How Outdoor

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Giving a hand up the hill

• How Outdoor
• Education
• can contribute
• to Making
• Poverty History

Brett Stanford
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My premiseA holistic view of sustainability

• Sustainability is ultimately about care for the
  poor as well as the environment
• The stereo of sustainability Al Gore in one ear
  (for the climate change) and Bono in the other
  (for the worlds poor)
• Having large divisions between rich and poor is
  unsustainable

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Some background on the BIG issues
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity,
it is an act of justice. Nelson Mandela
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UN Millennium Development Goals

• This is our Challenge
• An eight-point plan for halving world
  poverty by 2015
• Countries agree to target foreign aid at 0.7
  of GDP
• Australia has signed
• we are at 0.3 !!
• Rudd pledged 0.5 by 2010

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MDGs

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development

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Goal 1

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target Reduce by half the number of people
who live on less than a dollar a
day. Target Reduce by half the number of
people who suffer from hunger.
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Goal 2

• Achieve universal primary education

Target Ensure that all boys and girls complete
a full course of primary schooling.
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Goal 3

• Promote gender equality and empower women

Target Eliminate gender disparity in primary
and secondary education by 2005 and at all levels
by 2015.
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Goal 4

• Reduce child mortality

Target Reduce the mortality rate of children
under five by two thirds.
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Goal 5

• Improve maternal health

Target Reduce the maternal mortality rate by
three quarters.
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Goal 6
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Target Stop and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Target Stop and reverse the incidence of
malaria and other major diseases.
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Goal 7
Ensure environmental sustainability
Target Integrate the principles of sustainable
development into country policies and programs
and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
Target By 2015 reduce by half the number of
people without sustainable access to safe
drinking water.
Target Achieve a significant improvement in the
lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by
2020.
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Goal 8
Develop a global partnership for development
Target Develop further an open trading and
financial system that is rule-based, predictable
and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to
good governance, development and poverty
reductionnationally and internationally.
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Goal 8
(Continued)
Develop a global partnership for development
Target Address the special needs of landlocked
and small island developing states.
Target Deal comprehensively with developing
countries debt problems through national and
international measures to make debt sustainable
in the long term.
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So what can I do??Heres 5 ideas
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1. Some interesting books to read
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The End of Poverty Economic Possibilities for
Our Time by Jeffrey D. Sachs

• A plan to eradicate extreme poverty by 2025

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The End of Poverty Economic Possibilities for
Our Time by Jeffrey D. Sachs

• Our generations challenge is to help the poorest
  of the poor to escape the misery of extreme
  poverty so that they may begin their ascent up
  the ladder of economic development. The end of
  poverty, in a sense, is not only the end of
  extreme suffering but also the beginning of
  economic progress and of the hope and security
  that accompany economic development
• p24

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Do we help the poor if we do not ask why they are
poor? Dom Helder Camara

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Affluenza When enough is never enough by Clive
Hamilton and Richard Denniss

• Definition
• 1. the bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling
  that results from efforts to keep up with the
  Jones.
• 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and
  indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the
  Australian dream.
• 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic
  growth

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Affluenza When enough is never enough by Clive
Hamilton and Richard Denniss

• We argue that to tackle the problem of poverty,
  we must first tackle the problem of affluence.
  And the problem with affluence is that once
  people become affluent they continue to believe
  that more money is the key to a happier life when
  the evidence suggests that it makes no difference
  beyond a certain threshold. This belief has
  powerful personal and social ramifications, not
  least being that the affluent become more
  preoccupied with themselves. That is why
  Australians are richer than ever but less
  inclined to sympathise with the dispossessed. So
  conservative politicians and radio shock jocks
  vilify the poor. Consumerism and growth fetishism
  have become the enemies of a fairer Australia.
  p18

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2. Check out these campaigns and get informed on
the issues

• Make Poverty History
• www.makepovertyhistory.com.au/
• The One Campaign (USA)
• www.one.org
• World Vision
• www.worldvision.com.au/

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3. Be a responsible consumer

• Make Trade Fair
• www.maketradefair.org
• Support fair trade products
• eg FT coffee, FT chocoloate
• Avoid products with poor trade practices
• We vote with our dollar!

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4. Sponsor a Child or contribute to a poor
community

• eg World Vision
• www.worldvision.com.au/
• TEAR Christmas catalogs
• Support justice organisations in your community
• The Salvos, St Vinnies

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5. Encourage our government to increases its
Foreign Aid Budget to meet our commitment of 0.7
GDP

• Ultimately we need to give permission for our
  government to spend what is our tax dollars
• We are currently 19 out of 22 developed countries
  currently signed, in government generosity poor
  effort!!
• Australians private giving is amongst the most
  generous in the world

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SO??What role does Outdoor Education play in
creating a socially just world? Why?
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Social justice principles we teach in our programs

• Teamwork is what is best for the team not just
  individuals
• ie what is fair
• We often teach our students to Give a hand up
  to those that struggle in the group. For the good
  of the whole
• We dont just look after the strong

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What are some of the ways you have encouraged
social justice values in your programs?

• How can we as a profession challenge
• Consumerism ?
• Materialism ?
• Individualism ?
• Lack of a fair go ?

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Example Bushwalking as a means of teaching
social justice values

• In a bushwalk expedition do we all carry the same
  weight pack? Why? Why not?
• How could we better help students reflect and
  connect social justice issues to their
  bushwalking experiences?

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History will be our judge but what is written is
up to us.

• Bono

A final word from Bono