NGOs such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are cashing in on poverty. They extract bad news from the never ending flow of it beamed from all media and offer that with little imagination added to so many who feel guilty of ‘not doing anything but consume’ as a way of placating their feelings. That way out is a cul-de-sac!

Presently there is an el Nino phenomenon affecting vast areas of our planet, that, plus the usual climatic changes which are actually ‘nothing new at all’ but part of the ever changing life pattern of our planet resulting in more disastrous effects on everything and giving rise to local overheating and/or flooding and yes, people are suffering. Especially the poor and dispossessed.

Charitable band aid forms of good intentions are not going to help. Your money going towards 7-11 fitting doors on its fridges is a kind of minimum or bottom of the list type alleviation, especially while showing a picture of some destitute child in a far off country scavenging for water – which accompanied the WWF-HK story here:

Dear Supporter ,

Flood and drought are increasing, the supply of fresh water is threatened! These are the climate change’s catastrophic effects as it accelerates sea level rise, storms and heat waves, etc. These will impact some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, disrupting food production, and threatening vitally important species, habitats and ecosystems. Greenhouse gas emission is rising more rapidly than predicted and consequently the world is warming more quickly, thus affecting the livelihood of the developing countries. Reduction of CO2 emission is a critical move to tackle the issue.

WWF has been working with partners in this area to promote energy efficiency. Retailers such as 7-eleven and 759 stores have agreed to install doors for their fridges for cutting down electricity consumption for combating the CO2 emission issue. WWF is committed to provide solutions for a living planet, can you help us to achieve this?

*Donation of HK$100 or above is eligible for a tax-deductible receipt.

WWF-Hong Kong

There is a huge difference that can be made by simply attending to one’s own habits to ensure use-efficiency and less waste of goods. On another tack, local government needs to be remonstrated with when they don’t supply the controls and services needed to better the human, social and environmental situation they are called on to manage.

These so-scourged countries are mostly in very poor shape owing to generations of internal neglect, imperialistic cheating, corruption among authorities, criminal gangs, tribalism – in both traditional and modern forms – and now neo-colonialism.

Economically advanced countries are swindling less advanced countries using such as the WTO and TPP type institutions to continue feathering their own nests which keeps the poverty cycle intact.

It’s so difficult for people in poorer places to fight against the factors casing their poverty because they don’t have the energy, the spare time, all their days are spent struggling to feed themselves and their families.

That’s why international and national NGOs take up the causes and with proper mandates much can be done. But to place blame on ‘climate change’ and cash in on it, no, no, no. All this greenhouse gas palaver, the CO2 thing.

Given good governance and policing all problematic issues can be tackled at source, where they are present/arising. There is no other way than local action as a first priority. In the new sensibility that is showing itself in the various occupy movements, the anti-bank cartels groups, the eat-and-shop local trends, the proposals such as basic income (as against fighting for jobs in a non-job environment), all of these when applied generally can have the needed positive effect and give our generation life fulfilling projects to cut through the lethargy that comes of feeling helpless in a world of broken human solidarity and isolationist nihilism.

Get back to basics WWF and stop bottom feeding on a consumer society ridden with guilt.