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Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy



jmc@Steam.stanford.edu (John McCarthy) wrote:

>Jason McGinnis includes about the world food situation:
>
>     At least I recognize there is a problem, and make an effort
>     to do something about it, (I don't just follow this stuff so
>     I can debate about it on usenet).
>
>By all means tell us what you do.  Maybe what you do is beneficial.

I guess I have no choice but to answer this, or have it believed that
I do nothing. I don't suppose you'd accept the fact that I don't eat
meat as enough.

First I must say that I am only 25 years old, so I have a bit of time
ahead of me, and little behind me.

For the past two years since finishing school, I have been working
freelance, (information systems, A/V production, hired hack, etc).
Much of this work is volunteered or on a non-profit basis. I don't go
out looking for work that doesn't pay, but I have a lot of friends and
contacts in the non-profit sector; when they need some work done that
they can't pay for, they call me. Besides which, I couldn't imagine a
better way to gain experience, or a more satisfying way to put my
skills to work, even if it means working more for less money.

Over these two years, I have done a lot of work for an NGO called The
Remote Communities Development Foundation of Canada, (RCDFC). This
foundation sends doctors and health professionals to Laos, PDR to help
train local health care workers in - as the name suggests - remote
communities. This project is the main reason I continue to be
concerned for the conditions in which people of developing nations
live.

Most of the work I do, (including all the time I was in school), is
with the environment. One project which it was great to be a part of
was the recycling program for the Olympics in Atlanta this summer.
Aside from the obvious goal of stopping tonnes of recyclables from
going to landfill, our focus was to educate the many people who had
come from areas with minimal environmental awareness, in the hopes
that some would 'take the spirit home'.

I have also worked with the Toronto Youth Council, helped organize
community action programs, and had a part in stopping at least one bad
piece of municipal legislation.

And sometimes I get a job that pays. <grins>

I realize that none of this puts food directly into the mouths of the
hungry, but empowering people to make concious decisions about the
changes they can make happen, even if it starts by just putting a can
in a recycling bin, goes further than you would think. 

"Never doubt that a small group of concerned citizens can change the
world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead


Jason McGinnis



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