Celebrity Philanthropy
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie sold pictures of their baby daughter Shiloh to raise a cool $20 million for African charities. Oprah Winfrey and Bono are collaborating with Gap and Apple Computer on their new (PRODUCT)RED campaign, which has raised $12 million to fight AIDS in Africa. Winfrey has also opened a new school for girls in South Africa, a facility so luxurious that a reporter for South Africa’s Sunday Times has suggested it could be confused for a five-star hotel. Madonna is so enamored with Malawi that she adopted a child from that country (and has funded infrastructure improvements there). It’s easy to be cynical about these celebrity campaigns, but nonprofit leaders have accepted help from the stars gratefully. Assistant Professor of Theater Arts Sara Medina-Pape, who directs the SEUganda program (see story, page 29), echoes their sentiments. “More power to them,” she says. “Everybody in the world should get involved in this.” Associate Professor of Communication Innes Mitchell points out that celebrities can draw much-needed attention to important crises, and that there are qualitative differences between celebrity projects. Jolie, for example, has gained credibility through her work with the United Nations and can use celebrity to “draw attention to a larger political context through her actions.” Some interest and knowledge, Mitchell points out, is better than none:
T h e Fa r- F lu
Mining Moo
n g H o r iz o n
n Rocks
Those who se e the moon as a la unching pad for future exploration an d ev h abitation may en find a lucrativ sideline while e ently, the lun u p there — app ar surface is arri ch fuel that rese in helium-3, archers tout a fusion as a with almost potent energ no byproduct y source s. A little retr could extend ofitting the life of th e space shutt ing them the les by makfuture equiv alent of inte coal cars. rplanetary
T h e Fa r-F lu n g “There’s such a dearth of awareness in the United States about what’s going on in the world. Anything that can be done to shine a light is good.”
Sustainable Economic Development
DNA Space Ark
H o r iz o n
We back up our computers — w hy not our species? That’s the thinking behind the Alliance to Rescue Civilizat ion, which aims to create storage fa cilities on the moon that will preserve sampl es of our scienc ture and even D e, culNA. This way, in the event of ap lyptic disaster, ci ocavilization can m ake a comeback Earth. If that so on unds a little too much like Woody Allen’s Sleeper to be believed, take note that the Natural History Museum in Lond on already maintai a “frozen ark” tis ns sue bank storin g the DNA of th sands of endang ouered species.
Though it’s a loose term claimed by many different camps, “sustainable development” often refers to businesses and initiatives that protect (or at least don’t harm) the environment of developing countries. Peter Beck, assistant professor of Environmental Science and Policy, has worked on many such projects, both at St. Edward’s and during a stint with the World Wildlife Fund (see story, page 24). While Beck is clearly committed to the concept of sustainable development, he says persuading people to open their doors for ecotourism versus making fast cash from harvesting a rain forest can be a hard sell. Getting a stove that burns wood more efficiently is one thing, but who wouldn’t rather have a house with electricity? Beck says the potential for sustainable development may depend on whether environmental sustainability can be achieved with improvements in quality of life or whether it will require individuals to make lifestyle sacrifices. For Gary Pletcher, Global Business chair for the School of Management and Business, sustainable development “is first and foremost about making sure that people have the knowledge and skills to care for their families and that they’re not reliant on someone else.”
Microcredit, the practice of loaning relatively small amounts of money to impoverished people with no collateral, is one way to accomplish this kind of growth (see story, page 29). But critics point out that some governments may depend on such self-sufficiency in lieu of social services and improved education — support they say is just as essential to truly eradicate poverty. Pletcher, a believer in the free market, says people need to view microcredit in the larger context of economic globalization, a force he sees as an inevitability. “In addition to insisting on multinational corporate responsibility through governmental legislation, inspection and penalties,” he says, “we should focus on what we can do to empower and sustain individuals and small businesses. Microlending is one way to do that. Private and public organizations are better at doing this than governments.”
37