Tao’s 2 Cents

I have a morning ritual. I go to three different web sites that simply by clicking on a link and shown a page with advertisers you can get those same advertisers to donate cups of food to the poor, save so many square feet of rain forest, and plant a tree(every 5th click).

The pages only let you do this once every day per internet connection. So every morning I make the rounds to www.TheHungerSite.com, www.EcologyFund.com, and www.LandCareNiagara.com and get my karma points for the day. Every workday I also make the rounds at work and rack up double points.

The Hunger Site is actually 6 different sites in one. Each one of the 6 sites donates to different causes. For instance, the Hunger Site gives 1.1 cups of staple food to the hungry in 3rd world countries. The other 5 mini-sites donate mammograms to fight breast cancer, child health services, books to schools, square feet of rainforest, and bowls of pet food to animal shelters.

The Ecology Fund also has about 5 different causes, all of which related to the environment. Each click donates square footage in different endangered habitats except for one which removes 4lbs of CO2.

Land Care Niagara plants a tree in the Niagara reserve area in Canada on every 5th click, so if you’re doing it daily then you’re planting a tree every 5 days. I realize that trees grown in rain forests capture significantly more CO2, but it’s still something. I figure I’ve probably planted around 70 trees so far.

I would highly recommend everyone participate in these web site programs and support the advertising by buying from the advertisers who often sell very environmentally friendly products and crafts. I’m particularly fond of the Hunger Site stores. You can not only buy arts and crafts from 3rd world artisans, but also buy things like sending 2 girls to school for a year in Afghanistan or feeding a Haitian family for a month.

In conclusion, if you’re considering something for my birthday this Tuesday (27 on November 6th), I don’t think I need to say more. I prefer the intangible.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 7:22 pm and is filed under Poverty, World Hunger, Ethics, Awareness, Environment. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.