How "Global Crisis" Affects Everyone?

Is the total global environment improving? Not agreeing to an article in a recent issue of BioScience: "The impact of the environmental crisis . . . Variegates by civilization to civilization, country to country, place to place; but jointly these affects sum to a global crisis. Symptoms, both ecological and social, are apparent in almost every country on earth: air and water pollution, chemical pollution of food chains, decay of cities, chronic food shortages and starvation, increasing drug abuses and alcoholism, rising rates of juvenile delinquency, crime and suicide, and a sense of hopelessness that transcends national borders and political systems. Nevertheless, the tremendous dimensions of the environmental crisis. . . make it difficult for us to perceive the nature of the problem and its causes, not to mention solutions."

JUST outside Nairobi, Kenya, is the beautiful 140-acre [56 ha] United Nations Gigiri compound, which includes the UN-HABITAT headquarters. This community is a symbol of the international commitment to resolve the global housing crisis. A walk along the Gigiri Nature Trail, which is on the compound, provides striking evidence of what can be accomplished with concerted effort and adequate funding. Here a former environmental wasteland has been transformed into a fully functional and beautiful recreational area for the staff and visitors.

Just a few miles away, however, sits a relatively new, yet steadily expanding, slum. It is a grim reminder of just how troublesome the current housing crisis is. The shanty homes, built of mud, sticks, and tin, are about 170 square feet [16 sq m] in area. The passageways between them reek of dirty wastewater. The residents pay up to five times as much for water as the average citizen does in the United States. Most of the 40,000 or so who live here are in their 20's and 30's. They are not lazy or unmotivated. They came here in search of jobs in nearby Nairobi.

In sharp contrast, world leaders assemble here in clean, functional, attractive surroundings to debate the future of impoverished men, women, and children living right next door. The frustrating truth, according to the secretary-general of the United Nations, is that "the world has the resources, know-how and power" to improve significantly the lives of slum dwellers. What demands to be done then? "It is my hope," Mr. Annan reasons out, "that . . . all actors involved [can] overcome the apathy and lack of political will that have been a barrier to progress."

How truthful, though, is that hope? What would it go for get all the international, regional, and local political leaders to put aside their interests and bring for a common solution? Is there Someone who has the imaginations, formula, and power to put an end to the current crisis. More important, he also has the compassion and the will to take action soon. In fact, his government has already outlined a detailed program that will permanently resolve the global housing problem.

It is ironic that just as some of the richest nations have begun renewing calls to build colonies on the moon and explore Mars, growing numbers of their poorest citizens cannot even afford a decent place to live here on earth. How does the housing crisis affect you? Is there any real hope that one day all will have their own comfortable home?