21:39 18th Sep 2012

Notes: 250

Tags: poverty wealth rich poor economic development government politics colombia bogota latin america cars public transportation

“A developed country is no place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transport.”

21:13 7th Apr 2012

Notes: 1

Reblogged from damegreywulf

Tags: poverty care care action network war on poverty lower class poor live below the line hunger starvation starving starve perspective

Sunglasses at Night: Wonder what it's like to live on $1.50 a day?

damegreywulf:

From CARE:

“Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live on $1.50 a day?

Thousands of people across the United States, and tens of thousands across the world, will be asking themselves this question as they take action to raise awareness about global poverty by living on the equivalent of the…

22:14 8th Nov 2011

Notes: 38

Reblogged from hasitallbeensaid

Tags: poverty poor ambition greed life money

hasitallbeensaid:

“We have grown literally afraid to be poor. We despise anyone who elects to be poor in order to simplify and save his inner life. If he does not join the general scramble and pant with the money-making street, we deem him spiritless and lacking in ambition.” — William James

11:13 25th Oct 2011

Notes: 29

Tags: ted talk barefoot poor india international development poverty

Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement

16:35 22nd Oct 2011

Notes: 194

Reblogged from

Tags: poverty ows occupy rich poor injustice violence black and white sign protest

07:00 8th Sep 2011

Notes: 31

Reblogged from theluxlife

Tags: Poverty Poor Rich Luxury poverty

theluxlife:

Poverty Line

Where is this?

19:04 5th Jul 2011

Notes: 16

Reblogged from goodbyeolepaint

Tags: poverty new republic psychiatry poor will power self-control exhaustion

The level at which the poor have to exert financial self-control, they have suggested, is far lower than the level at which the well-off have to do so. Purchasing decisions that the wealthy can base entirely on preference, like buying dinner, require rigorous tradeoff calculations for the poor. As Princeton psychologist Eldar Shafir formulated the point in a recent talk, for the poor, “almost everything they do requires tradeoff thinking. It’s distracting, it’s depleting … and it leads to error.

—

Why Can’t More Poor People Escape Poverty? Psychologists Have A Radical New Explanation. | The New Republic via deeannmarie

This is a pretty interesting concept.

(via goodbyeolepaint)

11:17 18th Jun 2011

Notes: 44

Reblogged from fucknopoverty

Tags: poverty movie hunger homelessness poor documentary

fucknopoverty:

likethievesinthenight:

The End of Poverty? Trailer

I want to see this.

“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.” - Nelson Mandela

WATCH FOR FREE HERE

I Haven’t seen this yet. I hope its good… I was something substantial not just fluff on poverty. Will let you all know my thoughts after I watch it!!

23:37 1st Jun 2011

Notes: 6

Tags: poverty development poor aid africa foreign policy hunger health education water

You Can't Always Get What You Want

MUST READ!

—

But how do we compare the importance of, say, health versus education versus housing? And how do we make tradeoffs between them? One approach is to apply our own values and priorities, but this ignores the preferences of the very people for whose benefit these programs are designed. This happens often in the world of development aid; a donor focusing on education, for example, might care more about classroom quality than hospital beds. But wouldn’t it be better if we could instead ask the people receiving our help what they want?

Development aid lore is rife with stories of well-intentioned outsiders missing the mark, offering people goods and services they don’t really want. Recipients sometimes manage to extract some value from unwanted items by trading them for things they actually do want, or by jury-rigging them to serve other purposes (often with limited success). A mosquito net may get swapped for a machete, for example, or a kitchen set might be sold in order to just buy food. If we want to avoid these outcomes, we must answer the question: How can we best understand people’s priorities and tastes?

10:30

Notes: 6

Tags: cossumerism diamonds fashion poverty ecofriendly sustainable celebrities kardashian poor development

Anonymous asked: How do you rectify your criticisms of Kim Kardashian's materialism when you clearly buy a shitload of high-end clothes, jewelry, etc. There is a sliding scale of materialism and commodity fetishism, which you clearly are a part of, as is Kardashian.

Hey!

Thank you for this question! This is a topic that is so confusing and frustrating for me at least. One of my best friends Steph and I literally talk about this everyday. So I’ll start with this intro.

