Mar 02

Pipeline Politics

It’s no surprise that over the past few months, gasoline prices have been skyrocketing. Today’s national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $3.73, quickly approaching the highest recorded average price of $4.11. One issue that seems to be a recurring topic in this discussion is the decision to postpone the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Gasoline prices are correlated with crude oil prices, since gasoline is a refined product of crude oil.  The Keystone XL Pipeline would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to multiple locations across the United States, ending at Texas’ Gulf Coast. My original plan for this blog post was to examine the costs and benefits associated with the Keystone XL Pipeline and offer my opinion on why the pipeline should or should not be built. However, as I delved deeper into my research, I became increasingly irate. This debate over the pipeline, like so many other politically linked issues, has become so convoluted and so marred with political propaganda that it seems nearly impossible for the general public to discern the true facts. My goal for this post is to address the problem of the opacity surrounding this topic.

Experts agree that the pipeline would transport 830,000 barrels of oil a day, but this seems to be the only thing they agree on. The debate about the pipeline hinges on a few main underpinnings. The first major point of contention is the environmental consequences associated with the pipeline. One side argues the pipeline will have catastrophic effects on the environment. Tar sands oil, because of its composition, creates more pollution when refined than does conventional crude oil. Furthermore, chemicals are mixed with the tar sands oil in order to allow it to flow better through the pipeline. People against the pipeline argue that if the pipeline were to have a spill, which according to them is very likely, the chemicals mixed with the oil would be detrimental to the environment. Proponents of course argue that these claims are highly exaggerated and that the environmental costs would be very small.

The other area of debate concerns the economic impact of the pipeline. Proponents believe that the pipeline will lessen our dependence on oil from overseas, create jobs, strengthen our nation’s energy security, strengthen our economy and will help lower gasoline prices. On the other hand, the opponents proclaim that the pipeline will actually increase gasoline costs and the only economic benefits will be for corporate America.

Every news article I read seemed to give a biased opinion on whether or not the Keystone XL Pipeline would be a boon or bane to our nation. One source would claim to state the key “facts” about the pipeline, but five minutes later I would read something entirely different. I started to think that if I, after researching the topic, could not come away with the cold hard facts and formulate an educated opinion about the issue, how could the general public?

The Keystone XL Pipeline, simply put, is an important matter. As citizens of this nation, we should be presented objective facts in order to better understand a significant issue such as this one. If the reason for contention were due to legitimate differences in opinions then I would have no problem with the debate. Unfortunately, however, this issue has been made into a symbolic fight between two parties with differing desires, as well as political and economic motives. It seems as if each party will say anything, whether true or not, in order to advance their side’s argument.

While the ultimate decision to build the pipeline is that of the president’s, the general public should not be left in a cloud of confusion. However, a solution to this problem seems nearly impossible. Since so many parties have a stake in the ultimate decision, no matter what one says the other will refute the claims, leaving the public uncertain of whom to believe and trust.

I do believe that one step to help clarify the issue is through awareness building. Energy consumption and energy production are such huge facets of nearly every single human’s life, but at the same time the average person could tell you next to nothing about the logistics of the energy industry. We flip a light switch and are met with bright illumination without stopping to think about where that power is coming from, and how it is getting to us. We fill our cars with gasoline from local gas stations, without understanding the complex journey the gasoline has taken.

I believe that an organization should be formed dedicated to presenting non-biased education around concepts relevant to the Keystone XL Pipeline. This organization should not claim to present the truth behind the issue, but rather should be a resource for people looking to learn more about the underlying concepts that are driving the debate. This organization should not accept funding from any party involved with the debate in any sense. Furthermore, the organization’s focal point of its mission should be to provide unbiased information. While these measures cannot absolutely guarantee the organization remains unbiased, it is a step in the right direction. Then, equipped with the appropriate knowledge, the public can make its own decisions and decide which arguments are legitimate.

The Keystone XL Pipeline can potentially have great effects for this nation. Unfortunately the public is stuck in a storm of competing claims not knowing what to believe. Until the general public can intelligently analyze all the arguments, the confusion will only continue.

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Mar 02

Happy Birthday, Dadaab!

