First Month at UNDP

[Reposted from Leitner Interns Blog]

This summer, I'm in New York, working with an intergovernmental organization, the United Nations. As with everything at the UN, there are a lot of acronyms to describe exactly where I'm working: I'm at the UNDP (UN Development Programme), in the BDP (Bureau of Development Policy), in the PG (Poverty Group), and working primarily on Legal Empowerment issues (sometimes shortened to LE).

It's a very exciting time for Legal Empowerment at the UNDP--the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor just launched its final report today. The Commission was independent, but hosted by the UNDP--it was co-chaired by Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the economist Hernando de Soto. At the core of the report are four pillars: Property Rights, Labor Rights, Business Rights, and Access to Justice and Rule of Law. The main idea behind Legal Empowerment is that given the right opportunities--whether by formalizing land ownership, providing accessible dispute resolution, or ensuring effective legal systems--the marginalized and vulnerable groups of the world (an estimated 4 billion people that are excluded from the rule of law) can pull themselves out of poverty. Basically, Legal Empowerment says the world's poor don't need aid, they need opportunity in the form of legal, political, and ownership systems that work for them and put them on equal footing with the elite. After years of meetings and many revisions, the report is out, and the Commission has made its recommendations. Now is a crucial time as policy makers and country offices at UNDP determine how to proceed, utilizing Legal Empowerment's concepts and methodologies to promote development in line with the UNDP's Strategic Plan.

I feel that I am very much on the cutting edge of this new terrain in development--so far I've been in contact with country offices across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, helping to coordinate their country-level efforts with the BDP, UNDP's policy center. One of my biggest tasks so far has been to develop a database of Legal Empowerment projects going on around the world, both in progress and in the pipeline. This serves dual purposes: it helps to raise partner and donor awareness, which can lead to direct project support, and it also provides a model for other country offices who are looking for programming best-practices in specific areas.
I attended the launch this afternoon, and it was an amazing event. Dignitaries and press were there from all over the world. I got to hear Madeleine Albright and Hernando de Soto speak about legal empowerment, along with Naresh Singh, the Executive Director of the Commission, Kemal Dervis of the UNDP, and Mike Bishop, a writer for The Economist, acting as moderator for the expert panel. I got to meet and speak briefly with both Dr. de Soto and Secretary Albright(here's a picture of me with her: I'm the one with the goofy smile). I was very happy for the opportunity to see and hear great minds elaborate on Legal Empowerment of the Poor around the world, and was more than impressed with what they had to say.

So far it's been a great summer, and I'm less than a month in.

"The Trinity of Hell": Probably the Worst Thing I've Seen All Day

This video, at youtube.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejTmistHFw0

It was posted by ATLAH Worldwide Ministries' "Pastor", James David Manning.
Were it parody, it might be hilarious. Sadly, it's real, and seriously shocking.


My thoughts:

Why does this idiot say "thus sayeth the lord" after every assertion? It's obvious that these are his individual political views--trying to pass them off as the direct word of God is not only egotistical, but probably blasphemous to boot.

How does Oprah's having been supported by white women mean she owes allegiance to one specific white woman, Hillary? What's the point of emphasizing this, when he later goes on a tirade about how Obama is selling out blacks? Manning wants it both ways, and is playing the "race card" both shamelessly and incoherently. And why does he keep referrng to Oprah as "struggling"? Even if she was at one point, she's vastly more successful than some two-bit preacher like Manning ever will be. Focusing on her hard times is just a way to make himself feel better about his own meager accomplishments.

WTF does he mean by calling everyone a closet homosexual? WTF is a longlegged pimp?

Why keep referencing the Trinity United Church of Christ, obviously a christian house of worship, but keep calling Obama "Hussein", implicitly emphasizing the worn-out, discredited, and irrelevant "Obama is a Muslim" argument?

Does Manning really believe Wright would be VP and Oprah Secretary of State? That's just stupid.

There's so much more wrong with this video, but I'm getting sick just writing about it. Where does this stuff even come from?

What an asshole.

We Need Solar Now

I just watched Colbert Report, and his guest was James Kunstler. I consider myself an environmentalist, and knew about peak oil but I hadn't heard it discussed in quite such stark terms before (at least not on TV). Mr. Kunstler stated that peak oil has come and gone--that we produced less oil last year than we did two years ago, and that the decline is going to continue. In short, he scared the crap out of me, so I did some research. I don't know if he is quite right about peak oil having passed--there is some data, at least, which seems to show that the world oil supply is still stable (See inset). Nonetheless, it is clear that we have a finite supply of oil, and we will likely soon reach declining production.

