Sparked Stats: Humanitarian Fact, Fighter Jets and Filters
Ok, All. Here is a powerful, fun (or, maybe, in today’s case, not-so-fun) fact.
Let me preface today’s fun-fact with something. In my time working in humanitarianism and missions, I have found that keeping the numbers, the facts, in front of my face, can keep our heady, academic, idealistic efforts rooted deeply in the muddy mire of reality.
I love reality. I love idealism, and working toward it. However, I love the beautiful grittiness of things. That being said, I keep a regular habit of diving into the facts of poverty, health, and wealth around the world. Pulling from the World Health Organization, the CIA World Factbook, the UN reports and the like, I try to find valuable and powerful information to “keep it real” in my daily living.
SO, that all said, it is never my wish to impose guilt or shame on anyone. Quite the opposite. My hope is that seeing some of the reality, knowing some of the numbers, will raise more than awareness, but create an impetus to ACT and DO something to help.
Enough posture and framing! Let us do the first Sparked Stats: Fact with a Humanitarian Fact.
The cost of one of these:
Already, $77 BILLion in U.S. taxes to develop over 19 years. $50 MILLION per plane. (The Pentagon ordered about 180 according to a 2005 article in Popular Mechanics. GRAND TOTAL as of 2005: $86,000,000,000. That’s $86 billion dollars.)
Number of people that can play with these: About 180 U.S. pilots.
Use: Shooting, bombing, and otherwise destroying things. “Defending our freedom from X, Y, or Z terrorists groups.”
Source of Funds: Imposed U.S. taxes and/or debt imposed by deficit (which is future taxes for citizens.) If the average American pays 20% taxes every year, and earns an average of $32,000 a year, each person is paying $6,400 ($32,000 x .20) in taxes, excise taxes, socially imposed requirements, etc.
If the population in the U.S. is 309 million as of today (thank you Census Bureau), then the rough Income Tax is almost $2 trillion. The fighter jet costs us about 4% of our government’s income.
Participation by Affected Citizen in the Decision-Making to Contribute: None.
Number of Citizens receiving increased self-determinism because of it: undetermined.
Could Pay for 1.7 billion of These:
What It Is: A biosand filter through Hydraid.
How much they cost: about $50 (which is where I got the 1,700,000,000.)
Use: provide clean water at about 100 gallons a day for 10 years. Help with preventable, water-born diseases. Reduce tribal, civil and municipal disputes over water sources. Free the majority of Earth citizens from clean-water dependence on oppressive, costly governing (local war-lord, etc.) systems.
Number of people that can play with these: In the under-developed world, 33 people (if the average in Haiti is any indicator, 2.5 gallons per person per day), per unit. Multiply that by 1.7 billion units and 56 billion people per day…for 10 years.
Source of funds: voluntary donations from donors, supporters, and humanitarian workers.
Participation by Citizen in the Decision-Making to Contribute: Total.
Number of Citizens receiving increased self-determinism because of it: Every donating citizen.
Nothing is more beneficial to world peace
than solving world-hunger, poverty, and water shortages.
Most all wars and strife is source from these issues.
Net Effect of Sparking Small Change, How the Average Person Can Leverage the Sparked Stat
In Haiti, it would only take 275,000 biosand water filters to provide clean water for every citizen,..for 10 years.
It would cost $13,000,000. That’s less than .00016% of the cost of the fighter jet, .0000065% of the U.S. government’s income in 1 year.
AMERICA AS A GOVERNMENT COULD SOLVE CLEAN WATER
FOR ALL OF HAITI FOR 10 YEARS IN 1 YEAR.
275,000 U.S. citizens, donating only $50 in one year, could solve Haiti’s water crisis for 10 years. (Add in minor costs for educating on how to build the water filters would allow Haitian’s to solve the water problem for the rest of their lives. Then the same U.S. citizens could do it for another country the following year.)
That means that .0008% of the population could solve all of Haiti’s water problems for 10 years with a united $50 donation.
That is less than half (47%) of the entire population of Polk County!
Minor Tax Deduction: $50.
Impact on Standard of Living: Negligible. Less than the price of one month’s gym membership of what the average person spends on coffee (a dehydrating diuretic liquid) in a week.
Impact of Sense of Service to Humanity, Sense of Fulfillment: immeasurable.
Think of the change in mentality of the givers!
Think of the new sense of self-empowerment to make a lasting, significant impact in those 275,000 citizens.
Think of the amount of in-fighting that would reduce!
We know what to do.
Humanitarians around the world have the skill sets and technologies to solve problems like these.
Our work with CPI Haiti has the sources, the information, the plans and the systems, as do many amazing organizations working out there. We have been speaking with Clean Water For Haiti to perform training for the CPI Team.
We would like to install biosand filters in the village we are working in this summer with our team from The Vine Church and other personal partners.
The New Humanitarian Movement is happening around the world. How can you get invovled?
Find an organization and get involved in world change!
Donate to our organization, CPI Haiti.
Donate to Hydraid.
Donate to Clean Water for Haiti.
Whatever you do, get involved. Each little thing you do has HUGE, systemic, and lasting impact.
And, that, my friends, is your Sparked Stat: Fun-Fact.
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Grant R. Nieddu
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Photo of water glass by jenny downing
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
this is gooooooood……so good.
Thanks, Krysta!
Someone wrote me an e-mail and said, “so, what’s the point?”
I guess I should take the time to connect the dots: Something is wrong with this. Wouldn’t it be better if we changed the world a) of our own free will, b) will less than $50 a year, and c) in a concerted effort for maximum impact?
Oh, well. I will conclude such facts better in the future.