The cost of Poverty
By Mike Lamont, Graham Smout, Ryan McCarthy, Jayne Jones, Matt Galloway, Tialda Veldman, Callum Gay, Rowan Smith, Yadana Saw and Paul Zoubkov
“A large majority is consigned to suffering and despair in the interests of narrow sectors of privilege and power” – Noam Chomsky
- Basic education for all would cost $6 billion a year
- $8 billion is spent annually on cosmetics in the US alone
- Installation of water and sanitation for all would cost $9 billion
- $11 billion is spent annually on ice-cream in Europe
- Basic healthcare and nutrition worldwide would cost $13 billion
- $35 billion is spent each year on business entertainment in Japan
- The total cost of eradicating poverty worldwide is estimated at around $80 billion
- The world spends $800 billion a year on military alone. That’s ten times the needed amount!
Ten ways YOU can fight poverty
INFORM: By reading these pages, you are gathering information that will help you form an OPINION.
OPINION: The whole world is based on everyone having one of these. Make sure yours is well informed. TALK to other people and share your knowledge.
TALK: Share your ideas and concerns with other people – your friends, parents, teachers. Hearing what others say helps to EXPLORE an issue.
EXPLORE: Exploring can be about testing what you know, or what others say. You may encounter problems, solutions and more questions – enough to make you want to CHANGE something.
CHANGE: If the world needs fixing, start by changing yourself. You might stop buying certain products, food or clothes. Changing your habits is to CHALLENGE what you don’t like.
CHALLEGE: It’s difficult to stand up and care about something, but if you’ve reached this point then encourage yourself to go further. Try to find SOLUTIONS to poverty. Don’t give up.
SOLUTIONS: So far, everything you have done is a positive step that makes a difference. But what would solve some of the issues? You can be as imaginative as you like. Nothing is impossible. If you can see the connection to the issue you care about, keep up the pressure and ACTIVATE!
ACTIVATE: Live the world you wish for every day. There may be lots of bad things in the world, but you don’t have to contribute. Have PRIDE in your actions and thoughts.
PRIDE: Be proud of what you know and what you are doing. Others might find it scary or they might hassle you – just remember that doing good things is difficult and you are making a positive difference. If you are true to what you believe, then that will keep a SMILE on your face.
SMILE: Because you are making this world better.
If the world needs fixing, start by changing yourself.
Find out more
This article was written as part of Global Focus a collaborative project of Tearaway Magazine and the Global Education Centre. It was first published in Tearaway magazine and is reprinted here with their permission
Illustrator: Gavin Mouldey
