Awareness
6 good reasons to start in sydney
Good friends of mine asked why I hadn’t planned to start running in Sydney. Their argument was compelling and so I changed my plans to begin my journey here and then travel to New York. Here are the six main reasons that changed my mind:
- It reflects the originating point of the 10 City Bridge Run
- Many people have contributed to the birth of this project from Sydney in all sorts of ways, including the Global Launch event the previous week
- Australia is an important country from within the G20
- Before talking about poverty elsewhere, we should first note what happens in our own backyard
- The bridge metaphor is powerful in demonstrating the need to “close the gap”
- I can observe the United Nations conference on the Millennium Development Goals (20-22 September) from Sydney and get a sense of what impact, if any, it has for Australia
“Closing the Gap” is a phrase that has been used in relation to the comparative disadvantage between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. For example, average life expectancy differs by 17 years. Why?!
The metaphor of the bridge is a powerful way of communicating that to ‘close this gap’ it takes effort on the part of all of us, not just policy from governments and money from corporate organisations or philanthropic institutions.
Granted, the situation of extreme poverty is different from that of Indigenous disadvantage in Australia. Is it possible to see similarities in the root causes?
The question to address now is: where to run?
Sydney provides plenty of choice, and there are two courses which I favour. Let me know which you prefer, or of another if you can think of one:
- Sydney Harbour Bridge Run, covering 24 km and crossing 7 bridges. A spectacular run along many of the best kept secrets of Sydney. This is the same course as I ran last year for the 9 City Bridge Run.
- The Spit Bridge to La Perouse, covering a longer distance than 24 km and crossing two prominent bridges. I like this option suggested many months ago by Peter Lain. It is slightly longer, but gives a good voice to the bridge metaphor by finishing in La Perouse where Captain Cook first landed in Sydney
Welcome your feedback! Interested in a creative and challenging run that shows the character of the city, an historical perspective as well as a contemporary context of the issue.
The Number One Most Important Reason To Address Extreme Poverty of All Time
Hans Rosling again has caught my imagination. This time thanks to my good friend from Sydney, Arlyn Santos, for bringing this to my attention.
This is so important, I think you should know about it as well: The Number One Most Important Reason To Address Extreme Poverty of All Time. (Whew! That’s a mouthful!)
So what is it? I think the answer is in this TED Talk. Watch it below here:
What did you learn? Did you agree with Hans? Over-simplified, or genius? The reason to address extreme poverty? Unless we do this, the ‘Bottom Billion’ will become the ‘Bottom Four Billion’ sewing the seeds to an unsustainable planet, resulting in war, starvation and global crisis which are now unimaginable.
So what can we do about it? This is a question I am exploring through the 10 City Bridge Run- a creative process of inquiry.
Crowdfunded, you can support with a $24 sponsorship. The money goes toward the production of a book titled “Above the Line” to be presented as a pictorial petition to the G20 Summit in Seoul. If you are sponsor, you also receive a copy (electronic for $24 sponsorship, printed display book for $240). What makes the book special: it will contain 24,000 photographs of people making a bridge between themselves and other people.
Be the difference that makes a difference. Sponsor us today. Thanks for your support!
Impossibly possible!
Thanks to my mate Scott Thompson in New York from Intersections International who gave me this perspective of something, like a crazy global endurance challenge being “impossibly possible”.
But let’s go back to the data and see how reframing a situation with information can achieve.
Hans Rosling used statistical data presented on a bubble graph to change how we might understand the world we live in. He makes the complex simple, and a brilliance for changing our worldview.
Is he right?
And hear what he has to say about the seemingly impossible being possible. Thanks to Rich Fleming from the Global Poverty Project for sharing this with me and discussing this perspective.
The Sharing of An Idea
Chris Anderson speaking at TED reveals his take on The Art of Spreading Ideas:
It is in the non-verbal portion that there is some serious magic.
Watch the video here.
What is the potential for a ‘pictorial petition’ with 24,000 images of people expressing what it means for them to be a bridge to eradicate extreme poverty while joining with others?
Let’s find out! Please I need your support. Considering the sponsoring of the book “Above the Line” to be presented to the G20 Summit leadership.
Check out the 24×24 Challenge: Is the Seemingly Impossible Possible?
24 hour Crowdsourcing Challenge
Please help make the 10 City Bridge Run a reality and become a sponsor through pre-purchasing the book “Above the Line” through the Social Alchemy website as part of our 24 hour Crowdfunding Challenge.
10 City Bridge Run: I start running in Newark on 24 September at 10:24 am heading toward Harlem. Can I successfully achieve the impossible with the 24 Hour Crowdfunding Challenge before 10:24 am 14 September in New York (midnight tonight)?
Special thanks to the friends and supporters who have sponsored me to date. Like everything in this creative process of inquiry, the stakes are real- it is not just talk. I take the death of the 24,000 children who die everyday seriously, and I want this to be perceived by everyone else who comes with me on this journey.
What about you: what do you think? Is the seemingly impossible possible?
Commencing tonight in Australia (13 September), and over the next 24 hours, we will find out, at least as it relates to a small matter of raising a few thousand dollars.
Please read the Sponsor page to learn more. Will you take action or leave it up to someone else?
10 City Bridge Run- Objectives 1, 2, 3.
There are three objectives for the 10 City Bridge Run:
- Raise the awareness of an individual’s capacity to act to positively influence the eradication of extreme poverty from our world.
- Make representation of a global ‘pictorial petition’ to the G20 leadership at the 2010 G20 Summit to be held in Seoul as well as to the United Nations Secretary General. The ‘pictorial petition’ will be in the form of a book featuring 24,000 photographs of people as ‘bridge builders’- connecting with each other symbolically to raise the awareness of this issue.
