March 31st, 1997
What are Basic Human Needs?
By Jackie Giuliano
The scene around me as I write this piece is very strange. Once again, I am flying above
the Earth, 37,000 feet above all that we hold dear. All around me are signs and symbols of
our technology. Overhead, rows of small movie screens are showing "Star Trek: First
Contact." In front of me, imbedded in the back of the seat, is a telephone. Just
before beginning this writing, I used the phone, contacting my associate in Pasadena to
confirm plans for the science teacher's convention I am heading towards in New Orleans.
Joanna Macy's book, World as Lover, World as Self, is at my side, as is my fiancee. As the
movie begins Captain Picard is having a dream about the conquest of the Earth by an alien
race. I open the book and come upon a section in which Macy spoke of the Ten Basic Human
Needs. I have often thought of this over these last few months as I have collected
together all my belongings in preparation to move into a new home. These Needs are from a
publication Joanna had from a Buddhist-inspired community known as Sarvodaya. She
reflected upon these needs during a limousine ride from the Los Angeles airport to a
speaking engagement. It feels fitting that I should reflect on these statements during my
present journey.
Environment
Do we not all have a right to a clean, healthful, beautiful place in which to grow? I
don't know. I think so, but some people seem to think that this is not so necessary. After
all, people are living in areas where environmentalists say the air and water are
poisonous. And can't technology take care of these problems for us? I know in my heart
that these rationalizations I hear so often are the sounds created by the protective walls
of fear. So many fears. To fully acknowledge the truth means taking full responsibility
for participation in the problem and the solution.
[The pilot points out that we are just passing over Las Vegas. I have been there often -
my sister lives there. It is a land of contrasts with vast areas of natural beauty just a
fifteen minutes from the "strip," where the concept of environment is very
different. Every day, something like 4 billion dollars is spent on gambling in the United
States. The World Game Institute estimates that it would take 8 billion dollars to prevent
global warming - the cost of not gambling for 2 days?]
Water
This is a very basic human need. Our planet is made up mostly of water, as are our bodies.
We have become so distant from the beauty of a cool, clear glass of water. We crave diet
sodas, sparkling flavored mineral waters, and fruit juices. We accept chlorine in our
water, a known carcinogen, and fluoridation, although fluoride is a powerful pesticide. We
buy water filters for our faucets, insist on bottled water, or just drink it from the tap.
It must be ok or "they" wouldn't sell it to us. Would they?
[We are flying over Hoover Dam - so much water. Or is it? So much environmental harm from
dams. It is estimated that it would cost 50 billion dollars to provide safe, clean
drinking water for everyone on Earth. That's how much Bill Gates, the head of Microsoft
corporation (whose software I am using right now), has in his bank account.]
Clothing
The Sarvodaya community believes that every individual should have six sets of clothing:
two for daily home wear, two for school or the workplace, one for nightwear, and the other
for ceremonial wear. They say also to keep them clean. If you have no money for soap, then
water mixed with the ash of coconut branches removes dirt. I think of this as I look at
all the clothing people are wearing around me. I think about all the clothes I packed for
this 10-day trip: 10 T-shirts, all different colors and patterns, 6 pairs of pants, all
different styles and colors, 10 pairs of socks, 2 suit jackets, 4 ties, 2 cold weather
jackets, 1 pair of long underwear, 1 pair of gloves, 3 pairs of shoes, and my bathing suit
- the hotel may have a jaccuzzi, you know. How much is enough? I also spent 3 days in a
community in northern California by a river naked last summer. Where's the balance?
Food
So much food in our world. Yet so many are hungry. I ordered a vegetarian/non-dairy meal
from the airline. It is actually pretty good: some kind of potato dumpling with vegetables
in it, some fried mushrooms and vegetables, a "non-fat/non-dairy" doughnut in a
plastic bag, a fruit cup, and orange juice. All of it was wrapped in plastic containers,
including the silverware. I ate more calories in this one meal than many people in our
world eat in a week. How is that possible? How can I be so rich and they so poor? Yet I
complain that I don't make "enough." It is estimated that it would take 19
billion dollars to end starvation and hunger on this entire planet.
[I see an ad for the Toshiba Corporation in the airline magazine. I am typing on a Toshiba
laptop computer. They could write a check today and end starvation and hunger. But we
would never think to ask them to do such a thing. Why?]
Housing
Protection against the sun, rain, heat, cold, and mosquitoes is a basic human need. If you
cannot afford bricks, then you could fashion walls out of packed earth or even old tires.
Roofs can be made of palm leaf thatching. I see Chicago out the plane's window as we
approach. Huge buildings everywhere, mostly empty. New houses being built everywhere with
many many trees being used for walls and floors and roofs. Yet back home in Los Angeles, I
see people sleeping outside these magnificent structures every day, huddled in their
entryways. It could cost about 21 billion dollars to provide shelter for everyone on
Earth. One of the ten richest people in the world could fund this one. Will they?
