Seeking Ways to Improve the Human Condition
A World View
A Few Facts
From a distance the world looks blue and green, and the snow-capped mountains white...
From a distance, there is harmony, and it echoes through the land...
From a distance we all have enough, and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease, no hungry mouths to feed...
From a distance you look like my friend, even though we are at war.
From a distance I just cannot comprehend what all this fighting is for...
Lyrics from From a Distance sung by Bette Midler
That is the trouble with the world; everything is viewed from a distance. Too many of us view the troubles in the world from the comfort of our homes. Our TVs, often our only source of information, providing only a small limited snapshot of the suffering in the world. We are distracted from the global view by the suffering of a few whose pictures are plastered across the page and screen of every news media in the world.
Yes, we feel sorry for those suffering few, but too often there is nothing we can do to easy their pain. After all, how do you stop a war? As we feel sorry for those few our gaze has been turned from the pain and suffering of a growing number of people and other problems worldwide. Yet, what can we do? Until the world unites as a single voice the human suffering that goes on worldwide will continue. That is what United Earth for Peace is all about. We are about finding global solutions for global problems.
Ours is a worldview. We search for answers to global problems and then seek to apply the answers we find on a global scale without regard to race or religion and we are mandated to respect local customs with respect to those people whom we serve.
Yes, we will shine a light on those problems that must be address on a global scale. War, famine, climate change (global warming), slavery and the trafficking, abuse, and exploitation of men, women, and children are all global problems that need answers. However, the answers we will provide will be on a more human scale dealing first with the basic needs of habitat (housing), food production, and medical care. Beyond that we will address other basic needs like education for all. Even as we search for and find answers for the basic needs of humanity we will become a growing voice that will not be quenched until we have found the answers to all the other global problems we still face.
Despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone - 6 billion people - and could feed the double - 12 billion people. There were 923 million hungry people in the world in 2007, an increase of 80 million since 1990.
In 2005, an estimated 100 million people worldwide were homeless. The United Nations, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat) wrote in its Global Report on Human Settlements in 1995: "Homelessness is a problem in developed as well as in developing countries. In London, for example, life expectancy among the homeless is more than 25 years lower than the national average.
Health care for the homeless is a major public health challenge. Homeless people are more likely to suffer injuries and medical problems from their lifestyle on the street, which includes poor nutrition, substance abuse, exposure to the severe elements of weather, and a higher exposure to violence (robberies, beatings, and so on). Yet at the same time, they have little access to public medical services or clinics.
This problem is far less acute in countries which provide free-at-use health care, such as the UK, where hospitals are open-access day and night, and make no charges for treatment.
While gender and race play significant factors in explaining healthcare inequality in the United States, socioeconomic status is the greatest determining factor in an individuals level of access to healthcare. Not surprisingly, individuals of lower socioeconomic status in the United States have lower levels of overall health, insurance coverage, and less access to adequate healthcare. Furthermore, individuals of lower socioeconomic status have less education and often perform jobs without significant health and benefits plans, whereas individuals of higher standing performs jobs that are more likely to have jobs that provide medical insurance.
