Charities Blog

Giving Something Back

Volunteer Work instead of Cash makes sense

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Volunteers.jpgMany of us have heard of charities and some might have even supported one in the many non-profit groups that are out there. Whichever purpose a charity may serve which is the foundation of an organization being categorized as a charity Charities are grouped into four major categories which are; for the alleviation of poverty, the advancement of education, the advancement of religion and for purposes that is beneficial to the community. The first groups are those who work to improve the quality of life for those who are considered to be well below the poverty line. This has these organizations like Habitat for Humanity provide housing, clothing, food and other life necessities that the people they aim to help have none of. For education, there are organizations that subsidize or provide facilities such as schools, books and other aids to help promote better education allowing the people they help to help themselves in the future. Religious charities are often declared or treated separate from most other forms of charities for they have more bearing on the religious aspect of lives to which the constituents of a particular area they aim to serve may belong to several groups. The last form of charitable organizations, Community Charities, aim to help the community as a whole providing necessities tot heir constituents such as proper facilities that allow access to potable water, respectable habitat and more.

All these forms of charities rely on their armies of volunteers who provide the bulk of their manpower needs. Some are full time volunteers who regularly give time and effort for others who may need assistance in the many activities the charity they belong to conducts. Others are more on a per need basis which has them called to provide services such as doctors and nurses who give time and skills for a particular mission or activity such as a medical missions to a remote jungle towns. There are even casual volunteers who express their aim to help as they get to know of the aforementioned activities.Whichever form or type of service one commits; there is no better reward than to see a community that prospers with healthy constituents that have benefited the many activities you have partaken in.

Originally posted on January 28, 2008 @ 8:53 am

Whales –Secretive Creatures

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Whale3.jpgWhale2.jpgWhale1.jpgWhales are considered to be the least studied marine mammals on earth due to their secretive lifestyle while they roam the world’s oceans. From birth till maturity, their lives are still quite murky for the studies only go on seasonal observations by scientists. Their long lifespan and large size prevents them from being captured and raised in captivity where scientists have learned so much about the world’s many marine animals. Breeding, diets, and many other aspects of their daily lives still elude our scientists and new innovative developments like the whale cam, which is a camera that attached to the back of whales allowing scientists to see what they do when they go miles under the sea to feed or do whatever whales do.

Protecting the oceans is still the first step and education is the key. Efforts have been quite successful but their numbers still dwindle on the brink of extinction. Some species are even thought to be almost wiped out due to few sightings. Plastic pollution in the seas is also becoming a greater threat for these artificial wrappers do not degrade and are often blamed for the deaths of many marine animals which die from ingesting or getting caught in them. There is need for protection for these giants who have a right to live as we do for they have long been in the seas long before man has ever been on earth and man who is considered to be the only being on this planet who has the power to save or wipe out a species should do everything in it’s power to do so. Save our Seas and save the Whales, we might just end up saving ourselves.

Originally posted on February 25, 2008 @ 6:39 am

Going green – Not always that environmentally Friendly (Part 1)

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solar1.jpgI had come upon a feature on CNN regarding the problems associated with some of the solutions that have been deemed as alleviating some of the pressures we exert on nature. Solar power has the ability to provide power off the grid (power that does not come from power plants that burn fossil fuel) and even sending some into it but the feature showed a clash of two neighbors regarding the trees that are natures own climate control experts and the next door neighbor who has an extensive installation of solar panels that have become blocked fro the sun due to the growing trees. As the story goes, the two neighbors have been at war with each other in attempts to protect each other’s interests one on the solar generation side and the other on the tree’s side.
As the argument goes, neighbor a planted several red woods in his backyard a few years ahead of his next door neighbor who installs and generates power using solar energy. As the years progress, each has done his own little part in contributing to the ever-growing pollution problem due to the burning of fossil fuel, one having trees that filter air and provide shade the other having power generation that does not pollute. The time came when the solar panels became overshadowed by the red woods which lowers their efficiency and does not maximize their power generation potentials. The neighbors go as far as the courts to find a little known law that was passed a few decades back that states solar power generation has the right to overcome shade and can have a court remove obstructions in certain cases.

