Global Poverty and Solutions- Solutions Part 1

8/16/09
This week we began to discuss some of the possible solutions to global poverty. Much of this discussion was centered around energy poverty. A lack of accessible energy seems to be the root of almost all other types of poverty. Because of this, figuring out how to connect the world to a clean reliable, and abundant power source should be an important step towards eliminating extreme poverty. Many countries that have only recently been developed seem to want what they see as "the American lifestyle." However, it is important that these countries leapfrog directly into the most modern technology, rather than following the same model that we went through. We also talked about the social effects of oil as a source of energy. These effects seem to be generally negative today, as oil has been fueling petro-dicatorships in some areas and slowing down progression toward more efficient types of energy. I am not sure yet if there is much that I can do as an individual to help end energy poverty, but I am looking forward to learning more about solutions in next week's class.