Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think

The transition from the traditional hunter gatherer societies, in to an agriculture based living system, has allowed humans to increase their population size, putting strains on the Earth’s environment. Agriculture has also brought along with it a decrease in women’s roles in the community, while also bringing about a class system where the wealthy rule, and were the weak and poor obey. As humans began to domesticate more plants and animals, they settled in permanent areas. The Change from hunter gatherer benefited few, but had dire consequences for the earth and groups with in it. One such consequence was the population increase, which has lead to major issues throughout history, and one that has ties to current global issues.

Therefore, to give up one’s luxuries so that less fortunate human beings can actually acquire necessities is a fair and simple request. Humans don’t need luxuries such as frivolous electronics and excessive clothes and accessories. However, humans do need food, shelter and other basic amenities. The fact that so many people have both necessities and luxuries while others have neither is a shocking reality that needs to be changed.

The end is approaching if I may say. Many dangers have approached earth and have surrounded our small planet. Yet we all wonder what the main or the most dangerous to human existence is. On May 28, 2008, Robert J. Samuelson, a columnist for The Washington Post, published the article "Rx for Global Poverty". Robert J. Samuelson claims that the greatest moral challenge the world is facing nowadays is global poverty. He stated that Poverty has left about 2.5 billion people, which makes up more than one-third of the earth’s population, in 2004 to survive on an estimated $2 a day. However, with time, statistics show that many countries have been able to eradicate poverty and have their economies flourish (Samuelson, 2008). According to Samuelson,

Before revealing plan 4.0, Mr. Brown explains the constraints, setbacks, and conflicts of the current world: skyrocketing food costs, steady increase of hunger (projected 1.2 billion by 2015), limited irrigation

Application of the same example to a more global perspective of poverty, if we can reduce avoidable death of 400 million people

Chapter 9 of Environmental Science by William and Mary Ann Cunningham begins with discussing the excess amount of food there was but despite that people are still hungry, there is a scarcity of resources like food. This chapter also discusses about 870 million people that do not have enough resources and this is causing them to be hungry and have a lot of diseases.

We think that these problems will forever go away if we choose to pay no attention to them and over time wait for the issues to worsen. We live in an economy where wealth distribution is not equal as some earn more than others. This makes makes it harder for everyone to donate a portion of their earnings to life changing charities around the globe. However, we never contemplate on buying a new expensive phone or a pair of branded shoes even though we see ourselves not affording it. I find that the points made by Singer are plausible because we live in a free market and command economy that does not allow us to justify our actions. As consumers, we spend so much money buying the latest trends despite our economic backgrounds. If we instead utilized the money on helping those who suffer from famine circumstances, the number of Bengals suffering from poverty will minimize. Some may say that issues in East Bengal is not of our concern and we should ignore the issue. We have the tendency to only care when it affects us personally. I find that this is a common thread for those who seek to feel less guilt about not abiding existing moral

Arrival of an Alien written by David Suzuki attempts to give insight to the reader about the impact of human actions and disapprove its result on the environment. Suzuki explains the technological advancements represent the knowledge of the human brain yet these advancements are supplements to the prior knowledge obtained by homo sapiens. Our human ancestors are what have brought us to where we are in our advancements but todays civilization can not execute the tasks preformed by our antecedents. In the article Suzuki metaphorically refers to humans as aliens, demolishing the environment with every movement. However, we are able to see the ramifications of our actions but we do not respond in a way that will restore the damage.

One of the most important issues facing the world today is the issue of the poor. There are many things that can be done about this issue, however much of the world is torn between wanting to help and not knowing how to go about it. This is the issue that is presented in the two essays - Garrett Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping The Poor,” and Peter Singer’s “What Should A Billionaire Give-and What Should You?” Garrett Hardin was an ecologist who warned of the dangers of overpopulation. In his article, he argues that our first obligation is to ourselves and our posterity and that we

What are some issues that threaten the immediate stability and balance of the world? War? Nukes? Global Warming? Economic fluctuations? The answer is none of the above. All of these are admissible issues, but they don’t come near to the immediate impact and effects that accompany world poverty. An estimated three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day, yet there hasn’t been any drastic actions taken to counteract this predicament in a sustaining manner (Shah). However, writers such as Peter Singer and Garrett Hardin are doing a stupendous job bringing this topic into the spotlight. Both “Lifeboat Ethics: the Case Against Helping the Poor,” and “The Singer Solution To World Poverty,” offer insight to this serious issue. Both authors

World poverty is undeniably one of the biggest issues humanity has faced. Poverty has been the death of thousands a day for decades, and all over the world people are trying to pinpoint how to fix it. With poverty proving to be such a worldwide problem, hundreds of positions have been proposed. Among these opinions, professor of bioethics, Peter Singer believes, “whatever money you're spending on luxuries, not necessities, should be given away.” This position would provide a huge increase of money going into programs, and closer, better functioning communities. However, this brings to question who will determine what is a necessity and what is a luxury. Additionally, this would also make the desire to earn more less prominent in our society.

This is a greater concern in world as sectors such as Africa, where poverty has roughly doubled in recent years. Consequently, many of the extreme poverty rates where based on a $1.25 purchasing power a day cut off. If this number is adjusted in 2005 to just $2.00 a day the rate of people living in extreme poverty jumps to 51% (David Moss, 2011). These numbers show that billions of people are unable provide themselves with basics like food, clothing, or shelter. This is a serious problem as these are people who have potential are being left in poverty that kills. At the very least income inequality leaves people with basic necessities with a chance to

“Humanity actually solved agricultural poverty a century ago, in theory. We just haven't delivered these things to everybody just yet. In this century, the reason that people remain poor is because maybe they live in remote places. They lack access to these things. Therefore, ending poverty is simply a matter of delivering proven goods and services to people. We don't need more genius types right now. The humble delivery guy is going to end global poverty in our lifetime.” – Interesting

Philanthropist and author Michael Green envisions a world without poverty, hunger and gender equality. He believes that the needs and desires of the human race should be a global movement. The mindset of “business as usual” should be rejected, while new strategies must be implemented to reach these goals by 2030. Ultimately, Mr. Green believes this to be possible with some effort. However, I consider this vision a bit naïve, and as Michael states, the world being a better place seems a little fanciful with the current state of affairs we are facing today.

Unfortunately, it was estimated that roughly 1.2 billion people in 1993 lived in extreme or absolute poverty, that which Robert McNamara regards “‘a condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy as to be beneath any reasonable standard of human dignity’” (Singer 219, 220). These estimates can be projected at nearly 2 billion today. A large majority of the people living in absolute poverty resides in underdeveloped countries. Among the nearly 4.4 billion people in these countries, “3/5 lives in societies lacking basic sanitation; 1/3 go without safe drinking water; 1/4 lack adequate housing; 1/5 are undernourished, and 1.3 billion live on less than $1 a day” (Speth 1).