One billion live in squalor, UN says - filthiness and degradation

HUMAN HABITAT: Urban slums are growing faster than expected, which means that one-third of the world's population could be living in slums within 30 years.

One in every three people in the world will live in slums within 30 years unless governments control unprecedented urban growth, according to a UN report.

The largest study ever made of global urban conditions has found that 940 million people -- almost one-sixth of the world's population -- already live in squalid, unhealthy areas, mostly without water, sanitation, public services or legal security.

The report, from the UN human settlements programme, UN-habitat, based in Nairobi, found that urban slums were growing faster than expected, and that the balance of global poverty was shifting rapidly from the countryside to cities.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/10/05/2003070470 -

Make these countries MORE friendly to business and cut regulations, then there will be NO LIMITS to the prosperity then!!!

:evilgrin:

One of the greatest challenges facing cities today is what to do with the growing numbers of low and no income individuals.

Separation barriers around the affluent areas of cities could go a long way toward keeping urban areas pleasant for consumers and business-friendly for investors!

The only think that can prevent us from bringing the dark future landscapes of Phillip K. Dick and William Gibson from coming to pass is our work today.

I just started reading this genuinely excellent book. Fairly convincingly points out our neglect of the poor is indefensible. As Mark Twain said, in words certainly applicable to me and maybe applicable to some who will read this post, "Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go it."

The Amazon link to Living High and Letting Die also includes some sample text if anyone is interested.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195108590/ref=lpr_g_1/102-8003579-9673724?v=glance&s=books

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

By contributing a few hundred dollars to a charity like UNICEF, a prosperous person can ensure that fewer poor children die, and that more will live reasonably long, worthwhile lives. Even when knowing this, however, most people send nothing, and almost all of the rest send little. What is the moral status of this behavior? To such common cases of letting die, our untutored response is that, while it is not very good, neither is the conduct wrong. What is the source of this lenient assessment? In this contentious new book, one of our leading philosophers argues that our intuitions about ethical cases are generated not by basic moral values, but by certain distracting psychological dispositions that all too often prevent us from reacting in accord with our commitments. Through a detailed look at how these tendencies operate, Unger shows that, on the good morality that we already accept, the fatally unhelpful behavior is monstrously wrong. By uncovering the eminently sensible ethics that we've already embraced fully, and by confronting us with empirical facts and with easily followed instructions for lessening serious suffering appropriately and effectively, Unger's book points the way to a compassionate new moral philosophy.