Blogging for Change.org
22 Oct 2009
I’m applying to blog at change.org, and as part of the process I’ve been asked to submit three sample posts for their upcoming Global Poverty section.
I’ve posted them here (they’re the last three posts), so they don’t go to waste. Let me know what you think.
Beyond Sustainable Development
18 Oct 2009
I had a minor epiphany the other day, one that has me changing the way I think about activism. If you’ve spent any time at all reading about global poverty, you know that climate change and poverty are closely connected. You know that the poorest people in the world are the worst hit. You know that the number of natural disasters are rising, that food supplies are becoming more insecure, and that the government of the Maldives thinks this is so important that they’ve taken to holding cabinet meetings underwater to make a statement. Climate change is the single most critical issue facing us right now. And we’re not doing enough to stop it.
In fact, I think we might be going about it all wrong. Yes, sustainable development is in. Development agencies and aid organizations around the world are working toward greener solutions — cutting their ecological footprints and focusing on preventing a future where developing-world growth means a surge in greenhouse emissions. Which is great, except that it seems less and less likely we’ll ever see that future. The latest studies say that at current emissions levels, it’s likely we’ll see 4°C of warming (twice the levels any policy has even thought of planning for) by 2060. We’re fooling ourselves if we think international aid projects are a significant part of that.
We need a drastic change of tactic. As people who care about inequality and global poverty, we cannot afford to think that this is not our fight. And yet, those emissions that are going to worsen disasters and famines, create hundreds of millions of environmental refugees, and destroy entire countries — those are overwhelmingly corporate, developed-country emissions. Which means that if we want to make a difference we have to turn the mirror around and face our own governments.
Now, I have limited time and energy, so some worthy cause is always going to be left on the back burner. But here’s my epiphany: because I prioritize ending global poverty, I should actually spend more of my efforts on fighting global climate change — by cutting corporate emissions back home. It seems counterintuitive, but it’s strategic thinking. And I’m not alone in thinking this way. A small but vocal group of faith-based aid organizations has launched the Countdown to Copenhagen, calling for a climate justice.
Climate justice advocates — people who embrace the radical notion that the atmosphere belongs to everyone — say the US has to cut emissions from 40% to 80% in order to meet global targets equitably. Right now, even 20% looks overly optimistic. There’s a long way to go. So, with just fifty days left before world leaders meet to draft a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol, I pledge to lobby for drastic measures on US greenhouse emissions, to fight for a just and effective agreement in Copenhagen, and to hold my government accountable afterwards. And I’ll chalk it all up to fighting poverty.
Typhoon’s Poorest Victims Shortchanged — Again
17 Oct 2009
It’s a well-documented fact that the poor suffer disproportionately when natural disasters hit. It makes sense — they are more likely to live in dangerous conditions, and less likely to have the necessary resources to rebuild their lives. But what’s rarely mentioned is the double-whammy poor survivors are often dealt in the aftermath, when governments use the disaster as an excuse to ‘clean up’ low-income neighborhoods, shanty-towns and slums. It happened after Katrina, it happened after the 2004 tsunami, and it looks like it’s happening again in the Philippines after typhoon Ketsana.
Bulatlat, an online news magazine based in the Philippines, reports that the government will be forcing former slum dwellers in Manila to relocate to faraway suburbs. Floating debris generated by riverside settlements (as in the picture above) is being blamed for the worst of the flooding, and many of the areas inhabited by the city’s poorest residents are now designated as danger zones, where reconstruction is prohibited. To the extent that these are truly dangerous places to live, this decision is not a bad thing.
What is worrisome is that it looks like the proposed relocation sites are underserved by social services and lacking in job opportunities. Many of these squatters rely on being close to the city’s center for their livelihoods — for them, being moved far away will mean having to choose between money for food and money for transit, or simply spiraling deeper into poverty.
While slum evictions are generally illegal — housing is a human right — things are a lot murkier after a disaster. At this point, community activists are simply fighting to make sure the relocation sites are as humane as possible. Whatever happens, it’s likely that Manila’s river dwellers have a long wait ahead of them before they’re allowed to start piecing their lives back together.
It’s still too early to tell if the forced move is motivated by an ‘it’s for your own good’ attitude, or if it’s a more sinister case of what Naomi Klein calls Disaster Capitalism. I, for one, will certainly be keeping my eyes open.
World Food (Shortage) Day
16 Oct 2009
One in six — that’s how many people the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says are suffering from hunger in 2009, a number that is up more than 100 million from this time last year. Today, October 16th, has been designated World Food Day to celebrate agricultural accomplishments and raise awareness of the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
The awareness is painfully needed this year, as news has just broken that funding for food aid has hit a 20-year low. Last year’s unprecedented food riots around the world led to record contributions to the World Food Program in 2008. But now, as budgets are tightened the world over, contributions
from the world’s richest countries are down by 50%. Facing a $2bn deficit, the World Food Program is being forced to stop providing aid to some of the world’s hungriest people.
Meanwhile, food prices continue to rise and, with them, the number of people who literally have no way to feed themselves and their families. The combination of rising food prices, natural disasters, and/or loss of family income — made worse by the economic crisis — means that more than 24,000 people die of hunger related causes every day. If the World Food Program is forced to pull out of Kenya and Bangladesh, as seems likely, that number will skyrocket.
Today, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, along with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, announced a plan to change the way US aid fights hunger. In conjunction with other major donor countries, the United States government has pledged to direct more funds to fighting the root causes of hunger and reduce the need for food aid in the future. This is definitely a laudable goal, but it comes too late for the millions of people who will die because of today’s funding gap.
The United States is (by far) the largest contributor to the World Food Program. If we act now, it is likely that other countries will follow suit. Contact Secretary Vilsack here, and Secretary of State Clinton here. Tell them you support their efforts to reform food aid, and urge them to include an immediate contribution to the World Food Program as part of that package. Then, contact your senators and representatives to tell them the same thing. For this year’s World Food Day, let’s seize the opportunity to stop what’s being called a “silent tsunami” of starvation — one that we can actually do something about.
