Which NGOs Are Worth Giving Donations To?

I used to donate a lot to NGOs (non-governmental organizations), but as I became more knowledgeable about environmental and animal rights issues, I started to wonder just how my money was being used.
This applies to all kinds of NGOs-- environmental, human rights, animal rights, and more. Here is my opinion on making donations each type of NGO:

• Environment: These NGOs are usually perfectly fine to donate to, because they care about animals, humans (usually, anyway), and the environment. But your money might also go towards more undesirable things, like cruel barbeque fundraisers, for example, or wind turbines, which kill birds (we just shouldn't use as much energy, that's all!). As long as you do a bit of research on the organization and you agree with all of their initiatives and their mission statement, however, it should be fine to donate to it.
• Human rights: Human rights is a fine cause, and it very often relates to environmental issues. Fair trade farming, for instance, relates to organic agriculture. Did you know that some people working in the United States are actually slaves to the big corporations? And when pesticides are sprayed all over the fields from above, the laborers don't even have time to run for cover, so their skin soaks up all those toxins. Other human rights groups don't really impact the environment either way-- look at diversity initiatives, for instance. Make sure that your human rights donation does not violate environmental ethic, though-- sometimes the "solutions" to human rights problems only cause more problems elsewhere (e.g. replacing a laborer's old job with an unsustainable forestry one, having one of those cruel barbeque fundraisers, etc.). I don't really have any suggestions of specific organizations, but that isn't to say that there aren't any good ones out there.
• Poverty and Homelessness Charities: These can be okay for environmentalists to donate to. It really depends on what they're doing. If they are doing something seriously detrimental to the environment or animals, then please don't donate to it. For example, some people who go to developing countries to try to give poor people a better life actually encourage the locals to exploit the natural environment, which will really just come back and take away their wealth in the end (see http://www.worldchanging.com/ for information on this and many other topics). And World Vision gives live animals to poor families so that they can breed them and then kill them, which is absolutely horrible. The best way to help impoverished people is to donate environmentally-friendly food and clothes to your local shelters and food bank. That way, no one will be able to go out and buy something unsustainable with your money-- you'll already have done the decision-making for them.
• Health and Research Associations: Ah, so controversial! People like to say, "So you think that we should throw away human lives just so that we don't have to test on animals?" But there are health research organizations that do not test on animals. Go to  http://www.humaneseal.org/search.cfm to search for organizations that have the PCRM's Humane Charity Seal of Approval.
• Animal Rights: Animal rights is very closely tied to environmental issues. Read my article at http://teenink.com/hot_topics/environment/article/403045/Helping-Animals-and-the-Environment/ for some information on how the two relate. My favourite animal rights charity:
• NCVA (National Capital Vegetarian Association-- http://www.ncva.ca/), located in Ottawa, or any other vegetarian/vegan association, such as the Vegan Society (http://www.vegansociety.com/).

Very Important Point: The more specific the cause and the donation, the better results will occur. (e.g. If you want to give dog beds to dogs in animal shelters, buy the dog bed yourself instead of giving your money to the animal shelter, who can do absolutely anything they want with it. And instead of donating to a general environmental group, give your money to an environmental group that focuses on a specific topic that matters a lot to you.) My point is that you never really know exactly how your money can be used, so be careful without being stingy.
I hope you can make the right choices when donating to NGOs!

Painlessly Parting from Plastic

Plastic is everywhere in society: wrapped around food and clothes, littering the streets, in everyone's homes, and stacked up on supermarket shelves in one form or another. But plastic, laced with toxins and almost unable to decompose, presents significant problems to the environment and our health. It is a very unnatural substance derived from oil, which also means that it uses up our precious little resources, only to satisfy fleeting human desires. Here are the best ways to avoid plastic and dispose of it responsibly:

1. Recycle the plastic that you have to reduce the production of more of it.
2. When moving or sending packages in the mail, use newspaper or Papernuts instead of styrofoam peanuts.
3. Bring cloth bags--preferably organic-- to the store and always use them instead of plastic bags. Many grocery stores sell them nowadays. You can buy the pre-made cloth bags or make your own out of old T-shirts (click for my other ideas on how to re-use T-shirts)!
4. Use reusable kitchenware, avoiding plastic plates and cutlery. (Even at parties! We don't want to degrade our resources for convenience, even once in a while! If you still aren't convinced of this urgency, please read this article: http://www.theonion.com/articles/how-bad-for-the-environment-can-throwing-away-one,2892/.)
5. Keep reusable containers to keep your food in. If you already have plastic containers, they will do. But if you now need to go out and buy some, buy either metal containers or special eco-friendly snack bags. The latter can be found at many grocery and health food stores, or at http://www.greentimebags.com/,  http://www.reusies.com/, http://www.reuseit.com/store/lunchskins-sandwich-p-1883.html, and http://www.snacktaxi.com/, to name a few.                                     
6. Buy food and necessities in bulk; this requires less packaging. Individually packaged foods should be avoided!
7. Don't allow plastic to fly away into the wind! It sounds obvious, but someone is obviously dumping their plastic all over the streets. Look outside if you don't believe me. :)

Those are all my tips for reducing plastic. Of course, there are definitely more ways to avoid plastic, depending on your lifestyle. If you would like to point out anything I've missed, feel free to comment below. Thanks!

