I am sometimes hesitant to write. While I am having a wonderful time and learning so much, very little of what I am learning is positive. I straddle wanting to find something up-lifting to share, but yet wanting to be honest about my experiences. 

I am studying International Environment and Development, a class, in my opinion, should be a requirement for every college student. In both fields, things are pretty dismal. Every organization I visit whether it is the USAID to the Ocean Conservancy painfully admits that the last eight years have been a detriment to environmental initiatives and developmental projects on the both the international and domestic stage. While strides have been made for HIV/AIDS, every other area has fallen behind. They are currently 30 armed conflicts, not including violent gang "wars." These conflicts reverse development, halt education, and destroy the environment. 1.2 billion people do not have access to clean water and 6,000 children die a day from diarrheal diseases that are 90% preventable with clean water. 1.2 billion people also live on less than $1 a day; when people are starving education is not a priority, nor is the environment. 

And while I, and others have the tendency to dwell on this dire situation, we must remind ourselves that change is possible and great strides have been made in the past 50-100 years. People's minds can change and culture is malleable. 

Internationally, life expectancy around the world has doubled, mother-child mortality rates have more than halved and the use of substances harmful to the ozone has been almost completely eliminated. The United Nations has set forth eight Millennium Development Goals and many of them are seeing vast improvements. Domestically, a woman is a legitimate candidate for VP (legitimate in that she could actually win), when only 30 years ago this was unfeasible. Only 40 years ago, cops were setting dogs loose on African Americans, but today a black man could obtain the highest office in our country. This final example alone could also spark great changes internationally as the global community looks to the US to see where we will next step. 

There is hope for improvement if we look for it in the right places. We must also individually continue to do our little share. "What use is a fine house if we haven't a tolerable planet to put it on? -Thoreau 

Gentry