World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007 - (Page 40)

We are overwhelmed by the images, by the hopelessness of 1.2 billion people struggling to survive on less than a dollar a day. corporate, government, and individual levels. Spending in the billions is commonplace for big business (as well as for some individuals). Americans spend $2 billion on fantasy football and $11 billion on bottled water each year. And $36 billion is no more than threeand-a-half weeks of U.S. military spending (which totalled $540 billion in 2006). These funds need not fi nd themselves in the hands of local warlords or corrupt governments. They work their way through assistance organizations. Much of the good work going on today is focused on building capacity and scaling up a development network that is both effective and transparent. As Jeffrey Sachs put it, it’s hard to put mosquito nets in a Swiss bank account. good and bad, have worldwide consequences. What will it take for us to begin to make the right choices? “Closing the Gap” is a methodology championed by Bill Foege, who currently advises The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on health initiatives. The methodology identifies manageable steps to achieve an important but challenging goal. In Closing the Gap, you start by identifying where you want to end up, and where you are today. Then you focus on the gap between the two and the steps needed to get from today to the goal. Below, I have applied the technique to the problem of global poverty. Extreme Poverty has ended. (The goal.) No longer do vast numbers live on less than a dollar a day. Those who lived in poverty did most of the work toward this goal, but they were aided with appropriate help from wealthy nations. € The U.S. works alongside other countries to end global poverty. Every sector—government, business, non-profits, etc.—is involved in the challenge. The interventions are global, appropriate, sustainable, and have been tested and proven. € The U.S. is scaling up engagement, adjusting the process as it goes along. Americans have joined with international efforts and are helping to build capacity in the organizations and programs with good track records. € Ending world hunger becomes a widespread social movement in the U.S. The “tipping point” has been reached. We are strengthening our commitment and fi nding the right responses. We have drawn on our deepest and best values to do the right thing. www.heifer.org CLOSING THE GAP If Americans can afford to help end hunger and poverty, what’s stopping us? I said earlier that our lack of engagement is due in part to a feeling of helplessness and of being overwhelmed. I also think that just as it can be hard to understand how we can help, it can be hard to see precisely how our lifestyles and actions, and the policies we support, actually serve to increase hunger and poverty. But consider just one example. Countries whose extreme poverty is ignored are unstable, and unstable countries are breeding grounds for terrorism and war. Imagine the cost, in dollars and in our children’s lives, of our government’s intervention in the many resource wars and power struggles and terrorist acts that would result from global instability and inequity. The benefits of ending poverty will spread far beyond the improved lives of those who move from despair to hopeful self-reliance. In other words, no matter what we do, we are making a choice. All of our actions, 40 November/December 2007 | WORLD ARK http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007

World Ark - November/December 2007 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked & Answered Pursuing Happiness (PRODUCT) RED: Consumer Power Fights AIDS in Africa Rwanda Reconciles End Hunger Now Protecting the Poor from Climate Change Mixed Media Heifer Bulletin Heifer Spirit Heifer Calendar Reflection

World Ark Magazine - November/December 2007

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