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So, today is blog action day. It’s the one day per year that bloggers write and seek to educate and take action to solve one and only one of the myriad of problems we face collectively as human beings. Blog Action Day 2008 is on poverty.

Here are some stats, in case you don’t already know, courtesy of the Global Issues blog.

1. Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.
2. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.
3. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
4. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
5. 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).

Did you see number 2? What do you want to bet that at least a few of those 7 richest people live in the USA?

This is a GLOBAL issue and it goes beyond race, country and religion. We are bickering over gas prices, the upcoming election and about the war with Iraq and we, who are supposed to be among the wealthiest of nations, can’t look beyond that and help solve a crisis that would meet the most basic human needs - food, shelter and basic healthcare.

Truthfully, I am a bit ashamed of us all - myself included. There is no reason for anyone to go hungry, much less die from not having access to clean water and shelter (see #5). The problem is that it’s not an issue that is in our collective face. As a nation the majority of Americans have no concept of what it means to go without - even our poorest are not poor compared to the poverty in countries like Haiti and Africa. We live in a bubble, protected, in large part, from the harsh realities of poverty.

It’s time to awaken from the illusion that everyone else walking around on the planet lives, eats and breathes like we do. It’s time to step up, change the way we think and take responsibility for our fellow human beings and empower one another as individuals and businesses.

Check this out…
Find more videos like this on Business Fights Poverty

Let’s all make the commitment to make a change. Here are some excellent resources to find out more about poverty and how you can help solve this problem.

Business Fights Poverty

Millennium Promise

Economic Policy Institute

Miniature Earth