Health care
It is a basic need to lead a healthy life. I continue this writing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
as my fiancee and I visit her family. We visit her 85 year old grandmother, Florence, in a
"very nice" nursing home in downtown Milwaukee. Here we collect our elders, some
sick, some demented, most lost, so we don't have to look at them every day, to be reminded
of our mortality. Florence has it together. She is alert, witty, and talkative. Later that
night, we learn that her roommate, a sad woman who suffers from Alzheimer's disease,
assaulted Florence with the TV remote control as she came out of the bathroom, bruising
her arm and shoulder and scaring her badly. My fiancee, a Ph.D. psychologist specializing
in the care of the aged, finally convinces the hospital staff to remove the demented woman
from the room. No doctor could be found who would disturb a Friday evening to go examine
Florence. "Take her to the emergency room," they all said. Further trauma for
the victim. Who will take responsibility?
It is estimated that it would take 15 billion dollars to provide health care for every
child, woman, and man on this planet. The box office receipts from the re-release of the
Star Wars movies could take care of this quite easily. But that is not done.
Communication
The Sarvodaya community lists communication as a basic human need. Media of communication
include the temple bell, the conch shell, bonfires, birds and letters, as well as
telephone, radio, and television. Bulletin boards are also important, as is the
dissemination of news through the village tom-tom beater. Village meetings are held once
per month. Of course, they are talking about communication within a "community."
In fact, maybe communication defines a community. If we communicated with each other in
our cities, really listened to each other, we might hear the sound of the Earth crying and
the pleas for help from our neighbors.
Fuel
We need energy for many of our pursuits. Energy can come from the sun, wind, water, or
heat from the Earth or burned animal dung. To provide clean, renewable energy sources
worldwide could cost 17 billion dollars.
I flew over one thousand miles yesterday, using hundreds of pounds of jet fuel and spewing
many pounds of air pollution into the air. It makes me very sad - yet I did it.
Education
Joanna Macy says that lifelong education is a basic human need. This is so true. I have
seen the light come on in so many eyes when they learned something important to them. And
I have seen that light glow even brighter when a person realized that the power to learn
is something that we all have. Yet I have also met many very so-called educated people who
know very little. Today I met a dentist who knew nothing of the connections between eating
animal protein and cancer - and he thought I was a nut by suggesting it.
But education is not gained simply by acquiring information. Watching the evening news and
reading the daily newspaper may not mean you are educated. During this coming week, I will
be attending a science teachers' convention that may have as many as 20,000 teachers in
attendance. There will be much information, but how much awareness will be there? Very
little, if it is like the conventions of past years.
It is estimated that it would cost 5 billion dollars to eliminate illiteracy worldwide.
Will we ever do that? Aren't educated people more difficult to control?
Cultural and Spiritual Development
What are all the other basic human needs without a cultural and spiritual base to bind
them and provide them with meaning and context? But how is this done? Does this mean going
to temple or church? Some suggest that subscribing to a major religion is very different
from being spiritual. As I write this, the Milwaukee Journal newspaper headline proclaims
that orthodox Judaism has now deemed all other types of Jews to be not Jewish. The paper
doesn't say that this announcement is from a small religious sect. But the damage is done.
The Sarvodayas strive for culture and spirit by having the elders perpetuate folklore,
folksongs, and proverbs to the younger generations. They keep traditions alive with
festivals, pageants, drama, and dance. They arrange facilities for learning ways of
meditation and also the essence of other religions as well, giving respect to the many
ways that exist to practice being connected to the universe and to each other.
Examining the concept of basic human needs is a powerful experience. It may start with
looking at your belongings and wondering what to keep and what to throw away. But this
simple exercise may lead to a powerful self-examination of values, the beginning of a deep
inner house cleaning. You can't put anything new on the shelf until you clean out what is
already there. And we do need some new things on the shelf.
RESOURCES
1. World as Lover, World as Self, by Joanna Macy (Parallax Press) can be obtained from
Creabooks http://members.aol.com/creabooks/creatura.html
or directly from the Parallax Press web site http://www.parallax.org
2. The Sarvodaya movement has a home page. Check it out at http://home.earthlink.net/~rflyer/sarvodayausahp.html
3. The information presented on the costs of fixing our environmental and social problems
is from a chart entitled "What The World Wants" issued by the World Game
Institute, University City Science Center, 3508 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
19104. Link to the World Game Institute at http://www.worldgame.org/~wgi/resource/doright/wwants.html
4. For information on multi-faith social activism and community building, check out http://home.earthlink.net/~rflyer/index.html
5. Learn about building Earth-friendly shelters at the Earthship web site at http://www.taosnet.com/earthship/
6. Read some interesting perspectives about overcoming consumerism at http://www.hooked.net:80/users/verdant/index.htm
7. Visit Macrocosm USA, an excellent clearing house for all manner of environmental,
social justice, and peace organizations and events at http://www.hooked.net:80/users/verdant/index.htm
{Jackie Giuliano is on his way to the National Science Teachers Convention in New Orleans
to give some teacher training workshops. He will also be examining his basic needs while
visiting the shops of the French Quarter. And thanks to Gary Ickowicz for being home when
I called him to look up some of the statistics I used in this article from my
Environmental Science course workbook.} |
