On my soap box today so tread with caution :)
Chapters 28-31 reach beyond our borders in the U.S. and speak about global issues. As I started to dive in, the immigration debate came into mind. I believe we are all one, it's one world, one globe. Yes, we have differences across man-made borders and natural made waterways but fundamentally we all need to breathe in clean oxygen, we all need enough nourishment, we all need adequate housing, we all need each other to come full circle on what it is we need. When people talk about shutting out immigrants and or refugee's, it worries me for the global picture of poverty. I mean the government shut down down for what amounts to not very long and that affected a whole lot of people! Some people come here because they have a much greater chance of dying where they are. Let's say our country decides that's it, no more outsiders from wherever for any given amount of time. An unfortunate chain of events happens here and we need help, who would help us? We, the United States who stand united in not helping others out? It's sort of like holding the smoking gun, telling someone they have to be where they are and risk death solely because of where they were born. Some people don't think we can help anyone else because we aren't helping enough of "our own" when really, this is a stolen country, so who the heck is "our own?" Imagine this country putting up a huge fence that went from the the northern border of Minnesota to the southern tip of Louisiana. and only the top 15% (thought I'd offer a generous percentage) of incomes were allowed on one side, the rest on the other. I can imagine it. Some families would be broken up, they didn't make it in time to cross over or they had family members that didn't meet that 15%. Fast forward and those on the 15% side are doing awesome, they have everything they need, they systematically strip the other side for it's resources like food and clothing, so they don't have to work for them. They were letting "certain people" across the fence but have decided to stop. Now the other side is very unsafe most places, disease spreads, etc. etc. until this begins to trickle into the 15% side. There aren't enough able bodied, able minded people left to keep up with the demands the 15% side has, it could have been avoided...hmmmm sounds familiar.
The problem is that global poverty on all levels could be extinguished but it's not. Pg 620 talks about how money transfers make a difference, they improve communities on multiple levels, yet a large portion of the population wants to tighten the handcuffs on poverty stricken communities by encouraging less than adequate available services. There aren't enough law makers out there who are invested in global issues. We need a viable planet to live on first. Our natural resources are being poisoned, stripped, depleted, extinguished forever. For a species that gives little attention to the seemingly not so critical issue of the health of our planet, how could I expect much more when it comes to humans? Soils that once provided income for poor farmers are useless now. Water that once provided hydration for poor families is toxic. We all contribute to that, through products we buy and the waste we produce as we over consume etc. More people doing well=a healthier global society.
Cancer and Meat Consumption, Book:
http://www.aicr.org/about/advocacy/the-china-study.html
Meat Production and Greenhouse Gases:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-greenhouse-hamburger
Global Planetary Crisis: An Inconvenient Truth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLvK5bbNd7E
On Curing Global Poverty:
http://www.trueactivist.com/worlds-100-richest-could-end-global-poverty-4-times-over/
I agree that there is no reason why people of this world are going hungry and living in poverty. Many countries on this Earth are run by the "haves." It is a need of these "haves" to withhold basic needs in one form or another from the "have nots." This insures and validates their power. The "haves" run the media in their countries which they use to convince the "have nots" that the answers to solving many of the problems are bad answers that lead to bad outcomes. It is interesting(and sad) to me that this country was taken over by people who wanted to escape the very oppression that they have subsequently used to keep their fellow countrymen down.
ReplyDelete