Education is a key factor in preventing poverty and hunger, and yet so many children in the world – especially girls – are not able to attend school. In fact, The World Bank’s Web site goes so far as to say, “The World Bank has recognized that there is no investment more effective for achieving development goals than educating girls.”

There are many reasons. Perhaps one of the most important is that an eduated woman applies her knowledge to caring for her family, so the whole family benefits. Educated women tend to have fewer children with better spacing between them, allowing more time to recover between pregnancies, and less stress on resources like food and household income. What’s more, the whole family tends to stay healthier, as educated women apply their knowledge about hygiene, nutrition, and disease prevention and treatment. Educated woman are also more likely to demand education for their children, improving the possibilities for their futures.

But the health of the family is not the only benefit. Obviously, a good education has potential for improving household income. Educated women are more likely to qualify for higher paying jobs, which opens the door for higher levels of food security, healthcare, education, community participation, and fulfillment. Similarly, educated women are more likely to participate in community politics, thereby affecting policy and societal structures.

Yet for all the benefits, many girls are unable to attend school. According to the same World Bank Web site,

This may be another one that falls into the category of, “yeah, already seen it.” It isn’t cutting edge new. But it’s very worthwhile! In case you haven’t seen it, or if you’d like a refresher course on how our consumption affects our planet and the people on it, please watch Story of Stuff. It’s 20 minutes and 40 seconds of your life well spent – and entertaining, besides! It’s the simplest, clearest explanation I’ve encountered about where all of our “stuff” comes from, where it ends up, and why it matters.

It’s also a partial answer to my posting on the Nature of Power, my question about what it means for an individual American to wield American power. (Though it applies to other countries, too.) At the time I wrote that post, I was thinking more about government. But Story of Stuff makes crystal clear how each of us affects the world – and ultimately world hunger – with our purchase decisions every day. Instant empowerment!

I was driving home from work the other day when the radio did a spot on how economic reality was hitting the virtual world Second Life. Apparently, the Second Life (SL) economy is suffering from bank closings, and some real-life retailers have closed up their SL shops, not having seen the results they wanted. This made me wonder: Are there homeless people in Second Life? Regardless of how people are doing in their first life, are they learning about – or even intentionally trying out – homelessness in their Second Life?

You can probably tell by my questions that I’m not a Second Life citizen. But the whole concept of the place pretty much intrigues me. So I Googled “Second Life homeless” just to see what I would find. Indeed! Some interesting results! For example, this was posted by one Orhan Ayyuce as a comment to a blog: “my avatar is faceless right now and it is cold outside. i spent last night sleeping next to bunch of dead avatars in the graveyard where people just died from SL hardship. well like i said i am homeless at the moment and i don’t know how much more i can go like this without the full membership.”

Or try this, in Mitch Radcliffe’s blog: “When I rejoined Second Life last summer… I created Homeless Hermes, who would go and sit in people’s houses and on their land, just waiting. And when someone would show up, creeping around me like they would a stranger they found in their physical yards—you could see them not wanting to be rude, but being all the same kinds of possessive you see in people everywhere, all the time—I’d give them some Linden money. It made people nervous.”

And there were many Google results like this one about a Spanish NGO that put a virtual boy with a cardboard box on a corner to raise awareness about homelessness and their organization (Mensajeros de la Paz).

Again, I don’t really know anything about functioning in SL. But from these few results, it seems like there’s an opportunity to build an educational experience around what it’s like to be homeless. And perhaps, like Mensajeros de la Paz, there’s a way to tie the experience back to real-life organizations that give people an outlet for action. What a tool that would be for those of us fighting poverty and hunger! Perhaps someone has already done it?! Or wants to take it on?