By OXFAM* –– The widening gap between the richest and poorest is damaging economies and pushing more people into poverty. Too many still toil in extreme poverty. On the other extreme, wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, who can use it to capture disproportionate power to shape the future. Here are some facts and figures on inequality. Want something more visual? Check out OXFAM‘sPoverty & Inequality Pinterest board.
The Paraisópolis favela borders the affluent district of Morumbi in São Paulo, Brazil. Photo: Tuca Vieira | Source: OXFAM International
General killer facts
Oxfam has calculated that in 2014 the richest 85 people on the planet owned as much as the poorest half of humanity.
By Sven Teske*, 21 October, 2014 (Greenpeace)— Wind power has a pivotal role to play in the world’s energy supply over the next few years. By providing huge amounts of clean, affordable power, it can buy us time in the fight against global warming while revolutions in energy efficiency and solar power gain momentum.
Credit: Karuna Ang/Greenpeace
Greenpeace and the Global Wind Energy Council have just released a two-yearly status report on wind energy and its prospects up to 2050.
In as little as five years’ time wind power could prevent more than a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from being emitted each year by dirty energy. That’s equivalent to Germany’s and Italy’s emissions combined, or Africa’s total CO2 emissions, or those of Japan, or two-thirds of what India pumps out.
The city of Detroit must restore access to water for its citizens who remain unable to pay their bills, two United Nations experts urged on 20 October 2014, adding that a failure to do so would be a violation of the most basic human rights of those residents.
Photo: World Bank/Allison Kwesell | Source: UN News Centre
Catarina de Albuquerque, the Special Rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation, and Leilani Farha, the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, both expressed concern regarding the “unprecedented scale” of water shut-offs taking place in the United States city of Detroit where, they said, the “most vulnerable and poorest” of the city’s population were being disproportionately affected, including a predominant number of African Americans.*
“It is contrary to human rights to disconnect water from people who simply do not have the means to pay their bills,” said Ms. de Albuquerque in a press release at the end of the experts’ two-day visit to the city.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 