ABSTRACT
When I consider the state of our world, it is hard not to conclude that our world has gone a bit mad. A wide variety of statistics witness to the irrationality and human indifference that dominate our existence. Consider the following: in our world today, basic education for everyone would cost $6 billion while currently Americans spend $8 billion annually on cosmetics; water and sanitation for everyone in the world would cost $9 billion while Europeans annually spend $11 billion on ice cream; providing reproductive health care for all women in the world would cost $12 billion, Americans and Europeans combined currently spend that much annually on perfumes; basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world would only cost $13 billion and yet, Europeans and Americans spend $17 billion annually on pet food (UNDP 1998: 37). Currently, the quarter of the world’s population who live in the developed world account for 86 per cent of total private consumption while three-quarters of the world must make due with the other 14 per cent (UNDP 1998: 2). From my perspective as a Christian social ethicist, I feel like I am living in a world gone mad.
