On September 23rd, 2019, I watched a YouTube video of Greta Thunberg delivering a speech regarding the Climate Change Crisis to world leaders at the United Nations Assembly. For the following five days, I would post a note on Facebook everyday telling Greta what I did that day to rectify the situation. Here are the notes: Sept 23 Dear Greta, When I was doing my daily walk an hour ago, I saw a 500 ml water bottle on the sidewalk. It was wet and muddy but I picked it up. When I got home, I rinsed the bottle and put it in the recycling bin. There is a plastic re-purposing plant in Vancouver. I know one less plastic bottle would go to the landfill. Sept 24 Dear Greta, This morning I called my bank up and requested an address change. When the rep asked me if there was anything else that he could help me with, I replied with a question. "Is there any way that I could receive all the annual reports electronically?' He said to me, "It would cost you to opt out of the mailing list but there is no guarantee that you will never receive printed materials from us again." After 30 minutes of very heated discussion, I still opted out. I am sorry that I could not stop the bank from printing my copy of their annual report which is readily available on the bank's website. Sept 25 Dear Greta, As I was getting out of the house for my daily walk today, I saw my neighbour. We waved at each other. I asked where she was going because she was sitting in the driver seat in her car. She told me she was going to the bakery to pick up a birthday cake for her grandson. I told her that I was heading that way and could pick up the cake for her. The bakery is only 1.5 km away. I reduced a bit of CO2 emission and fossil fuel consumption today. Sept 26 Dear Greta, This morning I visited my grandfather's grave. I brought a pot of chrysanthemums to visit him. The cemetery does not allow artificial flowers except for Christmas wreaths during the holiday season. Knowing that cut flowers are grown in heated greenhouses, I purchased the potted mums this time because they are grown in unheated hothouses. I shook off some of the soil and put the flowers with roots into the bronze vase and recycled the plastic pot. Sept 27 Dear Greta, I used to buy packaged baked goods. Those clear plastic containers are pretty but bad for the environment. Today I made a dozen cheese scones from ingredients that I bought in bulk. There is a store in Vancouver that sells food stuff by bulk only. Customers would have to bring containers and bags to carry their groceries. We can save a lot of resources (paper, plastic, metal and glass) by eliminating packaging for all dry goods. Sept 28 Dear Greta, The Climate Strike week has come and gone. I hope your message would remain in people's conscience for a long time. As an adult, I apologize for not being able to pass the environment to you and your generation in the same condition that I found it 57 years ago. Don't despair; there is still hope if people are more conscious of their lifestyles and change their ways of handling resources. Love, Rowena
Last summer I quit Facebook cold turkey after getting fed up with online social media and developing an addiction to checking news feed constantly. I lived happily in the real world for about four months before I reactivated my account. I had to join a FB group to get up-to-date information and advice for my West African journey. I am once again active in social media. But I am a bit smarter this time. I would use social media as a platform to educate and to change mindsets in addition to sharing my travel photos and experiences.
Recently I did a series on Eradicating Poverty on Facebook. I am going to copy and paste the posts into this blog and hopefully create the first ever multi-media post on blogger. Here it goes:
Day 1 For the next week, I am going to post ways to eradicate poverty. This issue has been on my mind for a long time. I don't have solutions to the problem yet; however, by going through the discovery process, hopefully we will be inspired to do something about it.
Douglas Kruger is a South African author whom I recently discovered on YouTube. He is a very convincing speaker. I also like the topic he writes about - Getting out of Poverty. He tackles the issue at a micro level. By changing our mindset, we can escape poverty. Today I bring forth two of his principles:
1) Raise your personal value
2) Repay trust with ''Excellence''
Day 2 Eradicating Extreme Poverty on a Global Scale
Dr. Rosling was an expert in presenting data, even meta-data. This 5 minute video clip does not tell us how to eradicate extreme poverty; however, it certainly makes the task not so daunting. Unfortunately, Dr. Rosling passed away in February 2017.
Day 3 Eradicating Poverty through Sustainable Development
Back in 2015, the United Nations announced its goal of eradicating poverty worldwide by 2030. How could we eliminate poverty in fifteen years? The old model of foreign aid has been gradually replaced by sustainable development. I am sure you would have heard about SUSTAINABILITY. But what is it exactly? The following clip provides a very basic explanation of sustainable development.