The world’s largest refugee camp turns 20 years-old this week. The Dadaab in Kenya welcomes approximately 1,300 refugees a day and is currently a haven to almost half-a-million people escaping war-torn neighboring countries like Somalia. Originally designed with a capacity to hold 90,000, Dadaab, located about 60 miles from the Kenya-Somalia border was only meant to be a temporary fix to some of the victims of civil wars in the African continent. Unfortunately, because of continued strife in the region, it has now become the only home known to some.

There is a generation who was born and is now being raised within its borders. According to U.N. data there are 77,246 children below 5 in the camp. Also, not all of the people living in the camps arrived there as refugees. The compound is also home to some 10,000 third-generation refugees whose parents were also born in Dadaab.

While the United Nations and non-governmental organizations running the camp do an extraordinary job of providing educational programming and training, it does not compare to life on the outside. It can be argued that because of the violence in their villages and hometowns, children, in particular, would not even have a chance to receive an education if not for Dadaab. However, I argue that there must be a social and developmental impact on the children, their families and communities who have learned to thrive inside the camps, but have not had the experience of living outside.

Refugee camps, in general, are generally set up quickly to take care of an escalating conflict in the area. They are usually designed to only meet basic human needs and for a short period of time. Most camps include sleeping quarters such as tents, hygiene facilities for basic cleaning and washing, make-shift medical services to oversee any health conditions and prevent rampant spread of disease, communication equipment like radio, and most importantly to provide physical and mental security.

While this seems like a respite from the conflict on the outside, it is not meant to be a substitute to life beyond Dadaab’s borders. Refugee camps serve a solid purpose and are truly necessary, but I do not believe people should spend a lifetime there. My belief is that there is a negative impact of having people born and raised in refugee camps, and we need to explore what we need to do to help them transition back to life outside, in this case beyond Dadaab.

In researching the consequences of living long-term in a camp, I found very little information. I did find information on some of the negative effects of living within the camp, including susceptibility to diseases and malnutrition, vulnerability to sexual abuse, and an increase in depression and anxiety to the unknown. So while there is little information on the impact once people leave the camps, there is data showing that camps are only meant to be a temporary step and long-term exposure is not recommended.

The UNHCR, or the United Nations Refugee Agency, recently launched new measures in an attempt to address some of these challenges and strengthen the impact of its work in Dadaab. Further, the agency and its partners are continuously looking at ways to improve the delivery services and assistance to residents of the camp. Because the reality is that until there is an improvement on the political and economic situation in the region, Dadaab is the only home to more half-a-million refugees. It also looks like this is not a temporary stay. In the meantime, I encourage the United Nations and partners to not only look to improve the short term situation for refugees in the camp, but also to work with the regional governments to examine and improve the long term outlook for the vulnerable population living in Dadaab.

 

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Mar 01

Millennium Development Goal Achieved: Now What?

Quite a few posts have been written here at NotEnoughGood about the UN millennium development goals (MDGs), but this post is a bit different.  I’m not going to describe the goals or how they came to be or the latest UN meeting—you can click through the archives or do a quick Google search for that.  No, today I’m going to focus today on one specific goal, target 1.A: halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day, which the World Bank announced on Wednesday has been reached.

In 1981 there were 1.94 billion people living in extreme poverty, and by 2008 that number had dropped down to 1.29 billion people—about 22% of the population of the developing world.  Data after 2008 is not yet available, but estimates show that the $1.25 a day poverty rate had fallen to half of its 1990 value by 2010, meaning that this first MDG has already been achieved.  And in Asia Pacific, which is home to 2/3rds of the developing world’s poor, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 50% in 1990 to 22% in 2009.  This is great news, since it means that despite the global recession the overall poverty rate is continuing to drop, and we have met the UN MDG 4-5 years ahead of schedule.  But what does this really mean for global economic development?

Well, let me put this data into a different perspective.  A recent Foreign Policy article pointed out that most Americans are, on a global scale, part of the 1 percent, with the average US household living on about $55 per person per day: that’s $53.75 per person per day higher than the $1.25 poverty line the UN MDGs seek to raise.  I’m not trying to chastise us Americans here, or anyone in the developed world, but simply to point out that while yes, it’s good that the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day has decreased considerably, it doesn’t mean that they are much closer to developed world standards, especially when you consider that 43% of the world’s poor are still living on less than $2 a day.  That number has also decreased since 1981, but fairly modestly compared to the percentage of people living under the $1.25 line, as it went from 2.59 billion in 1981 to 2.47 billion in 2008.

