Week 16 One million lights

Giving people clean affordable light.

Some communities have waited years for the power grid to reach them, and will probably have to wait many more. In the meantime they spend a large amount of their income on kerosene. Nasty for their health and for the environment. One Million Lights provides solar powered lamps as a clean and cheap alternative.

Week 15 Ice bucket challenge

Officially ice bucket challenged...

Week 14 Mission Blue

New on Netflix is "Mission Blue" a documentary about Sylvia Earle; a prominent, kick ass, oceanographer. I was not looking for a candidate for this week's topic, totally stumbled on. It made a huge impression and has stayed with me all week.

http://mission-blue.org/

I'm happiest in the water. I'm a swimmer and I love to sail and scuba dive. Dr Earle has spent 7000 hours under the water ~ 1 year!! Over the last 50 years she has been a witness to the massive changes in the ocean caused by overfishing and climate change. I consider myself quite educated about environmental matters but I did not know that the ocean is essentially the planets lungs. Producing most of the Oxygen and collecting most of the CO2

Its not an unhappy movie (well some parts are!) It is a positive movie, we can fix it and good people are trying to.
$100

Week 12 The ocean clean up (oops deleted! but retrieved)

My heroes are people who seem to have a build in drive for fixing the larger problems in this world. Those people are not hollywood stars, and while they can have money they don't seem to be motivated by it. They are often super smart and...daring.

Elon Musk is one. Recently another person has been Boyan Slat [it seems there may be something in having a slightly strange name]. Boyan is 19 years old and wants to clean the oceans of plastic - you know those giant garbage patches clogging up our aquatic ecosystems.

Boyan went scuba diving in Greece a few years ago and found more plastic bags than fish. It bothered him, but unlike everyone else he decided to do something about it. Instead of the ship with nets idea he thought building a stationary structure and letting the ocean move through it (since the major oceans have gyres - that is they move in a giant circular motion) this could collect the plastic - then a belt would lift the plastic out. Well it is a little bit more complicated than that but that is the general idea.

He postponed his engineering studies to work on this, crowd funding to work on the feasibility study with a large group helping him. Now the study is done, it is feasible. Now into phase II, another round of crowdfunding which is my contribution this week.

"To reduce the uncertainties, to optimize the design and to prepare for the actual implementation, The Ocean Cleanup now commences on the second phase of the project: the pilot phase.
Through a series of up-scaled tests, The Ocean Cleanup will work towards a large-scale and fully operational pilot in 3-4 years’ time. The series of tests will generate new data in a range of structural and physical topics. Furthermore, these up-scaling tests will serve as a platform for the engineering and oceanographic research groups, enabling them to immediately implement newly developed technology or testing equipment in a real-life environment"

https://fund.theoceancleanup.com

Week 13 Engineers without borders

Joined the local chapter pf EWB! The Boston professional chapter seems to be very active.

Very excited. Hope to volunteer a little this year. It would be nice to meet some new people who care about these issues.

Week 11 350.org

350.org was not my original plan for this week but it seems paypal does not like me and that is the only option for donation!!..

So, it is 350.org this week. I was going to get to 350, at a later time. It is another activist environmental group.

A couple years ago I went to Bill McKibbon's "math tour" essentially, finally, the scientist laid out a plan including a firm goal for carbon in our environment - at 350 ppm (actually less would be better - this is the limit), at the moment it is 400 ppm....More math...he explained that if the fossil fuel industry burns what it projects to do -  80-90 years from now this planet will essentially not be livable by humans due to a ~6 degree rise in temperature (we need to keep that rise < 2 degrees). However the fossil industry has included this future "burn" as part as its future earnings. Its is silly that all this fuel, currently in the ground, has an investment price on it.....guys, we may not be here to collect....certainly our grandchildren will not.

This ties into the divestment idea I mentioned in an earlier post.

Here is a proof of sorts...

Week 10 clean out!

This is giving as much to myself as anyone else. Therapy!

Over several days I spring cleaned with some help ;) and at the end there was a small pile of clothes and books and...other.

This week the clothes and books were dispatched (a lot more than shown below!)... hopefully some good will become of it.

Still have to figure out what to do with the other stuff....free on sidewalk possibly.

Week 9 Earthjustice

Another environmental activist organization. Decided to make use of the match available up to July 15th.

Earthjustice http://earthjustice.org/about is essentially an organization made up of...wait for the oxymoron...a group of lawyers concerned about the environment.

What caught my attention is that earthjustice is taking on the EPA for approving he use of a certain pesticide - sulfoxaflor. Sulfoxaflor is a type of neonicotinoid pesticide which are connected to colony collapse in Bees (there are other factors too including other types of pesticides..however). These pesticides also harm butterflies and possibly songbirds. Neonicotinoids have been banned in Europe. Banning them in the US is not only the right thing to do it is the smart thing to do.


Earthjustice has been successful at getting the EPA to disallow other pesticides for example, vinclozolin, which in lab tests showed "sexual behaviors of the offspring of the male rats exposed in utero were impaired"...sometimes I wonder about the EPA....but I will continue to hope especially if carbon trading becomes a reality.

