Further Reading: Environment | Healthcare | Quest for Peace | Effects Of Conflict And War
Eradicating Poverty – An Unnecessary Life Obstacle For Many.
Poverty still exists in the 21st Century, it can establish itself outside of the familiar landscape of under privileged countries and communities and take root in unexpected corners of society often as a result of social neglect, lack of opportunity or economic decline.
Poverty is a global issue and it is the responsibility of the international community to implement meaningful change.
Children In Poverty
One third of all the poor in developing countries are children aged between 0 – 12 years old.
There are 2.2 billion children in the world, and 1 billion of them live in poverty, with almost 22,000 children dying every day as a result.
In 2011, about 800 children under the age of five died every hour. Many of those young lives could have been saved with simple affordable intervention, such as clean drinking water or vaccinations.
Literacy And Nutrition
A child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5.
165 million people suffer from childhood malnutrition – if they joined hands, they could form a complete circle around the earth.
But the great news is that many more businesses every year are moving towards going paperless. It’s incredible to think that we could save 75,000 trees if we recycled the paper used on the daily run of a national paper like the New York Times, for example.
Global Trends
Global poverty has decreased by half over the last decade although 71% of the population still live in low-income or poor conditions on less than $10 a day.
The average income of those in extreme poverty in the developing world rose from 74 cents to 87 cents per day from 1981 to 2010 – which is an encouraging sign of progress though around 1.2 billion people still survive on $1.25 a day.
The good news however, is that by maintaining the current rate of progress, poverty should reach its target of eradication around 2025-2030.
Distribution Of Global Wealth
According to an Oxfam report, if the world’s 100 richest people pooled their collective earnings in 2012, they could have ended extreme world poverty four times over.
A quarter of humanity, 1.6 billion people, live without electricity, and nearly 2.8 billion people rely on wood chips, crop waste or animal dung for cooking and heating their homes.
One Billion Coffees Per Day – Worldwide
One frappuccino at any popular coffee chain costs more than the median income for people in the developing world (about $3 a day).
In spite of well over 1 billion coffees bought every day, there are still about approximately 790 million people in developing countries suffering from chronic undernourishment, two thirds of whom live in Asia and the Pacific.
The Poorest Of The Poor
Five countries – Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic Of Congo, India and Nigeria – house three-fifths of the
world’s extreme poor, with about 30% of the world’s extremely poor living in India.
Of all the 26 countries where the rate of extreme poverty is over 40%, only two are not in sub-Saharan Africa.
Water Usage And Poverty In The USA
The 12% of the world’s population that uses 85% of Earth’s water do not live in a developing country.
Few people realise this but about 54% of Americans are
considered to be below the poverty line.
Natural Resources
75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and 5 animal species.
The value of Africa’s exports of oil, gas and minerals was nearly eight-times the value of international aid the continent received in 2011; perpetuating traditional questions about the economic integrity of Africa’s export industries.
In spite of this mineral wealth, eight out of ten people in sub-Saharan Africa still heat their home and cook food using open fires; posing risks to heart and lung health.
Mobile Phones, Toilets And Sports Stadia
More people in the world have access to a mobile phone than a toilet and more than one-third of Africa lacks clean water – that’s nearly the population of the United States and Canada combined.
A large sports stadium in Europe or North America can use more electricity than the whole of Liberia. During moments of peak demand on match days, some stadia can consume up to 10 megawatts of electricity. Liberia has the capacity to pump less than a third of as much power into its national grid.
Energy Usage And Food Waste
Africa uses less than 3% of the world’s energy, despite having 12.5% of the world’s population. The United States uses 19% and its population represents less than 5% of the world population.
Between 1/4 and 1/3 of the 4 billion metric tons of food produced is lost or wasted. Poor people in developing countries spend 60-80% of their income on food. Americans spend less than 10%.
Halloween vs Malaria
Amazingly, Americans spend more on Halloween than the entire world spends on malaria in a year.
What Will We Do?
A) Learn And Collaborate Together.
The Wisdom Trust will use its online learning resources and The Wisdom Trust Community, together with a series of seminars, workshops and other events, to increase awareness about the big issues affecting the future of our planet – especially global poverty.
B) Understand How We Can All Make A Difference.
We will also provide simple advice to people on how they can make a difference to help protect the environment and to live a healthier lifestyle.
C) Provide Funding To Help Protect Our Environment.
We will make donations from our funds to support charitable causes which promote our key objectives, especially those which help alleviate global poverty and which support communities in the poorest parts of the world.
Our goal is to support programs which help to eradicate global poverty in as short a time as possible.
D) Connecting Different Communities Across The Globe.
We will also strive to help people embrace and celebrate the rich and colourful tapestry of contrasting societies and communities that inhabit our planet and to assist different communities in connecting with each other so they can collaborate in a process of learning about each other.
This, we hope, will lead to collaboration in a process of learning about each other so that we can all be stronger together.
E) Working Together To Make Things Better.
The Wisdom Trust is committed to working effectively with other individuals and organisations to help fund programs which help to alleviate poverty in communities all over the globe.
We will offer hope to those in need and deliver a positive future for children and young people everywhere.
Will you rise to the challenge?
Join Our Campaign!
We will make a difference and in just a few click of your mouse you too could be playing your part in helping to make the world a better place for everyone, regardless of age, background, religion, race or culture – or even where they live.
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How Can You Help
Members can offer their support by signing-up, then a) logging in every day; b) voting for their favourite cause; c) learning and sharing wisdom in the Wisdom Community; d) perhaps even shopping online through the website; e) spreading the word by inviting all their friends, family and colleagues to join us; f) and by contributing their own personal Pledge For Peace on our website.
By joining the Wisdom Trust as either a member or as one of our registered charitable causes, you become part of a network that is creating positive change right across the globe, for underprivileged individuals, groups and the sustainability of our planet by unlocking the collective power of wisdom and knowledge for all.
Join Us Today!
Joining The Wisdom Trust is very simple and completely free for both individuals and organisations.
We will make a difference and in just a few click of your mouse you too could be playing your part in helping to make the world a better place for everyone, regardless of age, background, religion, race or culture – or even where they live.
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