Sowing the Future. How to achieve a path to sustainable development is the most important problem facing the world today.
It is a phenomenal challenge, unique for our time, and the voice of the church will be central for success. There is no possibility for success unless the world unites in an ethical vision defending humanity and nature. The social doctrines and moral teachings of the church are vital in building that ethical framework. There was a moment in history, 50 years ago, when the voice of the church helped save the world. In April 1963, Pope John XXIII published “Pacem in Terris,” his last encyclical.
This historical case is a vivid example of how the words and vision of the church can help inspire global leadership on a pressing issue. Indeed, we are drifting rather than solving problems, and we are losing time. Achievements and Challenges Let me begin with some good news: the rate of global poverty is falling rather rapidly. Youth unemployment is certainly one of the greatest scourges. Carter: Middle class today resembles past's poor - Yahoo News. OAKLAND, Calif.
(AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that the income gap in the United States has increased to the point where members of the middle class resemble the Americans who lived in poverty when he occupied the White House. Carter offered his assessment of the nation's economic challenges Monday at a Habitat for Humanity construction site in Oakland — the first of five cities he and wife Rosalynn plan to visit this week to commemorate their three-decade alliance with the international nonprofit that promotes and builds affordable housing. The recent economic downturn revealed that families living in even comparatively well-off, but expensive regions like the San Francisco Bay Area are economically insecure, he said. "The disparity between rich people and poor people in America has increased dramatically since when we started," he said.
"The middle class has become more like poor people than they were 30 years ago. Jimmy CarterHabitat for Humanity. Human Development Index. The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone.
The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. These contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities. The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable and have a decent standard of living. The Happiest Countries in the World. For the second year in a row, 24/7 Wall St. examined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s report on life satisfaction in the developed world.
Economic prosperity, health and a strong social support network continue to correspond highly with happiness. Once again, the United States fails to make the top 10 happiest nations in the world, while countries like Australia, Israel and all of the Scandinavian nations do. The OECD measured more than 30 sets of data in 11 different categories, including education, health and employment. The study also asked residents of each country to rank, on a scale of 1 to 10, their general satisfaction with their lives. 24/7 Wall St. examined the 10 countries with the highest life satisfaction scores to find the strongest factors related to happiness. [More from 24/7 Wall St.: The 10 Most Educated Countries in the World] Economic prosperity appears to be one of the strongest factors that relates to overall life satisfaction. For Teachers.
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Check out all our resources on this page and the downloads page to get started. For more info, contact our educational staff at mikael@gapminder.org and olof.granstrom@gapminder.org . Featured examples of Gapminder in education Teachers TV: Looking at statistics with Year 8 students[Javascript required to view Flash movie, please turn it on and refresh this page]Thanks to: Bob LangGapminder and Worldmapper Geography for a changing world resources from the Geographical Association, UK.Thanks to: Paula CooperGapminder course at the NYC iSchool An experimental high school course that challenges 10th and 11th grade students to use a quantitive lens to analyze the last 200 years of global history.Thanks to: Jesse Spevack Featured resources Gapminder Tools Gapminder Tools OfflineYou can use Gapminder Tools without an Internet connection!
External resources about Gapminder. Gapminder: Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view. Worldometers - real time world statistics.