I'd love to see the end of synthetic pesticides. Perhaps I yearn for some utopia, perhaps I am naive. A CSA farmer I know commented that pests on crops is most often a sign of poor soil or imbalance in the ecology. Our current farming practices are scary. Small farms produce much more food per acre than large "mono crop" farms. The system seems so wrong.

People are waking up to this (wholefoods!), mostly from the concern of what we put in our bodies rather than what we are doing to the environment, but really these two things go hand in hand.

Week 8 World Food Program Quiz

Good news, we have enough food in the world to feed everyone. So to help out this week I took a quiz on the World Food Program, in return they will feed a hungry kid for one year.

https://quiz.wfp.org/

Hunger kills more people than AIDS+Malaria+TB, and is prevalent most countries including the US. Here is the comment at the end of the Quiz..

"...
There is enough food today for everyone to have the nourishment needed for a healthy and productive life. The problem is access.
Thanks for taking the quiz!
....
"

week 7 Enviromental Defense Fund

Back to the environment and virtual tree hugging. I've previously supported EDF http://www.edf.org/ in years past but I'm taking advantage of a 2 for 1 match available at the moment.

It's a charity run by proactive scientists. Among other initiatives they lobby congress, its nice to have folks like this in Washington DC rather than the usual Bankers, Oil industry, Big Pharm....etc. In addition to lobbying they work in commercial markets also.

Success stories include fighting AB32 which was a California proposition that would curb the state carbon cap and trade. They also collaborated with Wal-Mart for safer chemicals in their products.

When I'm wondering how well a non-profit handles its money I check out Charity Navigator. EDF scores well.

Proof for this week

Week 6 World community grid

I have my laptop on constantly, mostly because I work for a software company....OK, so maybe its also that I'm online wayyyy tooo much! However, for much of this time the heavy duty computation is done by whatever terminal server I'm logged into. My laptop is essentially idle; simply acting as a portal. I'm sure a lot of people are only using a faction of the computational power at their fingertips.

How could this extra computation capacity be put to good use?....Well world community grid from IBM is a pretty awesome way of using that computer power.

From the web page  www.worldcommunitygrid.org

"World Community Grid enables anyone with a computer, smartphone or tablet to donate their unused computing power to advance cutting-edge scientific research on topics related to health, poverty and sustainability. Through the contributions of over 650,000 individuals and 460 organizations, World Community Grid has supported 22 research projects to date, including searches for more effective treatments for cancer, HIV/AIDS and neglected tropical diseases. Other projects are looking for low-cost water filtration systems and new materials for capturing solar energy efficiently."

It is free. It is IBM so I trust I'm not going to get some virus or have some other nasty event/blue screen situation.

I installed it earlier this week (it was quite painless) and, up to now, has been looking at potential cure for Aids and markers for cancer. It is nice that they let you know what the computer is looking at. 

Week 5 Fossil Fuel Divestment

Climate change scares me. Particularly when it seems no one is doing anything about it.

There is hope. Things are changing although change seems slow....When I think about it, it is not so slow. Since I've been in the US - 10 years - it seems people now, in general, believe Climate Change is real. That's an important step (yes, sarcasm). There is more change happening. Notice all the smaller cars lately!? Notice all the building trying to get LEED certified?

However it seems that most of Congress is still in deep denial. Or perhaps too busy being wined and dined by the fossil fuel industry. What's happening in Australia and Canada, namely the leadership of those countries, is a huge cause for concern...

Last year I attended a rally "do the math" tour by 350.org that followed a Rolling Stone interview of Bill Mckibben. The article laid out the problem in very clear way - we can't let the planet warm by more than 2 degrees. Not if we want to survive as a species. We don't have a lot of time left to make sure this does not happen.

One idea put forward was to get organizations to divest from fossil fuels. Including college endowment funds, city retirement funds etc. Most of this is organized through fossil free movement.

http://gofossilfree.org/

Divestment helped to end apartheid  and the hope here is increase the unpopularity of fossil fuel and hit them where they pay attention - and they only seem to pay attention to money.

For the last couple of years this movement has grown and some colleges have divested - recently Stanford has decided to divest from coal. Many cities have divested. Personally I've added my name to petitions and sent a letter to my alma mater to ask that they consider divestment and stating that I will not give to the annual fund until the college divests...My old college prides itself on its sustainability efforts - all the programs in place monitoring the college campus itself, making changes to promote sustainability, and also all the research efforts. I hope they make this next step.

I will send another letter with the directions given on the link. Basically sending a donation check that can only be cashed if the college divests. In the mail box Monday.

http://act.350.org/signup/GFF_Alumni/

My photo as per directions:

 

#donors4divestment 

 

Unfortunately it looks like I may be naked in this photo....hehe...it's a strapless dress and I'm too tired to retake the photo.

In addition, going forward, I've decided to up the ante on this. I've decided to divest my own little nest egg. Certainly with what I invest from now and also with the funds I have. Unfortunately I can only do this with my IRAs but I can at least talk to the accountants at work to think about changing or adding to the 401k options.

