The purpose of Make Affluence History is to encourage individual awareness and action so that, ultimately, global resources will be distributed in a manner that respects the needs of all humans as well as the planet that supports us.
A campaign called Make Poverty History (MPH) has focused on lobbying creditor governments to convince their bankers to offer debt relief to debtor governments. In contrast, Make Affluence History campaigns for lifestyle awareness and personal change through voluntary simplicity, self-reliance and down-shifting, with the goal of enabling a more equal distribution of global resources.
We agree with the overall objectives of MPH with regards to resolving poverty related issues arising from lack of access to nutritious foods, medical attention, clean air and water, and acceptable shelter. However, we do not believe that these issues are in any way intrinsically linked to access to money or to a lack of industrial development. In fact, we feel that many of the demands put forward by the Global Campaign Against Poverty are potentially counter-productive to the ultimate aims of poverty reduction.
We propose that the best solutions to these issues do not lie with governments, bankers or development agencies. Overwhelmingly it lies with us, and our choice to be global ‘consumers’. We believe that the lifestyles in "developed" nations are unsustainable, and that those of us living those lifestyles must change them and simplify our own lives. We believe that affluence hurts the planet, animals, and people and that it is a very poor example to the world, a lifestyle that no one should be encouraged to attain.
“Live simply so that others may simply live.” - Gandhi
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From makeaffluencehistory.org, which currently does not work.
This entry was originally published at Interconnectedness by Mikhail (Misha) Lomize
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