Originally posted on March 7, 2008 @ 11:30 pm

Charities for the Environment (Part 1)

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envact.jpgThere are several charities that tackle poverty on a global scale that is aimed at providing feasible sustainable livelihood projects for those who live in under developed areas of the world. In India for example, the move of NGO’s who have initiated and continuously supported the putting up of communal biogas digesters has been going on for quite sometime and have proven that home-based fuel generation is possible. The project provides the technology and equipment to provide cooking and lighting through biogas production from human waste. These plastic digesters are constructed and donated to family groups who have them installed in their backyards as well as all supporting facilities such as piping and lighting fixtures. The family is then educated on the upkeep of the system and are left to fend for them selves. Many of the installations have been so successful that the need for wood in cooking and lighting has diminished considerably exacting less pressure on oxygen generating trees.
In other areas where nature has been under attack for generations, charities and various environmental groups have recruited people who used to hunt animals for the illegal trade as guides and protectors themselves to safeguard their previous quarry that are not on the top of the endangered species list. Tigers, elephants, rhinoceros and other susceptible species have enjoyed protection from the very people who used to hunt them who were, as the various environmental groups the best suited people for the job for their skill are unparalleled in tracking and finding these mostly secretive beasts.

Originally posted on March 1, 2008 @ 11:25 pm

Lowering you Carbon Footprint (Part 3)

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carbon-3.jpgGet your whole family involved in reducing your family’s garbage output. Re-use as much of the stuff as possible. Get stuff from the store in re-usable containers so you don’t have to buy those heavily plasticized stuff that end up in landfills. Old Consumer electronics and appliances eat more electricity than newer more efficient ones. Throw out that old fridge and AC and replace them with newer less energy consuming ones.
Most electrical devices have stand-by modes that unbeknownst to all of us still consume electricity. Un-plug and save a ton on your electricity consumption. It also lessens the energy demand for coal-powered power plants. You can also save on heating and cooling by using sweaters and other warm clothes indoors during winter and lighter cooler ones in the summer to lessen the use of heaters and AC units. Insulation in the proper places saves you a ton in heating and cooling costs so have it installed on your roof, water heaters and other appliances that will perform better when insulated. Warm day, dry clothes naturally and skip the dryer and get sun-dried clothes that smell crisp and better that chemically treated ones (fabric softeners).
There are more tips and energy saving measures you can find in the many conservation sites which all have the same goal, which is to save the earth. We have to do our share so we get the earth to last us longer. If not for you, then for the future generations that will thank us a lot for the green and clean earth we worked together for them.

Originally posted on April 10, 2008 @ 2:01 am

Charities for the Environment (Part 2)

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envact1.jpgIn rural areas where jungles boarder frontier towns, loggers are turned into farmers with help from the UN and other aid agencies who provide education on how their actions such as logging, charcoal making and stripping of forest can spell the end for the lifestyles they wish to protect. Indigenous people are tapped for better understanding of forests which they have hunted and subsisted on for millennia giving them the power to protect the land on which they live on with assistance from environmental groups.
Local cultures are corrected to prevent wiping out species such as sea turtles, birds and other resident animal species to prevent them form extinction. With the case of sea turtles which have high mortality rate from birth to adulthood, they may not have a nesting ground to return to when it is their time to contribute to their dwindling species due to development for tourism and other necessities.
Oil has had resurgence in terms of prices and forecasts of dwindling supplies plus worldwide political tensions have cause much alarm to economists. The need for alternative energy is not an alternative anymore but more of a must if we all want to keep on living on this earth for the rest of our lives.
Much is the power of man to create and destroy what nature has spent millions of years to create. Million of years on evolution have been wiped out in a few short years by over hunting, fishing and development of previously pristine areas that used to teem with wildlife and other native plants. Man needs to protect and recognize the importance of biodiversity if we are to ever continue to live on this planet for we are the only life forms on this earth who are capable of influencing and exacting change in the hearts and minds of all of Mother Nature’s creatures.

Originally posted on March 4, 2008 @ 11:28 pm

Going green… Not so green after all… BLUEGREEN

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corn1.jpgcorn-4.jpg>corn3.jpgThe Gulf of Mexico is turning bright green not due to chemicals dumped into the area but from abnormal blooming of algae which thrives due to nitrogen rich waters. Why, well due to increasing ethanol demands which comes from corn. Apparently, the rising demand for ethanol from corn has spurred farmers to begin shifting to corn and in the process utilizing more and more fertilizers which run off into the rivers and streams. The excessive nitrogen then causes algae to bloom and multiply rapidly which could affect the ecology of the Gulf area impacting fish and other wildlife in the process. Too much algae eats up a lot of the oxygen in the water and also blocks out the sun allowing less to penetrate down to plants and animals that need it to survive. The dead zone is growing and is expected to reach never seen size as the NASA article on the topic shows.
The effect has been noticed for sometime and the abnormal growth of algae which usually happens once a year or every two years making it a common occurrence. If the said event continues, it is forecast to affect fish stocks in the area due to less food that is available. As early as the race goes in attaining a sustainable alternative fuel economy goes, problems are already popping out of the most unlikely places. Marine life and all other dependent species would disappear during the said blooms and even stay away permanently due to lack of food due to competition.
Scientists have predicted some of these effects yet this one came a bit too quick and at a large scale that they have to find a solution to the problem. Fertilizer runoff is quite normal for water loaded with fertilizers and other chemicals such as pesticides eventually finds its way to a running body of water. The only problem, too much too fast and the runoff which should have normally been cleaned in the rivers and streams cannot digest the nutrients enough sending it down stream to the seas of the gulf.