Interesting funds found:

Managed funds, usually I try to avoid!
Portfolio 21 (PORTX) very big on alternative energy - female fund manager, cool!
Parnassus Equity Income (PRBLX)
Modified tracker 
TIAA-CREF Social Choice Equity (TICRX)  0.6 expense ratio
iShares KLD Select Social (KLD)  0.5 expense ratio
Vanguard FTSE Social Index  0.29 expense ratio. Love Vanguard but this index has not done so well. Will keep my eye on it.

There will be more posted on this. Over the last years I have tried to make many changes to lower my own carbon footprint. I'm very happy to be a tree hugger. I would love to spend more of my time simply enjoying nature.

Week 4 Heifer International

www.heifer.org

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime"

As the name suggested the "donation" started out as a cow.  Over the last 70 years Heifer international has added to the types of gifts that can be given: goats, sheep, water buffalo, rabbits, trees, chickens, bees! and a lot more. Bees were my choice.

Never heard of this organization until reading the book "Give a little" http://www.amazon.com/Give-Little-Small-Donations-Transform-ebook/dp/B002SVQCX8. All the programs in this book are well researched and chosen for their ripple effect.

The ripple effect for this one is direct. Every family that gets a donation makes a promise to pay it forward by giving gifts to other families in their communities. So when the goat has kids, the kids are given to the neighbors...cool!

 

I also love the fact that Heifer also supports sustainability such as sustainable farming.

Week 3 Kiva (microfinancing)

www.kiva.org

At times I've hesitated donating to charities since I've not been sure if the money goes where it is needed, I worry that it ends up being spent on red tape. In addition, for some instances, I'm not sure about "hand outs" (yup, that old jaded negative voice I can't seem to shake).

I'm always interested in a longer term solution.....if one is available...

Kiva is not about donating, it is about investing in people who don't get the opportunity to access capital; known as Microfinance. Microfinance can play a role in alleviating poverty and is effective in empowering women. Poor people have difficulty getting loans and often credit available is relatively expensive.

I'm already invested in 3 Kiva projects and intend to re-invest the money that is paid back. That's another great point, the small amount of upfront money can do good again and again.

Week 2 The Lizzy Project

Funds for anti-bullying movie raised through kickstarter.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to live in a world without bullying.

If that's not possible, then wouldn't it be powerful to have a strong role model for bullied people. Someone who survived intense bulling and later thrived because of it.

Lizzy Vasquez was born with a medical condition that prohibits her from gaining weight. Now 25 years old, she has never weighed more than 60 pounds. This condition has led to other medical complications including a weakened immune system and blindness in one eye.

Several years ago someone proclaimed Lizzy as the "ugliest woman in the world" in a Youtube video that ended up having more than 4 million hits. Some comments on this video were even worse referring to Lizzy as "it" and "monster".

The amazing thing is that Lizzy came away from this experience wanting to give hope and comfort to others. Initially she was extremely hurt, as anyone would be, but she started to make plans and form goals. She became a motivational speaker, wrote books about positive self image, and essentially thrived.

After listening to her talk for 5 minutes it is impossible not to be charmed.

....some of the comments on the kickstarter page:

"Awesomeness. I discovered this campaign through its coverage on MSN, and over the past couple of days acquainted myself with Lizzie's story and accomplishments. What an amazingly strong and beautiful woman you are Lizzie."

"I wish I could give even more! Huge fan of Lizzie for a couple of years now...she's such a sweet soul! Of all the campaigns I've supported and will support in the future, I am proudest to back this one."

http://www.thelizzieproject.com/

Week 1 Pencils of Promise

Week 1  Pencils of promise  http://pencilsofpromise.org/

Pencils of promise is a for purpose organization that builds schools, trains teachers and funds scholarships. Adam Braun, the founder, worked in the financial industry but had a calling, a purpose he had to fulfill. When backpacking he asked a child in each country "what would you like the most". After a boy in India answered "A pencil" it stuck with him until he had to do something about it.

Educating our children lifts them and their communities out of poverty.

In addition to helping these communities these schools are observed for learning strategies that can be put to use globally.

Not originally my first or starting pick but listened to very cool videos today - thanks Toby

http://breakfastwithted.blogspot.com/2014/05/eggs-curry-and-adam-braun.html

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/The-Five-Phrases-That-Can-Chang;search%3Atag%3A%22tedxcolumbiacollege%22 

Adam has a great perspective on success and goals.
 
Contribution = $20, hopefully it will not always be money but with full-time job and full-time family this is what can be offered for now.

The 1st step is the most difficult and often not taken because of procrastination...

Let it begin :)

Inspired by the book "Give a Little" (by Wendy Smith) I've thought a lot about giving being more of a habit than an occasional occurrence. Smith makes a powerful statement that ordinary folks like you and me - overall - make the biggest contributions to charities and NGOs and that even small donations have ripple effects that can make big change. My idea is to investigate a project or charity every week for a year....and contribute! Blogging about this process makes the pledge more concrete and hopefully more fun.