World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 - (Page 38)

Mixed Media Food for Thought Global Oneness Project www.globalonenessproject.org View inspiring short films online as this Web-based video initiative explores personal connections in a complex world. Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet Jeffrey D. Sachs Penguin Press 2008 Hardback | $27.95 Reviewed by Jaman Matthews, World Ark Writer Review Water Is Key: A Better Future For Africa Gil Garcetti, photographer Peter H. Gleick, editor Balcony Press, 2007 Hardcover | $65.00 This limited-edition book draws attention to the growing water crisis in Africa through beautiful black-and-white photographs and essays by Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan and others. Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day Brangien Davis and Katharine Wroth, editors Mountaineers Books, 2007 Paperback | $14.95 From the people at Grist magazine comes this down-to-earth guide full of everyday tips, big and small, for living greener. Jeffrey Sachs is more than an economist or bestselling author; he is a cult figure. The man hangs with Bono. He was on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart last month. Thousands petitioned him to run for president. (He declined.) So it’s no surprise that Sachs’ latest book, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, is getting more attention than most on the international development shelf. But it’s not only because of the author’s name. Common Wealth clearly and intelligently lays out the major problems facing our global society— climate change, over-population, extreme poverty, bureaucratic bunglings—and then offers an argument for how to solve these problems in Sachs’ ever-optimistic tone. Sachs gently reminds his American audience of the rightful place of the U.S. economy and takes the Bush administration to task for its failings on the international scene. But the crux of his argument is a simple if-then statement: If we invest 2 to 3 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), then we could defeat the global problems we face. (If A, then B.) So it follows that when we invest that money, the problems will be defeated. (A, therefore B.) Simple, valid, irrefutable. Sachs for president! But wait. An argument is not judged only on its validity, but also on its veracity. It is possible for an argument to be valid and yet untrue. For example, “If I buy new shoes, then I would become a world-class runner; I bought new shoes, therefore I am a world-class runner,” is perfectly valid and yet obviously false. Sachs leaves it up to others to debate and determine the validity of the conditions— primarily, whether 2 to 3 percent of global GDP is enough. He doesn’t address the bureaucracy needed to handle and disperse these billions. Or the implications—environmental or political—of a world in which everyone enjoys a new prosperity. That is not to say that Sachs glosses over potential problems. He acknowledges the difficulties and the very real threat of failure in such grandiose schemes. In an early chapter, he touches on initiatives like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), heretofore his great claim to fame. The MDGs, as lofty an aspiration as his current proposal, aim to end extreme poverty by 2015. Now, more than halfway through the campaign, Sachs voices the possibility that the goals may “do little more than join history’s cruel dustbin of failed aspirations.” Sachs is one of our visionaries, and Common Wealth is his latest offering. He has done his part; now it is for us to discuss and question. If Sachs’ argument is correct and if we as a world can work together, then Sachs’ vision would represent an enormous step forward. And what a bargain it would be. www.heifer.org 38 May/June 2008 | WOrlD Ark http://www.globalonenessproject.org http://www.heifer.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008

World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008 Contents Letters For the Record The Good Life Asked & Answered Why Water Matters The Carbon Hoofprint From Farm to Table Healing History Mixed Media Heifer Spirit Heifer Bulletin World Ark Market Calendar First Person

World Ark Magazine - May/June 2008

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