ability to end extreme poverty

There is no “one” person who bends history; we are all going to have to do this job. The good news is that we can do it. We do not have to wait for the politicians; we are lucky enough to be living in an age where we have the capacities, technologies and tools to do absolutely wonderful things as individuals and as a global community. The world today is interconnected in absolutely fundamental ways. Our connections are becoming increasingly immediate, and the possibility of a truly global community exists now more than ever before.

We have within our hands, within our time, within this generation, the realistic ability to end extreme poverty. This shocks a lot of people. It seems utopian and naive. But the fact is, if we actually spent a little effort on it, the problem would turn out to be vastly easier to solve than we might imagine. The hardest part of all of this is not the costs, it is not the unimaginable difficulties of certain places, and it is not the harrowing challenges of economics or the environment or finance. The main challenge is really our ability to focus on what is within our reach right now. – Jeffrey D. Sachs