Wednesday, June 24, 2009

It takes 90 minutes to start a conversation

It's "An Inconvenient Truth" of poverty issues. The Australian charity Global Poverty Project is producing a movie that hopes to get people talking about poverty, just as Al Gore's movie did for global warming.

From the ABC we are introduced to the Global Poverty Project and it's founder Hugh Evans.

"There are lots of people talking about extreme poverty but there isn't a coherent narrative or conversation around how we can end it within our lifetime," the humanitarian and activist told ABC News Online.

"I wanted to work with a team of experts around the world to create a groundbreaking presentation that communicates how we can actually end extreme poverty within our lifetime, in such a way that anyone can sit though this 90-minute presentation and be equally compelled and challenged, but also raise a debate."

Evans - who is also an author, co-chaired the Youth 2020 Summit and was among Who Magazine's Most Beautiful People this year - wants you to listen, for 90 minutes to be exact.

And when Evans wants you to listen, a lot of important people, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Hugh Jackman, the Queen, and those inside 10 Downing Street, do too.
...

As for the mission to eradicate extreme poverty in his lifetime, Evans says it just needs to start with a conversation.

"The reality is that 27,000 people continue to die every day due to causes that can be prevented ... it's the greatest challenge of our generation and surely we need to be debating in the public forum how we can end it in our lifetime.

"And that's exactly what the Global Poverty Project is trying to achieve."

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