Sunday, January 13, 2008
One sec・100 yen
While cooking dinner tonight, I came across this TV show on TBS titled "The World in One Sec - 『一秒の世界』".And I learned something new:
Each second that the clock ticks by ...
252 tons (= 63 large trucks worth) of fossil fuel is consumed on earth
5100 m2 (= 20 tennis court) of natural forests are disappearing
78 m2 (= 48 tatami mats) of land in China turns into desert
400,000 kwh of electricity used in the world
0.3 person (= 1 person / 4 sec) is dying of hunger
Shocked, I was glued to the TV screen until the program ended. Then I went online and checked the show's website; trying out some of the extended links on that site, I found something even more shocking:
I actually AM - not "could be," but "am" - one of the 12th richest people on earth.
That is, considering if the world suddenly becomes a small village of 100 people.
Sure, most of us have all heard of that story - "If the world were village of 100 people, then ..."
Still, our position within that village hasn't changed. Worst of all, the position of "the others" hasn't changed either.
Such as ...
the 20 of "them" who are hungry (including 1 dying of starvation)
the 43 of "them" who do not have access to sanitation
the 18 of "them" who do not have clean, safe water to drink
the 39 of "them" who lack access to improved sanitation
the 15 of "them" who are unable to read
the 93% of "them" who only have elementary-level education
the 99 of "them" who do not have a college education
the 93 of "them" who have no access to the Internet
as well as the 5 of "them" who do own 59% of the entire world's money, and all 5 are our fellow U.S. citizens
Turning the table around, I could ask myself a different question - What can I do with 100-yen or, to be precise, 83 cents?
Well, I actually can furnish my apartment with 90% of the daily household supplies, thanks very much to the flood of 100-yen shops in this city.
However, I could also use 100-yen to help 5 kids in Myanmar to receive polio vaccine or plant 10 trees in Inner Mongolia to prevent desertification. If I gather 3 friends who each contributes 100 yen, we can clear out 1 m2 of land mines at the Thai-Cambodia border. If I get 30 people to each contribute 100 yen, we can provide enough lamp oil used in the Iraqi refugee camps during the winter.
And so far I've only done the very first one - to stock up 90% of my household supplies from the overflowing 100-yen shops in this city.
There is room to do more.
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"If the world were a village of 100 people ..." - http://www.miniature-earth.com/me_english.htm
We really are all richer than we thought - http://www.globalrichlist.com/
梅ちゃん at 3:30:00 AM
1 Comments
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at 4/26/09, 4:31 PM
said... this is really cool!!and i am shocked as well...
by the way, i love your blog...:)