Mr. Kunstler also stated that all alternatives combined (solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear, etc.) are insufficient to meet current energy demands. What he didn't say, but which is even scarier, is that energy demand is definitely growing. This is especially true in rapidly developing and large economies such as China and India, but also to a lesser extent throughout the world. Again, though, I am not sure Mr. Kunstler has his facts straight. I remembered reading recently that more solar energy hits the Earth's surface every hour than the entire population uses in a year. This has been often repeated--a couple sources are here and here. While repetition is not proof of veracity, I'll assume for now it's true.

Well, what about solar then? Say that the United States wanted to generate enough energy through solar capture to power the entire planet--how much land mass would have to be covered?

I did some calculations.* The Earth's surface is about 510,065,600 sq. km. The United States covers about 9,826,630 sq. km., or a little less than 2% of the Earth's surface. So, if it takes just an hour for enough energy to reach the Earth's surface to power the planet, it should take about 50 hours for enough to reach just the US. Now, solar panels aren't all that efficient. Modern photo-voltaic cells range from 14%-19% efficient, according to wikipedia. Using an average of that, 16.5%, or about 1/6, it turns out that if the entire surface of the US were covered in photovoltaic cells, it would take about 50 * 6 = 300 hours to gather enough energy to power the planet for a year. There are 8,760 hours in a year, so it stands to reason that only 300/8,760 = 3.4% of the United States would have to be covered in photovoltaic cells to produce enough energy for the whole planet, year round.

Of course, photovoltaic cells aren't cheap(although nanosolar powersheets may change that), and it takes a couple years for them to produce enough energy to offset their production costs. However, there are methods like thermal solar that have higher efficiencies (up to 30%) and are less expensive than photovoltaics. Still, even with the hurdles that exist, why aren't we doing more?

* I started off with the assumption that sunlight reaches the US on average with the same intensity as it does everywhere else, which of course isn't true--but it's good enough for a rough estimate. I'm also assuming that the 1 hour assertion holds true any time of day, which is only true if you're using the whole earth, but not just one country where there is sometimes night. Nonetheless, the math holds since we're still talking about the proportion of solar energy the US receives.

a new thing i tried doing

sometimes
it's just sometimes
and i want it to be more than sometimes
i want it to be this time

right now
right here
focused intense
with you

but its hard to say why
when i don't know why
or how
or which because

and none of it ever makes sense
to anyone other than me
which i see
and i know and i understand

but can't comprehend
with my heart
just my mind
and my thoughts and my known

but my feel
feels so much else
which is strange
and scary and weird

so i try
and i try
and i try
and i do

and it is
and i won't
so it's fine
for now

and that's that.

____________________


i try all my best
at the bequest
of a power
that's other
than me

and i struggle to find
a source in my mind
for the love
and the hope
of the free

but it takes its toll
as i walk down the road
of the life
that i've lived
so far

so i pray to my god
that the things i find odd
will resolve
become part
of my whole
____________________

on the same night
and in the same vein
i write again
for the third time

and find hope in my words
and in my thoughts
and feelings
and fears

because they're real
and me
ineluctable, forever
and human

i eat a sandwich
just like anyone else
and i try to sleep at night, even though i can't
just like anyone else

but i reflect...
just like me
because no one else
can do it for me
or like me

and i break rules
just as i make rules
and find rules
to be meaningless
or the very source of meaning

so i live
day to day
year to year
and one life to the next

just like anyone else
a brief moment of warmth here and there
and the eternal coldness where it isn't
but the memory, always in between.

coherence

I don't know what to think sometimes. Or even how to think.
Sometimes, I can't even frame the question. But it's still there, under the surface.
Just below my consciousness, I am aware of its presence. It is future, and it is past.
Hopes and dreams . Fears. Memories both sad and happy. And life's underlying purpose.

I drift in and out, as if in a trance. I am on autopilot.
When I ride my bike, brush my teeth, when I'm with you, when I'm in class.
Sometimes even when I play guitar or read a book. And I daydream.
About the future. About the past.

And as I wander, on autopilot, daydreaming, I perceive the world.
It affects me, imprints upon my mind.
I feel --fear, anger, sadness, happiness--in response.
And I don't even always know why.

But sometimes I feel like I've woken up, and I really see.
And I understand cause and effect again, and I know why I feel the way I do.
About myself and my actions. About other people theirs.
And I understand karma. And everything's blue.

Sometimes it happens
When I ride my bike, brush my teeth, when I'm with you, when I'm in class.
Sometimes even when I play guitar or read a book. Or when I daydream.
And it is the present.