals.

Sending the Right Signal

Have you ever made a phone call to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo)?  Chances are, probably not.  But your phone may be more involved in the DR Congo conflict than you think. A recent report found that the batteries from Nokia, LG, Motorola, Samsung and possibly Sony Ericsson mobile phones contain cobalt mined in the DR Congo, that may help finance the warring factions. Indeed, the voracious global demand for many of DR Congo's rich mineral resources -- potentially a resource for development and economic growth -- has unfortunately profited the wrong sort of people.