Conservation International
Mmf. I was going to babbly post about me being all girly lately with girly stuff (Yes To Carrots eye & makeup remover is like the best shit ever. ever.) but I got another email from mah favorite charity and I thought I'd pimp. Yes, I'm a charity nut. But I'm an informed charity nut. You can research charities through a lot of websites nowadays and make sure it's a good charity, ie the majority of your money goes exactly toward where they tell you. Things like giving money to the Salvation Army at Christmas? Not such a good charity. (They're not even technically a charity. They file as a church-based organization so they're not required to give any tax information, or info on just how they spend your money...)
Conservation International is doing another drive for rainforest acres. This has been something programs have been doing for a few decades now; we're all familiar with buying up rainforest to keep it from being destroyed. But I wasn't aware of some of the facts of it. (That's another good thing about CI -- they give you a lot of info to start digging for more yourself. Play around on their website, seriously.)
(Yeah, Indy has been on their Board for years.)
$15 for protection equivalent to 1 acre of rainforest. Wildlife protection, climate protection, air protection, protection for all of the plants in the rainforests that no one has even been able to catalogue.. not to mention protection of tiny villages, indigenous peoples that depend on the land to survive. That's more than 2 birds for 1 stone. With an 85% program expenses ratio CI is one of the highest ranked charities of its type. I just bought 2 acres worth--and they take credit cards. I figure if I have to pay $20 down the road because of interest it's still well worth it, because you can't buy back time... a lot of their work is in climate change prevention and repair. (Yes, big Al is friends with CI, tho that's not how I found it.) PLUS, if you donate money you can choose what sorts of programs in what regions you want that money to go to. And with the earthquakes in China, their panda reserve people there, because they're on the inside and already set up through all the red tape as a non-profit, have been funnelling money and aid in directly--and you can donate directly toward that instead, if that's where you want your contribution to go. They also did a drive a few months ago for endangered animals that was just heartbreaking. Seeing anything listed as "Only 6 alive left in the world" makes me want to cry, even if it is a goofy looking bird. We have some responsibility here.
CI is a US-based charity, but if you're out of the country I urge you to research and find a pet charity of your own. I know it makes me sort of granola, but seriously, giving money to charity on behalf of someone else is one of the greatest gifts you can give. Especially if it's someone you don't know well or someone who has everything--ie my sisters children. (Yes, I'm that aunt. Who cares, the kids are still larvae and have all they could want.) My friends are getting married in 2 weeks and they've lived together forever and he's rich. They have everything. So I'm going to donate $75 to charity for them. No it's not shiny forks they already have too many of, but I feel better about it.
If nothing else, please watch this 2 minute video and be aware.
It's hard to watch and not want to do something about it. Every little bit matters.
Conservation International is doing another drive for rainforest acres. This has been something programs have been doing for a few decades now; we're all familiar with buying up rainforest to keep it from being destroyed. But I wasn't aware of some of the facts of it. (That's another good thing about CI -- they give you a lot of info to start digging for more yourself. Play around on their website, seriously.)
Click to view(Yeah, Indy has been on their Board for years.)
$15 for protection equivalent to 1 acre of rainforest. Wildlife protection, climate protection, air protection, protection for all of the plants in the rainforests that no one has even been able to catalogue.. not to mention protection of tiny villages, indigenous peoples that depend on the land to survive. That's more than 2 birds for 1 stone. With an 85% program expenses ratio CI is one of the highest ranked charities of its type. I just bought 2 acres worth--and they take credit cards. I figure if I have to pay $20 down the road because of interest it's still well worth it, because you can't buy back time... a lot of their work is in climate change prevention and repair. (Yes, big Al is friends with CI, tho that's not how I found it.) PLUS, if you donate money you can choose what sorts of programs in what regions you want that money to go to. And with the earthquakes in China, their panda reserve people there, because they're on the inside and already set up through all the red tape as a non-profit, have been funnelling money and aid in directly--and you can donate directly toward that instead, if that's where you want your contribution to go. They also did a drive a few months ago for endangered animals that was just heartbreaking. Seeing anything listed as "Only 6 alive left in the world" makes me want to cry, even if it is a goofy looking bird. We have some responsibility here.
CI is a US-based charity, but if you're out of the country I urge you to research and find a pet charity of your own. I know it makes me sort of granola, but seriously, giving money to charity on behalf of someone else is one of the greatest gifts you can give. Especially if it's someone you don't know well or someone who has everything--ie my sisters children. (Yes, I'm that aunt. Who cares, the kids are still larvae and have all they could want.) My friends are getting married in 2 weeks and they've lived together forever and he's rich. They have everything. So I'm going to donate $75 to charity for them. No it's not shiny forks they already have too many of, but I feel better about it.
If nothing else, please watch this 2 minute video and be aware.
It's hard to watch and not want to do something about it. Every little bit matters.