- Identify 10 actionable items which people across the globe can participate in which will make a difference over the next five years to help in the eradication of extreme poverty. These action items are not pre-determined, and will be arrived through a crowd-sourcing process during the month of running.
Join us on the journey: be part of the difference that makes a difference.
Is the seemingly impossible possible? Muhammad Yunus and the idea of a ‘poverty museum’
Professor Muhammad Yunus who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, during the Skoll World Forum of Social Entrepreneurship held at Oxford earlier in 2006 spoke of his idea of a ‘Poverty Museum’ to be built in the future when extreme poverty is finally eradicated. As I listened to him speak, I remember thinking that this was an interesting idea, but maybe too fanciful, even impossible. But think again: we can now read Charles Dickens and learn about a form of poverty that is all but historical in the UK, or we can visit a museum in South Korea and learn about the poverty experienced after the 1953 Truce across a country which had a GDP the same as Ghana in 1960, and is now recognised with a strong economy.
Much has been written about this issue. Not everyone agrees with each other.
Five years short of the 2015 reporting date for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and how is our progress?
In 2008, 8.8 million children died before their 5th birthday. 0.1% of these deaths were in the “Industrialised World”. A staggering 50% of the deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
This equates to more than 24,000 children who tragically die every day.
The silent killer is preventable illness caused from the effects of extreme poverty.
What might this be compared with?
To put this into some perspective, consider that this might be seen as equivalent with:
- 1 child dying every 3.6 seconds
- More than 16 children dying every minute
- A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring every 10 days
- A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring every 10 days
(Source: UNICEF The State of the World’s Children Special Edition: Celebrating 20 Years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 2009, p.18-19)
It is not all bad news either. Taking a longer term view, since 1960 (when child mortality numbers were first being recorded) the annual number of child deaths has more than halved, from 20 million in 1960 to just 8.8 million in 2008. However, even though child mortality figures have shown a declining trend across the last 25 years, the situation which the world faces compounded by multiple systemic crises is still nothing short of outrageous: the effects of climate change mixed with the hyperinflation of world food prices, complicated by a looming economic stagnation of the West…
Progress has been made, but it is unevenly distributed. We continue to live in an imperfect world. Neither the UN nor the G20 has any magic wand to solve problems. The allocation of aid on its own will not solve this problem. Money makes a difference, but it is far from all there is. This year, natural events in places like Haiti and Pakistan show the constant demand for aid and support. Realistically, how much of this issue will be tackled by the G20 in the short space of time the leaders have together? How much impact might a ‘pictorial petition’ have with leaders meeting around an agenda influenced by complex issues with significant momentum? We could always do nothing and just complain about what a mess the world is in…
Let me provide an alternative and suggest you join us and become a bridge builder. Contributing a photograph while this crazy ’10 City Bridge Run global endurance challenge’ is being conducted might not seem like much, and might well represent nothing more than a symbolic act. However, what is the cost to you? It takes no time, and besides it is free. So snap off a photo and send it to us for inclusion in the book. And while you are at it, maybe open a conversation about this issue with others. More than likely, this is already something you are working on or have contributed towards. We recognise that many excellent initiatives are being undertaken by humanitarian workers quietly and selflessly making a difference. We would love to hear you thoughts.
Read about the outcome we hope to influence and the outputs we will be crowd-sourcing and co-creating through crowd-funding the necessary financial resources to make this work.
Pause and reflection: musical interlude on 9/11
This morning we launched the 10 City Bridge Run with a spirited gang of runners and walkers rejoicing in glorious Spring weather to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Milsons Point. Photos and more details later this evening.
Today is also the 9th anniversary of 9/11. What a decade! Some writing over the past nine years has spoken about the importance of eradication of extreme poverty because of the strategic gain it presents in the so-called ‘War Against Terrorism’. While this might be a desirable indirect consequence, our efforts to eradicate extreme poverty should have the aim of ending needless suffering so unevenly distributed across the world.
Here is a musical interlude from The Black Eyed Peas reminding us that too many Bridge Builders is never enough. The is still much more work for all of us to do.
Its time to change the narrative, and a positive outcome is truly within our reach. The Millennium Development Goals provide a useful framework through which to work toward the eradication of extreme poverty. The journey ahead over the next 42 days for me is as much a process of learning and inquiry- I don’t have the answers, let alone a few comprehension of the issue in its entirety.
Please join me in learning more about the issue of extreme poverty and what is actionable to make a meaningful difference through our own actions.
Counting down (to 2015)
Check out the link to the Countdown to 2015 initiative I received sent through from my mate Stephen Mayers here in Sydney.
Another example of some of the great work and focus people are bringing to the urgency required to address the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
A summary might be that there are many reasons to be optimistic about progress toward achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, however the progress has been unevenly distributed. It is time to seriously focus on a countdown toward the time horizon set to achieve these goals of 2015.
Take some time to click through this site and watch the embedded video. What is your response?
Did you read the news today!!! It’s all over! Poverty ends for ever!
Well, maybe not just yet…
Check ou this video that the guys at the Global Poverty Project have come up with. It is a little fun, and provokes some thought.
What is clear from this video is that there is a lot of other great stuff happening all over the place already. This is not about one initiative standing out above another, but together all of these efforts can make a difference, just as together our tiny voices can be heard.
What do you think: Do your actions really count?
Come and join us for the global launch of the 10 City Bridge Run tomorrow meeting at 8 am just behind the Sydney Opera House for a 2.4 km run/walk across the bridge to Milsons Point. Maybe we might fall short of the 100 people, but that is not the point. Much like the Millennium Development Goals, there is still a lot of work to do. How can we improve and achieve what is the desired standard (of 100 people together running 2.4 km) before the G20 Summit begins in Seoul?
We do have a good crowd running. Come and join us. Be present at the start of this journey.
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