Sachs lecture on poverty, charity streamed from Columbia

A group of about 40 people gathered in Whig Hall on Monday night to watch a video of a lecture by Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs and a live lecture by Rutgers professor Larry Temkin GS ’83. The event marked the launch of the Princeton chapter of the international philanthropic organization Giving What We Can.

Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia and special advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, could not attend the event because of schedule conflicts. However, his prerecorded speech highlighted what he described as the greatest paradox of our time: extreme poverty in a rich world.

“Personal responsibility with regard to the world’s problems is the core of leading a meaningful life,” Sachs said. “And the opportunities to participate in the great challenges and dramas of your generation.”

Sachs said he applauded the efforts of Giving What We Can to help fight global poverty. He noted that the group is “getting people to understand that breaking the poverty trap is within their grasp.”

Furthermore, Sachs highlighted that there are cheap yet effective interventions, such as bed nets to prevent malaria, that could have a widespread impact if everybody in the high-income world gave 1 percent or even just 0.7 percent of their income to charities.

Accordingly, Giving What We Can recruits members to give away 10 percent of their income for the rest of their lives to cost-effective organizations fighting poverty in the developing world. The list of 122 members who have made this pledge includes the bioethics professor Peter Singer.

Inspired by Singer, the list of members who have pledged to give away 10 percent of their income to charities also includes Matthew Wage ’12 and Richard Chappell GS. Wage and Chappell founded the Princeton chapter of Giving What We Can along with Ben Cogan ’12 and Jake Nebel ’13.

Temkin spoke next about the ethics of global poverty.

Support nonprofit student journalism. Donate to the ‘Prince’. Donate now »

“Aiding the needy is not simply an option, it is a duty,” he said, noting that Americans donate approximately $13.3 billion each year to different institutions. In contrast, he said, Americans also spent $2.7 trillion on eating out and $841 billion dollars on recreation in 2007 alone.

Temkin also acknowledged that Princeton students might see themselves as undergraduates who have no spare money to contribute to charities. Nevertheless, he said that “there are many ways to do so where we wouldn’t even notice the difference in our lives.”

For example, he offered suggestions such as ordering water at a restaurant instead of paying for a soda or buying generic brands instead of opting for more expensive designer labels. These initiatives could save hundreds of dollars each year, he explained.

Temkin said that, were students to donate the money saved through these practices, they could save many lives per year.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“There is lots we can do,” he said. “But the question is: Will we?”

To mobilize undergraduates to get involved, the Princeton chapter of Giving What We Can encourages students to give 1 percent of their spending money for the rest of the year to the most cost-effective charities.

The Princeton chapter is one of the first American chapters of the organization. Students at Rutgers were the first to bring the organization to the United States. There is also a chapter of Giving What We Can at Oxford.

Ophelia Yin ’13, who attended Monday night’s launch event of the Princeton chapter, said she attended to hear what Jeffrey Sachs had to say about development projects.

However, she noted, she was glad she came to hear Temkin as well. In particular, she said, she “liked the segment he had on what college students can do and the unnecessary expenses we all have.”