Hi, this is Peter Singer, welcoming you to The Life You Save, the blog that accompanies the new website, www.thelifeyoucansave.com.
Yesterday was publication day for my new book, The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty. OK, only in Australia, so far. The next edition to appear will be the US and Canadian edition, due out on March 3rd. That will be followed by the UK and then the Swedish editions, in March/April.
And yesterday, we launched the website, so if you haven't seen it yet, go there now. (It's all due to an incredible volunteer who, at least for the moment, wishes to remain anonymous.) Amazingly, we already have more than 40 people who have pledged to meet the standard for giving suggested in the book. Presumably most of them haven't read the book yet, but heard about it - I was busy doing radio and tv interviews all yesterday - and found enough information on the website to know that this was something they wanted to do - or were already doing.
I hope this blog will be a place where you will want to post your thoughts, and exchange ideas with others about both the book and the website. The rest is up to you.
Peter Singer
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I have to correct Peter: I wasn't alone. Special thanks goes to Danuta Lukasiak-Arnikowska with her husband Pawel Arnikowski and Dominika Raczkowska whose work I hope you will see soon.
ReplyDeleteHow can we offer free our services to help promote the Internet presence of the author, the book and the movement.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.brisbanetechnologies.com/community-help/
Regards,
Wayne Harrison
email wayne@ausvisa.info
Dear Peter, and Dear Web volunteers,
ReplyDeleteI saw Peter speak tonight at Asialink, and have just finished reading the book. Many thanks. Peter's argument is timely, convincing and irresistably simple -- I think many of us in the developed world have known something like this for a long time, but have avoided thinking clearly about it.
I "pledged" tonight on the website and am resolved to stick to it. I earn AUD$46k per year and at the moment, to be honest, 5% seems a bit beyond me. But I give about 1% at the moment and don't feel it at all, so my current goal is to up this to at least 3%. Once I've mastered that, no doubt a little bit more will feel like nothing at all. I absolutely have spare cash to spend on stuff I don't need (or even really want).
Even to get to 1%, I've tried to stick to a mind-game accounting system in which, whenever I consider spending dollars on some disposable luxury, I commit myself to giving the same amount. So, if I'm tempted by a pair of $50 shoes, I mentally think of the cost as $100: fifty for the shoe shop, fifty for Oxfam or whoever. I keep a tally of what I spend on non-essentials and donate the equivalent at the end of each month. Admittedly, sometimes the main effect of this is just to stop me spending on frivolous things. But even this has helped me to rein in my mindless spending, which in turn leaves me feeling richer and more able to give. I offer this as a mental tip in case it's of any help to others.
This may sound frivolous, but have you guys considered tapping into "social networking" sites such as facebook? There's a lot of rubbish on there, but many people my age use it to share information. I reckon an official "The Life You Can Save" page would at least start people thinking. It's easy to reach hundreds of people at a time via facebook. It may be hard to tell how many of these are genuinely affected by any given message, but if even a fraction of them are intrigued enough to read further and then to adjust their behaviour, that'd be something.
Just a thought!
Thanks for the eye-opening book and for many previous years of thought-provoking writing. I hope "The Life You Can Save" has a real impact.
Best wishes.
Having read Peter's book, what now comes to mind is the saying "why isn't common sense, common practice?"
ReplyDeleteApart from following the recommendations in the book about how to give donations, support and assistance, how best might we work together to get this information out there to others so that collectively we can make a difference.
Maybe by using the various tools available through the Internet, we can support Peter and his publishers during this current media promotion to gain maximum effect.
One possibility that we also would like to pursue is to get this book and thinking into the hands of high school students.
For them to understand philanthropy, charity and global issues would also assist them during their identity forming years.
Wayne Harrison
email wayne@ausvisas.info
Thanks, Wayne, those are great suggestions. I'm hoping the book will get widely read by high school students. If there are any teachers or curriculum planners out there reading this, please get hold of a copy and see what you can do to make it part your students' education.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, do what you can via the internet. We welcome more suggestions.
The Power of the Internet to spread this information:-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/
Currently the most viewed video is Avril Lavinge with over 115,926,347 views.
The first couple of pages reveals almost all the top viewed videos are either music or comedy.
Google and Youtube have a special help section for non-profits and activism:-
http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits
What are people's thoughts on the best way of using this medium.
Regards,
Wayne Harrison
email wayne@ausvisa.info