Text as prepared for delivery by Bill Gates at Harvard Commencement:
… If you believe that every life has equal value, it’s revolting to learn that some lives are seen as worth saving and others are not. We said to ourselves: “This can’t be true. But if it is true, it deserves to be the priority of our giving.” [full text]
Unfortunately, the philanthropic work of Gates Foundation has been marred by its dubious investments as reported in the LA Times.
Justice Eta, 14 months old, held out his tiny thumb. An ink spot certified that he had been immunized against polio and measles, thanks to a vaccination drive supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
But polio is not the only threat Justice faces. Almost since birth, he has had respiratory trouble. His neighbors call it “the cough.” People blame fumes and soot spewing from flames that tower 300 feet into the air over a nearby oil plant. It is owned by the Italian petroleum giant Eni, whose investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age, Allison H. Fine has this to say.
September 5, 2007 at 10:23 am |
I’m not sure what to make of this because I was really touched by how they seem to be going out of their way to help people in other countries.
There is nothing wrong with an investment but there something wrong with contributing to polution that affects people in such a critical manner.