Sustainable Good

Poverty and the Impact of the Economic Crisis

Spending Christmastime with my in-laws in Michigan really opened my eyes to the depth of the economic crisis. I heard many people talking about their fear of slowdown and layoffs in the auto industry and the surprising number of small businesses that have gone under.  I spoke with the owner of a small independent bookshop that has struggled to make ends meet as people have cut back on spending.

Help influence our media

May I summarize the last posts by Jeff, Stephen and Matt?

I remember reading quite awhile ago (hence no source, sorry) about media attitudes toward people in different parts of the world and it went something like this: If one American is killed, it's newsworthy.  After that the journalistic worth of other people around the world looks much like this math equation: 1 American = 10 Europeans = 100 Asians =1,000 Central/South Americans = 10,000 Africans.  This is now the unspoken rule when it comes to those "Breaking News" headlines.  Africans just don't qualify as important unless tens of thousands are massacred or killed -- and even then, the story has a quick shelf life. 

$700 Billion Crisis????

I know very little about economics, Wall Street, the housing market, investment banking...so I am not qualified enough to know what the answers to the current economic crisis is. And I don't even know if we are in a crisis right now.

What I do know is that it is absolutely ridiculous the crises that we are are happily ignoring. I was shocked to read today that on Sept 18th, the Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the number of undernourished people in 2007 was 923 million! This is 73 million people (mothers, fathers, chidren) higher than the estimate of 850 million in 2005. Why? Because there is a food crisis: the price of food rose 52% in the last year!

So I did some calculating. If we thought that 923 million hungry people was a crisis and decided that these people were just as worthy of bailing out as the banks we are bailing out now, we could: invest that $700 billion in sustainable global development. This would equal an investment of exactly $758.40 per person. What that money could do!!