Here is a post where I spoke a little about diamonds.

Here is one snippet of our chat conversation:

Steph: i just read your post about sam/madison/diamonds

hypocrisy is what rules our world… it’s “cool” to be aware, but no one REALLY wants to give up anything to get there… you know? even the people with the best intentions. and most of the time they/we/one don’t even realize it. it takes real drive and focus to change in a society like the US that’s so consumerism-driven

ughhhh

any-who - liked your post. feel that way most days. i find myself conflicted all the time. but ti’s soooo the reason why i’ve been so adamant with sean about a ring. i don’t want to be hypocritical. diamonds are pretty. but living people are prettier.

Me: yeah its so true.

its so confusing and frustrating

Steph: i find myself having to spend more time to change the things i’m doing on a daily basis that I do learning about the world and/or working with others hah. it seems counter-intuitive

Steph: But i do think that more people need to find ways to live that promote the message they want to convey. I know I can do more, but there are so many people out there that just don’t really truly give a shit.

Me: exactly, thats usually my point. that there are people who literally are clueless or know something is bad and don’t care

—

There are so many factors that go into this discussion of material goods and consumerism. Yes, I have material items (clothes, shoes, purses) and I do enjoy to shop. But I mean, if Kim and I were on the same graph depicting output of money used to purchase material items I wouldn’t even be visible next to her - I might be a teeny tiny little dot. That is kind of just silly to compare me to her, but I think I know your real point.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I was still growing up and not sure who I was and really liked designers and diamonds etc. I still own Louis Vuitton, Gucci, David Yurman, etc from when I used to think it meant something. Then I started studying international politics and my world changed. I am now much more cautious about what I purchase and where it comes from. I prefer to support local artists, sustainable designers, and refrain from unnecessary purchases. But, I still have my iphone, my macbook, and certain things that I consider necessities and its a conflicting feeling. But I am not ignorant, I make time to give back, and I dedicated my education to poverty studies.

I can justify my purchases because I also budget my money so I have the ability to travel. When I travel I budget my time so I can volunteer. I make no money working in nonprofit because I vowed that I would be part of the community that ends poverty in our lifetime. I talk about these issues so that people know there is something, even little that they can do to make a change. I have made changes in my life.

I think spending $20 million on one ring is disgusting and ignorant and selfish. Do you know what $20 million dollars could do to help global issues? Do you know what could be done if more celebrities joined together to actually make real differences instead of just appearing at benefits or being the face of causes? I think they have the spotlight, they have the platform to show by example and most just waste our time (the media is to blame too) with nonsense and outrageous consumerism.

This is more like it.

☮ Lyss

10:57 31st May 2011

Notes: 14

Reblogged from lylebphillips

Tags: Gandhi Gandhi quotes poor poverty family lifestyle sacrifice

I have never felt that there was any difference between the poor and me. I have always felt towards them as my own kith and kin.

— Gandhi (via lylebphillips)

11:58 14th May 2011

Notes: 18

Tags: Poverty Poor Life Wealth Values

How Poor We Are

Illustration by Ken Crane

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live.

They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from the trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”
“It was great, Dad”.

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh yes”, said the son.
“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered:
“I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
“We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden and they have a creek that has no end.
“We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.

“Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
“We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

“We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
“We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added:
“Thanks, Dad for showing me how poor we are.”

story sent by Sangeeta

via (http://myheartseuphoria.tumblr.com and http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2011/05/13/how-poor-we-are/)

10:27 1st May 2011

Notes: 10

Tags: HIV Poor Pharmaceuticals Doctors without Borders

Johnson & Johnson Refuses to Join the Medicines Patent Pool, a Mechanism Designed to Lower Prices of HIV Medicines and Increase Access to Them for People in the Developing World

“Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is putting the lives of people living with HIV at stake by refusing to participate in the Medicines Patent Pool, a mechanism designed to lower prices of HIV medicines and increase access to them for people in the developing world”

Tell Johnson & Johnson to change their minds – invite them to join the Patent Pool Party! http://stopaidscampaign.org/poolparty/

11:58 17th Mar 2011

Notes: 20

Reblogged from catechumenate

Tags: poor charity barefoot hungry

The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit.

— St. Basil the Great (via catechumenate)