One Click = Less Poverty

Music stirs the soul. As I write, the G8 Live concert is blaring somewhere across the globe. This is the “opening act” (surprisingly) for a group of politicians from the eight largest countries in the world. They are meeting to discuss world-wide economic issues. One of the specific agenda items is debt-forgiveness of the world’s poorest countries. The idea is captured in the catch phrase “make poverty history.” Rather than provide loans to poor countries, these wealthy countries are being asked to forgive, eliminate, tear-up the note on the debt. This really is not a significant sum for countries that spend multi-billions of dollars. In many ways, it is the equivalent of a handout to a panhandler.

Music also stirs the body to action. Two of my favorite bands, U2 and Coldplay are promoting this venture. In fact, the lead singer of U2, Bono, has been meeting with politicians for years to gather support for this issue. That is a rather strange thing for a rock star to do, is it not? Play politics? That is because he has a vision of making the world a different and better place. Take a minute and sign the petition for the One campaign at www.one.org. You signature will agree that it is good for countries to spend 1% of their budget on debt forgiveness, addressing the global AIDs crisis and providing basic necessities to fight tremendous poverty.

Ok, one more unrelated venture is the Hunger Site. You do not have to sign anything or give anything. You click on the site and food is donated by sponsors. www.thehungersite.com