The Good News is Part 1

I find it hard not to worry about the world. Our civilization is under threat and I feel like I should warn everyone because no one knows but I have to be careful not to talk too much about it because the truth is, most people don't want to hear it. No one likes a self-righteous party pooper dispensing advice from an imaginary high horse. And I don't want to beat a dead horse. And no one wants a guilt trip (on a horse?). Plus, I don't want to lead a horse to the river if I can't change horses midstream. Someone hold my horses, this is getting ridiculous. Never look a gift horse in the mouth...because gift horses have ugly mouths I think. Okay, I'll stop.

But my family is contractually obliged to listen to me so even in the historical marvel that is Cusco, I sent my sister a downer of a postcard lamenting that I didn't know what to do when children workers come up to me in the streets selling their candies. Should I give them something and support their parents in promoting child labour or should I refuse to give my spare change to child in need?

Here's another. There's a poor little boy that I sometimes see walking near my office who looks nothing like any of the happy children in this picture, least of all the kid on the far left. He's a shoeshiner, small, poor and dirty and can't be more than 8 years old (though sometimes you can't tell because malnutrition hinders their development). His presence contrasts starkly with the backdrop of my office, proud bright streets, swept, scrubbed and manicured, every tree and shrub attended to (daily, since Lima is desert afterall). Holding his brush and with a shoeshiner's stool slung over his shoulder, he drags his heels passing upscale cafe's and clothing stores, evading eye contact, not looking scared amongst these rich and powerful businessmen but bored rather. His swagger belied a tired mix of nonchalance and weariness, as if he's had enough of the un-stimulating existence he lives and the reality of this world. So young yet already so jaded.

I've seen a lot of child workers in Peru and Bolivia but this boy's attitude got to me. Other kids resort to different tactics to make a penny or two. Who can blame any of them for what they do? They should be in school, playing and learning. Instead, some rush around offering candy, some just look up at you with the cutest bambi eyes, some sing a song, some whine persistently. This boy however, behaved as if he'd been living this life way too long already. As if he didn't even care if he made an extra cent or two because he knew it would make no difference to his existence. Truth be told, he's absolutely right.

For the moment, this dirty boy is currently small and harmless enough to be disregarded in this affluent, closely-guarded neighbourhood. But as he becomes a young man he will begin to constitute a threat in the eyes of this community, intimidating merely with his presence rich ladies who will react by clutching their handbags tighter (I've seen that happen, and who knows? Perhaps with good reason). Without even a basic education, learning to read or multiply, this kid is locked onto a path towards certain poverty. In a world of laptops and internet, baby Beethoven tapes and a million stimulation tools for every stage of infancy, this boy and countless others have been left behind, failed by this world. Him and 72 million others.

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I'm reading a book published by the Earth Policy Institute called Plan B 3.0 - Mobilizing to Save Civilization. It's available for free download here or here. The title sounds alarmist but the truth is, the facts are alarming. The book talks pragmatically about the four main problems threatening civilization, a tightly interwoven net of poverty, overpopulation, climate change and destruction of the Earth's ecosystem. Those are four monumental problems but true to the title, it's a plan to overcome these problems. It's straightforward, rather genius and worth at least a glance if you plan on living in this world.

Basic education is common sense. It gives people a way out of poverty, improves health and agricultural productivity and lowers fertility. In an overpopulated world, everyone benefits from educated mothers having fewer but healthier babies.

The fact that 72 million children worldwide are unable to attend school is both a symptom and a cause of poverty and overpopulation. Without learning to read or to count, the chasm between the rich and the poor will only widen. Like the little boy left to shine shoes, the undecated will be left behind, locked in a frustrating cycle of povery with no way out while watching the first world flourish. This is a dangerous combination, and as Amartya Sen is quoted in the book, "illiteracy and innumeracy are a greater threat to humanity than terrorism."

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The good news is that as a world, we have made astounding progress. I think poverty has been the norm for most people for most of the duration of human history. Only recently have we secured access to clean water, education and food for a majority of the population.

China has done incredibly lifting people out of poverty (430 million people!! in two decades between 1981 and 2001) and has increased literacy in a growing population (from 65% in 1982 to 93.3.% in 2008). A country with an educated population advances quickly, on its own two feet and encourages democracy. Whenever I see kids in school, it gives me hope, no matter how rudimentary the classroom. Knowing the human spirit and being backed by a growing superpower, these kids will bring progress to the world, no matter how hard their lives. The state of the world's environment is going to depend largely on how China continues to develop and the decisions they make right now and in the future. Education can only help them to make the right decisions.

Peru as well has grown immensely in the past decade, currently equaling or possibly surpassing China's growth in GDP. This country is similarly developing and booming, making strides on many fronts while dealing with its own economic and political turmoils (in 1992, two carbombs planned by 'The Shining Path' terrorists brought down a building just two streets from where I live in the richest neighbourhood in Lima). Literacy rates in Peru have gone from 82% in 1981 to 90.5% in 2007.

Eliminating poverty worldwide is one of those things vague things like world peace that everyone wishes for. They seem like far-fetched pipedreams, unattainable goals. It's an answer to a question in a beauty pageant. I mean eliminate poverty?? All my life, all I've heard about is people starving in Africa. But eliminating poverty and world peace are closely related and regarding the former, it is becoming a real possibility. It's exciting and progress is being made everywhere....