So what does this mean for global economic development, exactly?  Frankly, not a whole lot.  There’s still a long ways to go, and we shouldn’t say, “Well, we reached the target for the MDG, time to forget about it!”  The MDGs are a baseline, nothing more, and ideally we will continue to move past them long after 2015.  In fact, if the current rate continues there will still be about 1 billion people living in extreme poverty (under $1.25 a day) in 2015.  So just because we’ve reached this goal doesn’t mean it’s time to stop focusing on international economic growth (and maybe next time you read something in the news about the Occupy movement, remember that while you may not be in the 1 percent in the US, chances are very high that you’re in the 1 percent globally).

So now I have a question for you: what do you think is the biggest thing that can be done to spur economic growth?  I’ve written dozens of blog posts on economic development on suggestions as diverse as microfinance organizations, opening a stock exchange, and sustainable tourism, but what do you think is the best way to improve international economic development?

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Mar 01

¿Y a quien le incumbe?-Una mirada mas cercana hacia el Tibet

Read this post in English.

La semana pasada, de una manera media esporádica, decidí que me voy a Dharamsala, India en junio (lo pueden llamar un regalo de graduación para mi misma).  Para que todos sepa, Dharamsala se encuentra al norte de la India por el Himalaya y al sur del Tíbet. Además del voluntariado que voy a hacer allí, una de las razones más importantes por la que quiero ir es para aprender más sobre la cultura tibetana y la gente que vive allí. Tal vez ustedes no han visto muchas noticias sobre el Tíbet o de los monjes y monjas que se han prendido en fuego, pero es una realidad de la cual muchas personas no son conscientes. En realidad, algunas personas ni siquiera saben que el Tíbet existe en este planeta, pero tal vez esa es la cuestión principal que ha traído tanta discordia a esta región.

La República Popular China, que está al norte del Tíbet, tomó posesión del Tíbet en 1951 y abolió el gobierno tibetano en 1959, después de que el líder de Tíbet, el 14 º Dalai Lama, viajara en exilio en Dharamsala. Desde entonces, el 14 º Dalai Lama ha hecho su hogar en Dharamsala,  estableciendo un gobierno rival en exilio, la Administración Central Tibetana, con el objetivo de obtener la “rehabilitación de los refugiados tibetanos y la restauración de la libertad y la felicidad en el Tíbet”.

Pero, ¿qué es exactamente la felicidad en el Tíbet? Si cambiamos el reloj de 1959 al presente, podemos ver que aun persiste un sentimiento de aflicción entre la comunidad tibetana. Como he mencionado, hay numerosos casos de monjes y monjas que se han encendido en fuego. Podemos reconocer estos actos de autoinmolación como el sacrificio más grande en nombre de la libertad del Tíbet. En particular, Robert Barnett, que es el Director del Programa del Tíbet moderno de Estudios en la Universidad de Columbia, dice que esta es una nueva forma de protesta por estos tibetanos budistas de una manera que envía un mensaje claro sin la participación de varias personas. La cultura tibetana es una de las culturas más pasivas, siempre promoviendo las manifestaciones pacíficas. Aunque estos actos de autoinmolación no son exactamente los más pacíficos de ver, ellos, sin duda, envían un mensaje que no perjudica a nadie mas que a la persona que sacrifica su vida.

Yo nunca he visto ninguna noticia en la televisión acerca de estas protestas, que creo que se puede atribuir mayormente por el hecho de que China no quiere que nadie se involucre en sus “asuntos internos” como la portavoz de la cancillería China, Jiang Yu, dijo sobre este tema. Entonces según esto, esto no es de nuestra incumbencia. Pero la pregunta es: ¿en verdad estas violaciones de derechos humanos que estan afuera de nuestro país no son asuntos nuestros? Quiero mencionar esto porque recientemente aquí en Nueva York, ha habido protestas contra el control del gobierno chino sobre el Tíbet. La semana pasada fue el inicio del Año Nuevo Tibetano llamado Losar, pero en ves de tener celebraciones festivas, como de costumbre, los tibetanos decidieron tomar este tiempo como un período de luto en nombre de todas aquellas personas que se han auto-inmolan en el nombre de la libertad.

