For the city often praised for having the most courteous drivers and some of the greatest nonprofits, you would think people would take more notice of a cluster of bright-eyed volunteers with a huge sign bemoaning global poverty in the middle of a busy downtown Seattle intersection. Here we are, four college-aged females parading a neon yellow banner that screams, "Tell your rep to fight poverty," followed by the Capitol Hill switchboard telephone number, and what response do we get? Honks and cat-calls from passing construction workers, and a 40-year-old grouch who fires back with, "Fight poverty....Get a job!" like a coward through his monster truck's two-way radio. Imagine our idealistic horror.

Sure, there's the lone, polished businessman in Fendi sunglasses who stops long enough to hold two folded $1 bills out the sun roof of his Audi A4 for us to fetch--he lets us think there's a little hope in our morning effort to bring attention to global poverty and community activism--but that inspiration quickly fades away as soon as another speeding driver shouts, "Take care of America first!"

Earlier in the week, we interns pile into a car and make our way to the various buildings that house the most listened-to radio stations. Armed with a press release for a fundraising event we are organizing in the coming weeks and our matching t-shirts, we find ourselves snubbed by disinterested security personnel who can't seem to get past the fact that we're not on the guest list. Just days ago, a garbage man in one of Seattle's most open-minded neighborhoods rode our tails as we posted flyers that call attention to the UN Millennium Development Goals, which aim, among other things, to cut global poverty in half by 2015. "Posting signs like that is illegal here!" he barked, threatening to remove every flyer we put up and obviously not understanding the outcome of a long battle for free speech in Seattle a few years back.

We ask people to call their congressmen and ask them to join in the fight to end global poverty. We encourage them over and over again to make their constituent voices heard, to take action for a cause that really affects everyone around the world--even those in America who often have no idea that every 3.6 seconds, another person dies of starvation, and that many of these victims are children under the age of five. Worldwide peace, stability, and justice depend on addressing the fact that more than 1.2 billion people--that's one-fifth of the global population--live on less than $1 a day. A 1999 USDA report says, "We could end mass hunger in our richly blessed nation within a couple of years if we really wanted to. The United States could also do much more than it does to help overcome hunger around the world." Well, if we are so capable, if society's gods like U2's Bono and studly Brad Pitt are stressing the urgency of acting against global malnutrition and poor health, why can't people understand that speaking up can make a difference?

And the real clincher is that, in fact, an everyday, average Joe's 15-second phone call to good ol' Senator Bob Jones out in his home state really can get the ball rolling on that senator's support for legislation that fights poverty around the world. I've seen it myself, with my own two eyes! In a lobby meeting with a US senator's chief of staff, I saw an official document logging the telephone calls that the senator's office had received over the past week; it outlined the issues people called in, the number of calls received that concerned each issue, and even suggestions for what action should be taken as a response! I even heard it said with my own two ears--the senator will look at these weekly reports and act accordingly in the Senate. After all, it's the constituents who put these officials into positions of power--we all have the power to affect what's going on in our nation's capitol!

Take H.R. 1302, The Global Poverty Act, which would require the President to develop a comprehensive global poverty reduction strategy. Once a document that held relatively no interest among members of Congress, the relentless phone calls, letters, and lobby meetings made by non-profits like The Borgen Project and activist individuals have transformed it into a bill with over 70 co-sponsors. It will contend for approval in the House of Representatives as early as July 31! The implementation of plans like The Global Poverty Act rests in the hands of constituents who neither know nor act out their full potential and power--I mean, what would have happened to Gotham City had Batman not come to the rescue?

We can all be superheroes in the fight against severe poverty--not just for faraway developing countries, but for every single nation around the world. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it himself: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." With over 800 million people going to bed hungry every night, there's no reason why we should not care about eradicating this giant problem. Come on, really--let's get our government to lead efforts to end global poverty before we shout down any more do-gooders on Seattle's open streets.

--Catherine Banton. The Borgen Project is a nonprofit organization working to bring US political attention to severe poverty. Visit http://www.borgenproject.org.