Jeff Sachs, author of "The End of Poverty" and director of The Earth Institute at Columbia U, sat down with my class yesterday to take questions and talk to us about the global social and political situation (in a 90 minute nutshell). Some of the things he said that reverberated with me and some that honestly shocked the hell right out of me:
1. In a recent speech, Bush said "terror" about 30 times in a short timespan. It was almost like a nervous tick. But he made no mention of fighting poverty or helping people survive.
2. Sachs said that when President Obama takes office in January (!), he will bring America back to a position of respect and establish the country as a world leader in clean energy and helping other countries and eradicating poverty.
3. He also said Obama needs to focus less on talking about the middle class, just because its his constituency, and more about how to help the poor people in our nation.
4. He supports nuclear energy!
5. He believes in birth control methods to control the population boom, therefore does not get along terribly well with the pope.
6. He met with all African leaders earlier this month and told them his plan to raise enough money to provide fertilizer to all families so they won't starve and die.
He is an amazing person and opened my eyes to a lot of the situations I ignore, as a conditioned person who is "well-off" (that said mockingly since i have not made a penny since April). He also made me really happy that I'm spending so much money on this degree because its truly an amazing opportunity. I'm glad I am here, despite the with drawls I have from my family and friends back home. I really do love this city and love what I'm studying - I'm very fortunate and blessed.
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