Afuera de las Naciones Unidas, Shingza Rinpoche, Gyalp Dorjee y Tenzing Yeshi iniciaron una huelga de hambre para convencer a las Naciones Unidas que reconozcan las violaciones de los derechos humanos en el Tíbet y para mostrar su solidaridad con los otros tibetanos que también están protestando por su libertad. Al igual que estos tres hombres, los tibetanos al rededor del mundo buscan la libertad para su país. Puede ser que algunas personas sepan sobre el Tíbet y sobre su lucha en busqueda de la libertad, pero me pregunto ¿sera que la gente realmente sabe acerca de estos problemas más allá de los titulares superficiales? Creo que algunos saben de lo que está pasando, pero se quedan al margen porque “no es asunto de ellos”. La próxima vez que ustedes pasen por una protesta tibetana, paren y hablen con alguien de allí para que realmente puedan tener una perspectiva única. La próxima vez que estén en una librería, densen un vistazo a algunos de los libros que el 14 º Dalai Lama ha escrito y formen sus propias ideas de lo que realmente está pasando. ¿Cómo puede la gente tener un voz si no hay nadie que realmente les oiga? ¿Cómo puede el Tíbet obtener su libertad si son los únicos que creen en ella? ¿Creen ustedes que el Tíbet tiene el derecho de ser libre?

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Feb 29

Ten Thousand Villages

I am always (and I mean always) struggling with ideas for creative gifts for holidays and birthdays.  It seems that your boyfriend’s mother, or your next-door neighbor, or your new boss always bring the greatest stress when thinking up an appropriate present.  I have the hardest time because I am so strictly opposed to giving useless or thoughtless gifts.  It seems to be a constant battle to give meaningfully and creatively.  Then, I was introduced to an amazing website that has saved me on so much difficulty on Christmas, engagement, and thank you gifts.  Shopping through  Ten Thousand Villages allows me to give unique and meaningful gifts.  The organization is advertised only through word of mouth and on national-public radio, but it is one of the oldest and biggest fair trade non-profits operating in the U.S. and Canada.  Hopefully if the word has not spread to you yet, you’ll check out http://tenthousandvillages.com for your next shopping conundrum.

Fair trade organizations have been the center of much craze and much criticism.  It is well known there are limitations to fair trade schemes, and it is likely possible that your good intention as a consumer are causing adverse effects, as can be read about in Katherine’s post.  Ten Thousand Villages tries to reach unique populations to benefit from their organization.  Ten Thousand Villages aims to create livelihoods for disadvantaged artisans.  Two key points to this mission are their work for the disadvantaged and their work for artisans.

Disadvantaged encompasses segments of the population that have been marginalized in society and excluded from the active local economy.  These artisans might be disadvantaged in society because of their disability, their gender, or their ethnicity.  Below is a description found on Ten Thousand Village’s website of their currently featured artisan group.  This example represents Ten Thousand Villages’ commitment to serving the truly disadvantaged, and its dedication to working with local communities to create a holistic strategy to improve economic, social, and health conditions.

 

“Uganda Crafts is an organization managed by disadvantaged people that helps disadvantaged people. Uganda Crafts markets crafts for artisans and provides training in quality control, design and marketing. The organization also owns a retail store that provides employment for people with physical disabilities. One of the missions of Uganda Crafts is to provide hope to disabled people, youth and those suffering from HIV/AIDS. In addition to training, employees receive health benefits, emergency loans and transportation. Uganda Crafts employs approximately 300 artisans in five workshops or cooperatives, 85 percent of them women.”

The second portion of their targeted population is that they are artisans.  Fair trade discussions have often been focused on agricultural products or clothing, items that have obvious markets in their home country.  Unlike agriculture, art in impoverished communities, especially among marginalized artisans in society, lacks a market where artisans can sell for a fair wage.  Ten Thousand Villages markets to North American audiences by offering jewelry, home décor, accessories, and unique gifts that were hand crafted by artisans or artisan groups.  Ten Thousand Villages operates on a fair price commitment to artisans by allowing them to set their own price and by giving 50% of that price to the artisan before their product ever sells in North America.  This way, artisans receive investment funds to create their products and are assured monetary compensation whether or not their product sells.  Artisans’ compensation is not affected by discounts or product markdowns.  If their product fails to sell consistently, Ten Thousand Villages works with the artists on design.  Ten Thousand Villages has a commitment to long-term relationships, where products are bought from the same artisans year after year to ensure a stable income.

