"Flatness: Realities and Myths" - Katherine Marshall
| posted by Push InstituteAfter a half-hour break, Katherine Marshall closed the section on economics at PUSH 2008.
Marshall, a senior fellow at Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs and a senior advisor for the World Bank, has worked for over three decades on international development with a focus on issues facing the world’s poorest countries.
Marshall began her presentation, “Flatness: Realities and Myths,” by asking several questions that are important for the future.
· What kind of world are we seeking?
· Why do the choices matter?
· How do we navigate fierce debates?
· Why should you (personally) care?
· What can we do?
“It is ideas that really matter. It is ideas that change. It’s ideas that come out of this type of event,” Marshall explained.
There are many different ways to look at the changing issues in the world, but Marshall believes that looking at it as a kaleidoscope is important because, “what we are looking at is constantly changing and is a diverse picture that is always on the move.”
There are seven basic lessons/ issues that are important to the future of our world:
· Global poverty
· Keeping poverty on the agenda
· The role of the United States and changing its image to the rest of the world
· Working with wisdom and humility is important
· Pay attention to the “minefields” – have respect for how others might view the situation
· Human development is key
· Ethics and values matter
“With a plea for dialogue, intense support for mobilization efforts, that we all [Chandran Nair and Jonathan Greenblatt] are talking about, combined with individual action, and all it needs is a little PUSH!” concluded Marshall on what we can do to help the world for the future.
Posted by Melissa Turtinen
