A preview of the unpublished book A CIVILIZATION WITHOUT A VISION WILL PERISH: AN INDEPENDENT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH by David Willis. CHAPTER 1: INDIFFERENCE (Part 40). This blog is a review of The End of Poverty: How We Can Make it Happen in Our Life Time, by Jeffrey Sachs published in 2005
The Goal
For the first time in history, our generation has the opportunity to end extreme poverty in the world’s most desperate nations. Jeffrey Sachs lays out how poverty has been beaten in the past, how – in realistic, attainable steps – we can make a real difference for the one-fifth of humanity who still live in extreme poverty, how they can find partnerships with their wealthy counterparts to escape the poverty trap, how little it will actually cost, and how everyone can help. We can end poverty by 2025 and change the world for ever.
The author
Jeffrey Sachs is Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University as well as Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. He is internationally renowned for his work as economic adviser to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia and Africa. He served the WHO under Gro Harlem Brundtland and directed the work of the UN Millennium Project. Bono has opened the eyes of millions of fans and citizens to the shared struggle for global equality and justice and through his gifted leadership has connected worlds that would otherwise have remained separate. Together with his close associates he pushes the agenda for global development to the forefront of often indifferent and unaware global leaders.
The plan
The plan laid out is not only a critical path to accomplish the 2015 Millennium Development Goal of cutting poverty by half, but a handbook on how we could be the first generation to unknot the tangle of bad trade, bad debt, and bad luck; to end the corrupt relationship between the powerful and the weak; to help the 15,000 people daily dying needlessly from AIDS, TB, and malaria; to help the 8 million people who die each year because they are too poor to stay alive; to address the plight of the world’s poorest of the poor, whose societies are destabilized by extreme poverty and thereby become havens of unrest, violence, and even global terrorism; to close the yawning gap between what the rich world claims to be doing to help the poor and what it is actually doing; to use our wealth wisely; to heal a divided planet; to end suffering of those still trapped by poverty; and to forge a common bond of humanity, security, and shared purpose across cultures and religions.
Peace and prosperity
This book is about making choices – choices that can lead to a much safer world based on a true reverence and respect for human life and will help to show the way toward the path of peace and prosperity, based on a detailed understanding of how the world economy has gotten to where it is today and how our generation can mobilize our capacities to eliminate extreme poverty.