Ten Thousand Villages is seen as a model organization for connecting limited artists with limitless buyers.  The organization has been recognized as one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” by Ethisphere Institute and Forbes Magazine.  In 2008, the organization broke their sale record by making over $25 million worth of sales.  About one third of this money goes directly back to wages for artisans, and the other two-thirds used toward importing, shipping, marketing, administration, and storage.  Compared to the typical 1 to 5 cents to a dollar artisans in many countries receive by selling through traditional commercial retail, Ten Thousand Village’s wage allows artisons a fair wage they would currently be otherwise unable to acquire.

Organizations like Ten Thousand Villages are allowing two totally separate and distinct bases to converge and result in mutually beneficial outcomes.  Artisan groups like the one in Uganda featured above are provided a wider market to sell their work to, and in this way help to support their community and social troubles.  Terrible shoppers, like me, in North America are provided a unique and meaningful avenue to shop.  With over 50 stores in North America, you can support Ten Thousand Villages by volunteering at one of their intake stores, hosting a festival sale at your home, or by encouraging others to purchase from this fair trade site.

 

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Feb 29

Gender Discrimination: Ending Street Harassment in the US

Women in the United States have come a long way since the 1800s. From being granted voting rights, to the creation of Planned Parenthood and approval of birth control, to the equal pay act, women have covered a lot of ground on the road toward equality. However, there are still some grey areas where women should be seeing equality, but aren’t. The point that I want to bring up today is one that does not get much recognition, even though it is prevalent in every single American woman’s life.

Street harassment is something that 100% of women will experience in their lives. It includes any action or comment between strangers in public places that is disrespectful, unwelcome, threatening and/or harassing and is motivated by gender. Harassment can come in the form of whistling, calling out, touching or groping, flashing, stalking, and more. Unfortunately, most women shrug off street harassment and see it as an unavoidable occurrence in their everyday lives, regardless of how much it bothers them.

What brought this problem to mind was when it happened to me earlier today. I was walking out of the subway when a man stepped in front of me and whispered, “Hey, pretty eyes.” Now, I guess some people might argue that the man was giving me a compliment. However, any woman who has ever had a strange man cut them off and “compliment” them in such a way can attest to the fact that it is not at all flattering. After dodging the man and quickly walking away, I was incredibly irritated. I kept thinking about how frustrating it was that men can do that to women, and how gross it makes me feel when they make those comments, or worse, make that cringing, smacking, kissing noise in my ear. It’s disgusting.

As I kept walking, I started remembering countless occurrences of being street harassed. While the experiences that I have had were physically harmless, they’re still not okay. Furthermore, not all instances of street harassment are simply offensive comments; they can become dangerous. This is my call to action. Women, how many times have you been street harassed? Now think about how many times you’ve done something about it. Chances are that number is very small, if not nonexistent.

I’m not pointing fingers; I have done my best to simply shrug off street harassment and have never taken any steps toward ending it, either. Street harassment makes me feel uncomfortable, and I have often thought that acting against it might put me in a dangerous position. This fear of danger is the reason that street harassment persists, though, so what can we do?

I would never suggest that anyone put themselves in a shady situation in an attempt to spite their harasser. However, there are steps that can be taken that will keep both our dignity and our safety intact. Stopstreetharassment.org and ihollaback.org are two websites that actively fight back against street harassment. Stopstreetharassment.org uses the approach of teaching women how to defend themselves on the spot. The website gives suggestions and full out directions on how women can confidently and civilly take a stand against a male harasser. The suggestions have been created to catch the harasser off guard and open their eyes to the fact that women do not like being treated in such a way. Ihollaback.org uses a different approach. The organization was created to raise awareness about street harassment and uses technology as their base. They’ve created apps, blogs, forums, and events where women can post pictures of their harassers, find maps that show spots with prevalent harassing, share their stories, and make the greater public (including authorities) aware of the problem.

