A Follow-Up..

I was reading my daily New York Times email on Monday and discovered something incredible, an article about Haiti! I was so excited. Not only was it by one of my favorite op-ed columnists, but it was about sustainable development in Haiti. It's about a group called SOIL. They are developing a fertilizer from human waste. This fertilizer is then used by the farmer's for their crops. It is such a great idea in conquering the problem of human waste in Third World countries. Here's a link to the article, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/opinion/29kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion. That same night I also found an op-ed article by Ban Ki-Moon,the secretary general of the UN about his recent trip to Haiti. He spoke about a new trade agreement between Haiti and the US that allows Haiti, duty-free access to US markets for the next nine years. That is a big step allowing for more jobs in Haiti. Coincidentally he is using Paul Collier as a special adviser on Haiti, to help it with this new transition. He is an economist, whose book, The Bottom Billion, gives an economic perspective on why more than a billion people are in poverty, the causes for their poverty, and what can be done to bring them out of poverty. It is a fascinating book! I am only a few chapters into it and am really learning a lot. I just thought it was so neat that I get home from Haiti and now there is talk about improvements on Haiti's development from international organizations. That is super encouraging and a welcome sign that the UN is not useless, but is committed to helping. Granted this could take years, but slow development is better than none at all.