Special Springtime Gardening Post!

Spring seems to finally be here! In spring, who doesn't love the chirping birds, small green shoots, blooming flowers, light soft rain, and sunny days? We can also use this season to help us be more environmentally friendly.

I haven't very much experience in gardening, but I'll share with you what I know:

1. If you're gardening for aesthetics, the best things to plant are wildflowers and wild grasses that are native to your region. They require very little attention and give a more natural, welcoming feel to your lawn.
2. For an extra sustainability punch, grow your own vegetables! This will reduce the strain on the food production system and make your lifestyle more resilient. So far, I have grown heirloom brandywine tomatoes, and I am now attempting to raise some heirloom pea plants. It isn't really very hard.
3. Even if you are growing your vegetables inside the house, bring them outdoors during mild rain or plentiful sun. It will help with their growth and health and spare you from having to water them with tap water.
4. Use a rain barrell (or a bucket, or a container, or a cup) when it rains. Then use this to water your plants. (It saves water.)
5. Don't go driving for miles just to find the right thing. If you need a container to pot your seedlings, use an old tupperware jar or ask a neighbour if you can use something of theirs.
6. Most of all, spend time outdoors this spring, away from the sucking electricity usage that most of us are far too accustomed to.



Black-Eyed Susans, native wildflowers to my region



Happy gardening!

Curbing Consumerism

Did you know that industry created the consumer? A children's non-fiction book called Made You Look: How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know looks at just that. According to the author (Shari Graydon), businesses had to convince people that they were, in fact, consumers:

"You might think that families would have been happy to give up the time-consuming process of [making things]. But they weren't used to buying things. They had to be persuaded to stop being so self-sufficient. They had to be convinced to start spending their money on products that companies were making for them.
That's when advertising really jumped into high gear. It's job became not only to get people to buy, but to convince them to think of themselves differently-- as consumers."

Since we are not innately consumers, we don't need to constantly buy things the way we do. We can make our own stuff when we need it-- but this will no longer be considered "stuff", because it will hold much more personal importance, and because we'll have less of it.
When North Americans were given a questionairre on what decade they would prefer to live in, the majority answered "the 1960's". The 1960s is the decade when it is estimated that happiness stopped growing with affluence. Nowadays, our buying habits and our "stuff" weighs us down more than it could possibly help us. I heard about a survey somewhere where people said that their lives had changed the most at the turn of the millenium by simply becoming more complicated and stressful. It's true.
Here are ways to curb consumerism in your lifestyle:

• As David Helvarg, the author of 50 Ways to Save the Ocean, says, "focus on 'having more fun' as an alternative to 'buying more stuff.'" Go out with your family and friends and play board games-- it will be much more memorable than some new gadget, anyway. Remember that when you have to take a habit out from your lifestyle, you'll need to replace it with something else.
• Reduce, reuse, recycle! I'll be talking about this more in the next few weeks.
• If you need something, make it yourself. Try to make it as much "from scratch" as possible. Examples of things that you can make/grow by yourself are candles, meals, fruits, vegetables, beans, clothing, houses, kitchenware, gifts, and paintings.
• For things that you can't make yourself but you still do need, buy it secondhand, from a thrift or consignment store. You can also ask to borrow someone else's, if you only want to use it once.
• Give the gift of time together during the holidays! How many materialistic gifts have you recieved over the holidays that you don't even need or want?
• Pass on the message and watch "The Story of Stuff" with Annie Leonard at http://www.storyofstuff.com/.

For more useful information, please another of my blog posts, "Simplify Your Life", at http://hugatreetodayseriously.blogspot.com/2011/11/simplify-your-life.html. It gives many supplementary ideas!

Go beyond Earth Hour this 2012

My goodness-- I almost forgot to post today! I'm lucky that I remembered just a few minutes ago.
This year, Earth Hour is on March 31 at 8:30 pm; please join Earth Hour this year by turning off your lights, computers, television, and cell phones! See the website http://www.earthhour.org/ for more information.

Earth Hour is all about conserving energy. But how do you take it beyond the hour and start a small-scale energy revolution in your life?

1. Make it an everyday habit to conserve electricity wherever you see possible-- turn off the lights when leaving the room, unplug your computer every evening, turn off the television and get outside, et cetera.
2. Get a free energy audit of your home. This way you'll know whether your house is energy-efficient. They'll also give you tips on how to conserve energy in your house-- sometimes it can be as simple as filling in a few empty spaces with insulation. At other times, it can be complex. But either way, it's good to know.
3. When you must buy an appliance, buy the ones labelled "Energy Star", which means that they are energy-efficient.
4. Throw on a sweater and turn the thermostat down one degree. This can have a big impact on your energy bill-- if you always had it one degree less, you could reduce your energy bill by ten percent!
5. Install solar water-heaters on the roof-- very convenient for heating your water naturally.
6. During the winter, open your curtains in the day to let sunlight in and close them at night to keep in the heat. In the summer, close the curtains in the day and open them at night, allowing heat to escape.
7. Go without air-conditioning-- you can always spend those hot days underneath a shady tree (if you haven't got any trees on your property, plant one!) or in the basement.
8. Follow my other tips on this blog to reduce your energy consumption further!