I think that both of these organizations are taking positive steps toward making the streets safer and more comfortable for women. Without standing up for ourselves or raising awareness, we will never stop street harassment. Learning safe methods of how to defend yourself against harassers is something that every woman should do. Sharing stories, methods, information, and raising awareness is the next crucial step that we must take to protect ourselves from the inhumanity that is street harassment.

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Feb 28

Who’s Business Is It? – A Closer Look at Tibet

So last week I sort-of sporadically decided that I’m going to Dharamsala, India in June (you can call it a graduation gift to myself).  To let everyone, know Dharamsala is in northern India by the Himalayas and south of Tibet.  Besides the community service I’ll be doing there, one of the most important reasons I wanted to go to this region is to learn more about Tibetan culture and the people that live there.  Perhaps you may not have seen much news on Tibet or their monks and nuns that are setting themselves on fire, but it’s a reality that many people are not aware of.  Actually some people don’t even know that Tibet exists on this planet; but perhaps that’s the main question that has brought so much unrest within this region.

 

People’s Republic of China, which is north of Tibet, took possession of Tibet in 1951 and abolished the Tibetan government in 1959, after their leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, journeyed to exile in Dharamsala.  Since then, the 14th Dalai Lama has made Dharamsala his home establishing a rival government-in-exile, theCentral Tibetan Administration (CTA), with the goals of “rehabilitating Tibetan Refugees and restoring freedom and happiness in Tibet”.

 

But, what exactly is happiness in Tibet?  If we change the clock from 1959 to present day Tibet, we can see that unrest remains amongst the people of Tibet.  Like I mentioned, there are numerous cases of monks and nuns setting themselves on fire.  We can acknowledge these self-immolation acts as the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom of Tibet.  In particular, Robert Barnett who is the Director of the Modern Tibet Studies Program at Columbia University says that this is a new form of protest by these Buddhist Tibetans in a way that sends a clear message without involving multiple people.  Tibetan culture is one of the most peace-seeking cultures there are, with emphasis on peaceful demonstrations.  Though these self-immolation acts are not exactly peaceful ones to see, it definitely sends a message and harms no one but the person sacrificing their life.

 

I can say that I have never seen any news on TV about these protests; I think this can be best attributed by the fact that China doesn’t want anyone involved in their “internal affairs” as Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said in addressing this issue.  So according to this, it is none of our business.  But the question is: are human rights violations outside of our country really none of our business?  I want to bring this up because recently here in New York, there have been protests against the Chinese government’s hold on Tibet.  Last week was the start of the Tibetan New Year called Losar, but instead of having festive celebrations as usual, Tibetans decided to make it a period of mourning for all those people who self-immolated themselves in the name of freedom.

 

Outside of the United Nations, Shingza Rinpoche, Dorjee Gyalp and Yeshi Tenzing went on a hunger strike in efforts to convince the United Nations to address human rights violations in Tibet and to show solidarity with other Tibetans that are also protesting for their freedom.  Like these three men, Tibetans all over the world seek freedom for their country.  People may know about Tibet and about its efforts to seek freedom, but do people really know about these problems beyond the superficial headlines?  I think people believe they know about what’s going on, but rather stay out of it because it’s “none of their business”.  Well I think that next time you pass by a Tibetan protest, you should speak to someone there and really get a unique perspective.  Next time you’re at a bookstore, look at some of the books the 14th Dalai Lama has written and make your own assessments of what’s really going on.  How can people have voices if there is no one to truly hear them? How can Tibet gain its freedom if they’re the only ones that believe in it?  Do you think Tibet has a right to be free?

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Feb 28

The Empathetic Society

What would society look like if we all employed a bit more empathy? This is the precise question that Ashoka and their team of fellows have embarked on answering. The definition of empathy as outlined by Webster is: “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.” To quote Bernard Amadei, the founder of Engineers without Borders, “Empathy is not what we see today: empathy is not 1.2 billion people who lack clean water; it’s not 29,000 people who die each day unnecessarily; empathy is not the pollution of the Yellowstone river; it’s not 1.6 billion people who lack electricity.”

Taking a step back, Ashoka is an organization that unites social entrepreneurs from around the world to develop social sector projects, promoting collaboration and support in addressing global needs. Some of the brightest minds in social innovation and entrepreneurship have become Ashoka fellows and their contributions in the last 20 years to the field of development have been immense.

