Eguria

RETHINKING URBAN TRANSPORT The automobile once promised a dazzling world of speed freedom, and convenience, magically conveying people wherever the road would enthusiastically embraced the dream of car ownership. But societies that have built their transport systems around the automobile are now waking up to a much harsher reality. The problems created by overreliance on the car are outweighing its benefits. These problems are numerous and widespread. Traffic congestion and air pollution plague all major cities, and oil dependence makes economies vulnerable. Cities with streets designed for cars instead of people are increasingly unlivable. In developing countries, automobile serve only a small elite and leave the vast majority with inadequate transport. In Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, recent reforms could add the problems of automobile dependence to overwhelming economic and environmental crises. A new, more national approach to transportation is needed, one that ...

THE PREMATURE CHILD A child that is born before 36 weeks after conception is regarded to be premature, 40 weeks being considered full item (slightly more than 9 months). Another criterion for determining prematurity is that of weight. Any child born weighing less than 5 Ibs. 8 oz. is classified as premature. The closer to full term the fetus is, the bigger and more highly developed will be its organs and body systems. Its chances for survival, therefore, are proportionately increased. Those born within the 32 to 36-week period will usually weigh from 3½ to 4 pounds. The infant will be weak, but can manage to cry for its food when hungry. Careful supervision and nursing care are needed if the baby is to live. When birth occurs 28 to 32 weeks after conception the fetal infant will weigh about two pounds. An infant of this size at maturity would require constant medical supervision for survival, because it cannot nurse and has particular difficulty maintaining a constant body t...

THE GLOBAL POVERTY TRAP Uruguayan historian Eduardo Galeano once wrote, ‘The division of labour among nations is that some specialize in winning and others in losing.’ The global division of labour has relegated the poor to the rule of perpetual loser. They are caught by forces at local, national, and global levels that combine to form a three-tiered trap. At the local level, elements of the poverty trap include skewed pattern of access to land and other assets, physical weakness and heightened susceptibility to disease, population growth, and powerlessness against corrupt institutions. These are reinforced at the national level by innumerable policies – from tax laws to the structure of development investment – that neglect or discriminate against the poor. And at the global level, the poor are held down by the devastating combination of oppressive debt burdens, falling export prices, and rising capital flight. All these factors and forces, like diabolical counterparts to Ada...

THE DUBE TRAIN   The morning was too cold for a summer morning, at least, to me, a child of the sun. But then on all Monday mornings I feel rotten and shivering, with a clogged feeling in the chest and a nauseous churning in the stomach. It debilitates any interest in the whole world around me. The Dube Station with the prospect of congested trains, filled with sour-smelling humanity, did not improve my impression of a hostile life directing its malevolence plumb at me. All sorts of disgruntled ties darted through my brain, the lateness of the trains, the showing savagery of the crowds, the grey aspect around me.   Even the announcer over the loudspeaker gave confused directions. I suppose it had something to do with the peculiar chemistry of the body on Monday morning. But for me all was wrong with the world. Yet, by one of those flukes that occurs in all routines, the train I caught was not full when it came. Usually try to avoid seats next to the door, but som...