one
every three seconds, someone dies of AIDS or poverty.
currently, the U.S. gives less than 1% of our budget toward humanitarian efforts. this campaign would like to see an additional one percent directed to helping those in need. ONE percent of the U.S. budget is $25 billion. we have the opportunity, in our lifetimes, to make a dramatic change in the lives of millions of people around the world, including the 36 million people in the U.S. who go hungry every year, by giving just this small percentage of our wealth to those who have nothing.
$16 sends a child in africa to school for a year.
$5 gives a child with AIDS vital medications for 6 months.
Right now, the US government is making decisions about how much money to spend on humanitarian assistance next year and the UK is poised to lead the world’s wealthiest nations at the G8 summit next July. By joining the ONE campaign, we will show our leaders that we want to do more to respond to the emergency of AIDS and extreme poverty.
please visit one.org. this campaign is not asking for money, only voices.
update: yesterday, Bush stated the US will provide $674 million to an African emergency famine relief initiative, but still resists doubling the US overall %. granted, the United States has already tripled its Africa aid during Bush’s four years in office, to $3.2 billion in 2004, but when we’re talking relative numbers, that’s very little, especially compared to what we’re spending every day on the war in Iraq, which is also framed as a humanitarian effort.
Filed in things you can do | Tagged with poverty | Comments (9)turning point
columnist joan ryan @ the chron has a great op-ed today on americas’ unbelievable spend-spend-spend and then throw-it-away consumerist mentality, where it comes from, and what it means. this is particularly poignant given the billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives lost in the south asian tsunami. those people don’t have food, clothing, water, or shelter. why the hell do i need an iPod?
“Culture of More Brings Less“.
“My son and I visited my 75-year-old aunt this summer in Tanzania, where she works with people dying of AIDS and with the orphans left behind. The poverty is pretty much what you would expect. Mud-brick shacks. No running water. The schools have no desks or chairs. Families subsist on the $2 or $3 a day they earn working in the fields, weaving rugs or selling roasted peanuts on the side of the road.
We saw firsthand how a little bit of money — what we might spend on a gossip magazine or a new toothbrush holder — can have a meaningful impact on a life there. So my son and I resolved upon our return home to be conscious of our spending, noting the difference between what we needed and what we wanted. When we refrained from spending money on something we didn\’t need, we promised to put the saved money in a basket made from candy wrappers, a souvenir from one of the Tanzanian women. We then would send the money to my aunt.
There is nothing in the basket. Not now anyway. There was money for the first few months. But during the holidays, we slid right back into the inviting, exciting slipstream of consumerism that had us toting home shopping bags filled with purchases that seemed not only appropriate at the time but just this side of imperative. Wonderful chocolates. Fragrant candles. Champagne. Gifts, gifts and more gifts.
Almost all of it went on the credit card. I whipped that thing around as if it were a magic wand that could, by transporting fabulous items from the store to my home, could make me more — what? I still can’t say. Maybe just more…
my #1 2005 Revolution is to stop buying shit i don’t NEED. just STOP. when you really start to make those conscious choices, it’s almost unbearable how hard it is to pull yourself away from whatever it is you think you want and walk away. it *hurts*, i tell you, and it’s really, really scary. then, most of the time, 10 minutes later you’ve forgotten about what it was you so desperately needed – that sweater, that magazine, that book, those shoes. i try to stick to a rule of “if you want it you have to come back for it”- leave the store and if you still want it the next day (or even remember that you wanted it) go back. i think the buyer’s remorse i had earlier this month was the turning point. i wanted to kick my own ass for that, and still feel totally stupid.
i’m really hoping i can do a better job of controlling my spending in 2005, and actually reach some of the financial goals i’ve set for myself (pay off student loads, pay off credit cards, put more $$ into 401(k), etc.). otherwise, at the end of next year i’ll feel as sick about it as i do right now.
Filed in things you can do | Tagged with consumerism, poverty | Comments (5)think globally; act locally ?
India has an estimated 11 million to 23 million children laboring in captivity.