With this leverage they hold, Ashoka has taken upon this new initiative of promoting and teaching empathy within the educational systems; with the goal of teaching children the importance that such awareness has on future problem solving. From their site, they argue for empathy by stating: “Empathy plays a crucial role in innovation, change making, and solving entrenched systemic problems. We need the skill of applied empathy – the ability to understand what other people are feeling and to guide one’s actions in response – to succeed in teams, to solve problems, to lead effectively, to drive change.”

 

Empathy is a broad concept, and I don’t think most of us think about how it affects the decisions we make regularly. I think empathy, when it is lacking, is much more apparent to western societies than when individuals are employing it.

 

One really great YouTube video about empathy is posted below. It is 10 minutes long, and the beginning can be a bit technical, but excellently outlines why “to empathize is to civilize”.

The takeaway from this video, and the message that Ashoka is promoting is that “we need to rethink the institutions of society, and prepare the groundwork for empathic civilizations”.

Empathy is a driving force in development work, and arguably the predominant reason that individuals go into work with social enterprises. For this reason Ashoka believes that empathy should be approached as a subject with the same levels of importance as math or sciences. Empathy is not a characteristic we are born with, but instead is learned as we mature. Therefore, this issue can cut along all societies and cultures. Similarly, I believe that this is why it is one of the most uniting features as humans and why I agree that it must be promoted globally.

Imagine what can be accomplished if we begin training our children to think on a more global scale. I agree with Ashoka that this will be a fundamental breakthrough as we continue to move forward in improving the plight of the poor. Giving a greater perspective to our children will inevitably move global innovation further as these students create better communities, societies, and institutions.

Amadei believes that since we are educating our future decision leaders, we must institute this understanding and awareness now. He argues for hands on educational experiences stating “sometimes you have to drink the same drinks and use the same bathrooms before you feel compelled to do something. Then you break free of the idea that you’re superior to anyone.”

Besides Engineers Without Borders, Ashoka is working with organizations around the globe to promote this new ideology. Organizations such as Search for Common Ground, who are working to promote collaborative problem solving within conflict zones, is just one example of empathy development programs. Here is a clear case for how empathy can come into play and alleviate potential conflict escalation. If two sides of a violent conflict can be mediated toward understanding one another, there is a chance that less blood will be spilled in the road towards solving the issues at hand.

Typically I am weary of statements or policies that impose a particular way of thinking or value system upon a different culture. However I don’t think that promoting empathetic thinking is something that will inherently harm any society that is exposed to this methodology.  I think that Ashoka has nailed down a particularly important aspect of development theory often overlooked by larger organizations, and for that I applaud this new initiative.

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Feb 27

Changing Tradition with Same-Sex Couples

Do you remember the first time you learned what the “American Dream” was? For me, it was in junior high, when I was taught why the colonists had come to America years ago.  I was also told that the American Dream connects to the Declaration of Independence, when Jefferson said that everyone was entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I learned more about it when I read The Grapes of Wrath in high school, and realized why so many migrants were making their way to California during that time. Thoreau later wrote in his book, Walden, that “if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will be met with a success unexpected in common hours.”

The American Dream has gradually, but significantly, changed over time. In fact, I think it is right to say that the “American Dream” does not actually have a defined meaning anymore. It is what you want it to be. It’s retiring rich and playing golf all day; it’s becoming a famous actress and walking the red carpet; it’s having a family and living in a big house with white picket fence surrounding the yard. Maybe it’s being able to donate a dollar to the needy every day, or having the opportunity to attend college. The American Dream has changed with time because we, as Americans, have changed as well.

Last Friday, Virginia’s governor, Bob McDonnell, stated in an interview that raising children in same-sex households would hold them back from achieving the “American Dream.” In other words, two women raising a child would keep their son or daughter from becoming a doctor, writing a book, or just simply getting a job in general. Two men fathering their children would prevent the kids from becoming great athletes, traveling the world, or being elected as town mayor.

Obviously, this is not really the case. A child raised in a same-sex household will not be kept from achieving their dreams. Yes, their childhood might be different than yours or mine was, but why does that make it wrong? I grew up in a single-parent household; my best friend’s parents are still married. Our childhoods were drastically different, but nobody seems to notice that.

As Americans, we have Continue reading

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