Do ONE Thing to Change the World

I had a rather Dickensian moment this morning. We have a feral cat and her two kits living in our backyard; this morning as I fed our cats, the three ferals sat outside peering in at them hungrily. (We feed the ferals, too. I went out to feed them a few minutes later; it was just the image of them looking in at the chubby cats eating from bowls that was mildly Dickensian.) I was reminded once again that my cats--and even the feral cats in my yard--eat better than many of the world's humans. Too many.

Which brings me to the ONE campaign. I learned about it through Mercy Corps, a charity I've supported. The ONE campaign is geared toward building and maintaining awareness among wealthier nations (that would be us), with an immediate focus on the upcoming G-8 summit.

Poverty and debt are high on the agenda for the July 6-8 meeting of the Group of Eight (G8), where eight men – the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia - will have the power to save the lives of millions of people who live in extreme poverty. And you can help make this happen.

President Bush needs to hear that Americans strongly support bold leadership on this issue. Nearly one million people have signed the ONE Declaration, calling on U.S. political leaders to devote an additional one percent of the federal budget to ending abject poverty around the globe.

The letter urges President Bush to do the following at the G8 summit:

• Help the poorest people of the world fight poverty, AIDS and hunger at a cost equal to just one percent more of the U.S. budget on a clear timetable;


• Cancel 100 percent of the debts owed by the poorest countries;


• Reform trade rules so poor countries can earn sustainable incomes.

There are rubber bracelets and celebrity endorsements and T-shirts and junk like that for the ONE campaign--whatever it takes, I guess. But the more important thing to note is that the U.S. gives a smaller percentage of its national budget to end poverty than do other nations like us; fewer congressional perks, high-priced toilet seats, machines of war, take your pick, would not have an adverse effect on our nation's ability to do what it does--it's pocket change on the grand scale for the U.S. But it could be life-changing--drinking water for millions of people who don't even have that, to name just one thing--for much of the world.

I still advocate donating to relief charities on an individual basis, and I still remind myself every day (and especially when I am inclined to feel financially crunched) that compared to much of the world, I am extremely, wildly, ridiculously rich. What I spend on a very inexpensive shirt at the outlet mall is more than a month's salary in a lot of the world. What the computer that I write this on cost...yeah, it could buy a lot in many parts of the world. And yes, what I spend on cat food and veterinary care...I may not be ready to give up my worldly goods and pass it all on to the poor, but I try to remember how well off I am, and do at least something to help, to make a small difference. What the ONE campaign is asking us to do is to make a tiny bit of a difference, but as a large group: if all of us in the U.S.--by means of our government, which exists to act on our collective behalf--gave a penny of each tax dollar (dollars we've already paid out) to help, we could certainly change the world for a lot of people.

Start by signing the ONE campaign declaration. That will only cost a moment of your time.

UPDATE 7/6/05: BoingBoing says only 390,000 people have signed (versus however-many million watched the Live 8 concerts--c'mon, people, all you have to do is sign the thing. Is that so hard? Or do you genuinely and truly not care about the rest of the world?