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THE LIFE YOU CAN SAVE
New book by renowned ethicist Peter Singer
Category: General
Posted by: tim
Just read "The Life You Can Save," by Peter Singer, who some of you may remember from my 2007 book, High Surf. Singer is one of the world's most renowned ethicists, whose vocation is to consider the ethics of how we live. His new book questions why most of us don't do more to help alleviate extreme poverty, when we spend money on things we don't really need. It is a very confronting and thought provoking read. Singer uses the analogy of a child drowning in a pond - would most of us walk past and do nothing, or would we wade in and save the child even if it meant ruining a pair of expensive shoes? I'm sure most of us would say we'd help the child, because a child's life is more important than a pair of shoes, no matter how expensive. How then, he poses, can we justify spending money on luxury items like expensive shoes when their cost could save the life of a child in the third world. He urges a radical rethink of our attitude to foreign aid and suggests people who want to live an ethically sound life should donate around 5% of their income to charity. Most of the major religions encourage giving a portion of our income to those less fortunate, but few of us do it. He also examines the efficiency of various charities and which do the best job of creating real lasting change. He suggests it is helpful for those who give to talk about it because it encourages others to give, whereas most of us consider it somehow inappropriate to talk about how much money we give to charity. And Singer includes some alarming statistics - it is disturbing to consider, while the global hysteria generated by Swine Flu has been whipped up by, what, 19 confirmed deaths so far. And the GFC, for all the trillions poured into bail outs and stimulus packages, has not resulted in any fatalities I am aware of. Meanwhile, 30,000 children a day die from hunger in the third world. That is a 2004 Tsunami every week. And all completely preventable. Think about that for a minute. It has made me stop and think every time I spend money and where that money might be more urgently needed.
To find out more go to: The Life You Can Save website