Originally posted on March 16, 2008 @ 2:22 pm

Wildlife Charities

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Nature.jpgThere are currently several local and international charities that have been formed by environmentally conscious groups in most countries due to the threat to wildlife man had effected due to changes to the environment. This has always been a case such as with endangered species, some of which have been brought back from the brink with captive breeding programs such as the American Bison which was almost wiped out of it’s home range but has now returned to better numbers enough to take it off the endangered list. Many such efforts have been successful when conducted in developed countries but conservation for a developing or third world country is a totally different matter. They may either not have the political might to reserve money for such programs or that there is no promise of financial gain that businesses rarely engage in the said activities.

Tis’ true that big businesses sponsor and donate regularly but that may not even be enough for a proper environmental preservation/conservation program. Environmentalists have long accepted the fact that they way is to convince the people who live within the area itself where these creatures reside in and into which their habitats have been encroached on to become the best approach for it to succeed. Conservation efforts in Malaysia for example have the Orangutan considered to be protected but poachers who just happen to be locals still continue to hunt and trade them illegally on the world market. Zoos have been forced to take alternative steps in their acquisition of animals for their exhibits for they were once determined to be the primary reasons for the extinction of some species in the first place.

The world needs to accept that we are the only creatures on this earth that has the capacity to destroy and rebuild what nature has taken millions upon millions of years to create and awareness is the key along with the promotion of a better understanding of the implications of a species being wiped out off the face of the earth. We should all pitch in our own little ways to help natural environments remain as they are without impacting the animals and plant life that resided within. The Amazon which is the largest untouched natural area on this earth is disappearing at the rate which would have it wiped out in as little time as it takes for the next generation to become aware of its existence.

Originally posted on February 9, 2008 @ 8:55 am

Going green – Not always that environmentally Friendly (Part 2)

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solar2.jpgThe solar guy wins and the tree guy looses which is good for both but raises a moral question of who has preference over who? Both have legal environmental issues that they have tried to address and they have both done their parts in being as environmentally friendly. The courts were baffled with the said law which is now sure to get an upgrade for trees are more important in our efforts to improve air quality. Solar panels on the other hand are secondary band aid solutions and are assets which could be moved to new locations whilst the trees can be only moved by cutting them down. The solar guy wins and the tree guy has to cut down some of his trees to give way to solar guy’s need of ray’s but who’s right? This highlights the need for review of outdated laws which may or may not impact the environment as a whole and gives credence to outrageous defense by corporate lawyers in the event of environmental disasters. Many of them could have been avoided if only people have listened and done their part.
Why me, is a question many of us ask, well, you want to live and continue living? Do you want to eat, see your children grow up and many other questions to which we all know the answer to. It is time to pay attention and take part and to take a stand for something.” You have to believe in something for without it, you are nothing”.

You decide nature or man’s band-aid efforts to correct years of neglect?

Originally posted on March 10, 2008 @ 11:32 pm

SOS – Save our Seas

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Dolphin.jpgSave.jpgWhales.jpgThis might be one of the most important endeavour people should engage in for the seas that surround our continents are there to stay along with the many species of marine mammals, fishes and plants that are unique to each and every marine environment. Many species of animals are in the endangered species list and people have to take notice and action even within the household which has far reaching effects on our plant’s ecology. The recent uproar on Japan’s Whale hunting and dolphin slaughter activities has attracted much attention to the amount of abuse and indignity our fellow living beings suffer on this planet. Australia has voiced disgust on the actions of the government for condoning such activities which should be stopped and prevented from happening. The country has ordered whale hunting, well for humpbacks that is, to halt due to increasing international pressure and through requests by the International Whaling Commission. The Japanese people are just following their traditions which include these activities as part of who they are and their culture. They argue that this is the way they have lived for hundreds of years and that they should be allowed to continue on doing to continue that tradition. Japanese fishermen have been reported to act with disgust to the action of Westerners for they argue that they are interfering with tradition and their way of life. In one incident, a Western Wildlife Activist who was taking video for his expose had his camera smashed as he exchanged heated words with Japanese Fishermen. GreenPeace has long been battling these whalers and have had some success but sometimes placing their lives at risk. Some are arrested and some have their boats smashed when the captain of whaling ships order them rammed.

Originally posted on February 22, 2008 @ 6:28 am