Day 4 Eradicating Poverty - Defining Poverty Line
In October 2015, the World Bank updated the international poverty line, a global absolute minimum, to $1.90 a day.
To me, $1.90 USD a day makes no sense and is an arbitrary figure. I have visited countries which are in the Top 10 Countries with the Lowest GDP per capita. I would think food cost would be much lower so that most of the working class would be able to afford basic necessities. That is often not the case.
For example, in a medium size city in Ethiopia, a hotel clerk earns $120 USD a month. He could barely provide food for himself, his younger brother and grandmother living in his grandmother's house outside the city. He could not even afford bus fare and walks to work six days a week. He supplements the household income by selling gadgets and working as a local guide in his spare time. His grandmother grows vegetables for their own consumption in front of her house. Meanwhile, the cheapest room in the hotel is $40 USD per night.
One day last summer in Vancouver while waiting for the bus, I had a conversation with a new Canadian who was also waiting for the bus. He works part-time as kitchen help in a restaurant and gets paid minimum wage. After payroll deductions and taxes, his monthly disposable income is roughly $750 USD a month. He pays $400 USD for a room in a shared house. His biggest and only entertainment is talking to his wife and children on Skype. He scrambles to send $100 USD to his family in El Salvador every month.
In a rural setting, basic survival is more about having clean drinking water and proper shelter. Subsistence farming would provide food for the villages. $1.90 might just be enough to live by...
Day 5 - A Case study: Zero Poverty 2020
A plan to eradicate poverty in the municipality of Concepcion, Iloilo in the Philippines was launched in August 1999. The following link is a short summary of the results of the initiative. The plan was executed in a top-down approach with emphasis on population control and changing mindsets.
Today, Concepcion, Iloilo is a tourist attraction with many resorts. Its residents enjoy a much higher standard of life though a second coal-fired power generation plant is in the works. Is it urban development that has gone wrong? You'd be the judge. I hope to visit the place in my upcoming journey and see for myself.
Day 6 - Alleviating Poverty Through Entrepreneurship
After the basic needs (such as food and shelter) are met, we should consider ways of improving the local economy to create and maintain sustainable development. Do not underestimate the power of street vendors. I am going to illustrate my point with a couple of examples.
While trying to find some lotion for my bedbug bites in Gabu, Guinea-Bissau, I had a conversation with a store owner who sells plastic household items imported mainly from China. He told me that a big part of his business comes from his "mobile sellers". These people would visit nearby villages with his merchandise regularly. Even though the profit margin is not that great, these sellers do make a good living. At the same time, they are also providing an invaluable service to the villagers because the paths in between are not particularly easy to travel in, and often people have to walk 20 kms or more return trip to get a few items from town.
When I was visiting Goree Island in Senegal, I noticed that souvenir shops and art galleries are everywhere on the island. They were mostly empty and the storekeepers would be aggressively soliciting business on the streets. There were only two fruit carts in the town square. They were both manned by older ladies. They had so much business that they did not have to sell for more than four or five hours a day. These ladies make enough money to send their grandchildren to school.
I always "preach" to the vendors in developing countries. Sell what people need and try to sell something different from time to time. Now, I ask the customers to buy local, and from small vendors. When traveling, I always eat local food and buy from street vendors.
Day 7 Eradicating Poverty - Some final words.
Poverty is a worldwide issue. There are some exceptions but not many. As with any other mega issues, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Often the rectification process would have to be tweaked to make the results jive with the ever-changing environment.
In the more developed countries where there is a high level of infrastructure, socio-economic and political stability and automation, wealth distribution is transforming from a bell-shaped curve to a bipolar distribution. The size of the middle class is shrinking rapidly. As the median age of the general population in developed countries increases, the need to replenish the work force also increases. Human ingenuity to re-invent ways of doing things and maintaining sustainable development might be the key to eradicate urban poverty. The top-down approach would be more suitable.
In the developing countries where there is less infrastructure, more political instability and an agriculture-based economy, improving the standard of basic needs such as food supply and living conditions is paramount. In statistical terms, we would try to shift the bell curve to the right. The median age of the population is much lower than that of the developed countries. Therefore, education is the key to developing sustainable development. The bottom-up approach would be more suitable and escaping from poverty happens at the micro level.
As I mentioned on Day 1, I don't have a particular set of solutions to eradicate poverty. I welcome your comments and opinions.
