Green Sexy

Text to help Haiti

On January 12th, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the tiny island nation of Haiti.  In this age of 24-hour news we are constantly bombarded with horrific stories of man-made tragedies, and in tragedies of this nature, we have "bad guys" to point the finger at and direct our scorn towards.  But who do we blame when our Earth, in displays of unfathomable natural power and might, remind us of our tenuous position as mere tenants of this planet?  Who do we direct our anger towards?  With tragedies such as this one, we are all victims, and we are also reminded of our shared humanity and mortality.

One amazing development that has come to light in this dark time is the fact that we all have, in our pockets, the chance to make an instantaneous difference for the people of Haiti.  Charity has caught up with this internet age and has learned to utilize people's texting obsession to help garner funds for the needy.  Charities such as the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army have offered cell phone users the chance to send a text, which will transfer a specified amount of money to help the relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.  American Red Cross spokeswoman Abi Weaver reported that so many Americans were texting their pledge to donate $10 from their upcoming cell phone bill that it amounted to $100,000 an hour, to the tune of $10 million total---in just 3 days!  “It has become the single largest mobile donation campaign ever,” said Hillary Clinton, who recently visited Haiti.  Jim Manis, head of the Mobile Giving Foundation, first tested out text donations after the 2004 Asian tsunami and managed to raise $150,000.  He is now heading up the current U.S. text-to-give campaign and says of this new philanthropic phenomenon: “These are emotional events and people want to reach out and help but sometimes they can’t -- they don’t have a credit card or they forget to write a check or go online to make a donation."  But cell phones, love them or hate them, are a part of our daily existence, and have now become a real tool for doing good.  Imagine that!

So, interested in making a difference via text message?  Try out these organizations:

• Text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross.
• Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to "Yele Haiti, a group founded by former Fugees singer Wyclef Jean, who has Haitian roots, raised more than $2 million by Friday", reports Business World Online.  The text message can be resent up to six times.
• Text "HAITI" to 20222 to donate money to the Clinton Foundation.  
• Text  "HAITI" to 85944 to donate money to the International Medical Corps.
• Text "HAITI" to 25383 to donate money to the International Rescue Committee.
• Text "HAITI" to 52000 to donate money to the Salvation Army.

For a more comprehensive list, click on the following link to see more organizations that you can also text to donate money, such as Habitat for Humanity or UNICEF, to name a few:

Mobile Giving Foundation

Saving the Wildlife Preserve at Gorongosa, Mozambique?

The Gorongosa Wildlife Preserve stretches for 1,500 miles across Mozambique's expanse of lakes, plains and rain forests.  In the 1960's, Gorongosa had 500 lions, 2,000 elephants, 14,000 Cape buffalo and 3,000 hippos.  Sadly, due to years of war, poaching and poverty, all of those animals have either fled or were killed. 

Enter Greg Carr, the Harvard grad who invented voicemail with a partner back in the 1980's.  He profited to the tune of $200 million, and ever since he made his fortune, he's been giving back through his charitable foundation, the Carr Foundation.  When asked why he chose to throw his money and his efforts behind the Gorongosa Wildlife Preserve, Carr said: "Gorongosa was, most people consider, the most popular national park in all of Africa and the most density of animals, the most beauty, the most diversity of ecosystems. So, you have one of the most beautiful places in the world and you also have perhaps the worst poverty of anywhere in the world, side by side."  Carr wanted to do something about this, and do something he has.  Thus far Carr has made a difference in a village named Vinho, in which he has built a school and a medical clinic, and has set up 200 villagers with jobs related to the protection and operation of Gorongosa Park.  Through his foundation, Carr plans to build 25 more medical clinics and 100 schools.  Carr understands that in order for the park to succeed, the people must also have a chance to be successful and healthy.

Gorongosa currently has crocodiles in abundance and exotic birds, but has few impala, and a herd of elephants and a pride of lions.  Carr knows that tourists want to see big game and their predators, and he has striven to meet this demand.  Last year Carr had trucked in wildebeest from one part of Africa and plans to import hyena from another part.   He also has plans to add more hippos as well, but regrets that he cannot import zebras from Zimbabwe since the political situation there is in such disarray at the moment.  Now, Carr isn't just slapping together a hodge-podge of animals that he saw in a production of The Lion King or some Animal Planet show---he has assembled a team of scientists to make sure that he gets the mix just right and so he can understand these animals better.   Carr expects that by injecting more animals into the park, the country of Mozambique will prosper from the tourist, the hotels to house them, the jobs that will be created in these industries, and the electricity, schools, hospitals, etc. that all of this will necessitate. 

Carr is a true visionary who understands that developing a country's natural resources is one of the best ways to help a country get back on its feet.  Of his work, Carr said, "Coming to Africa, spending time here, learning from their culture, which is rich and beautiful, is a blessing." 

For a clearer picture, check out the CBS 60 Minutes interview below (just exercise some patience sitting through an annoying 30 second ad).

FreeRice.com

John Breen, a computer programmer from Indiana wanted a tool to help his son study for the SATs.  He also wanted to help raise awareness about world hunger.  Thus, FreeRice.com was born!  FreeRice.com is the sister site to Breen's hunger-awareness site Poverty.com.  On FreeRice, you play a vocabulary game, and for every correct guess you donate 20 grains of rice via the United Nations World Food Programme.  FreeRice launched on October 7, 2007, and by today's count, 15,756,331,270 grains of rice have been donated thus far (that's enough to feed 700,000 people for a day).  According to USA Today, The U.N.'s World Food Programme "gets the donations in cash---$258,000 thus far---and buys the rice locally."  This is such a fabulous idea, for not only are you giving food to those in need, but you are also learning something at the same time!  To play and donate, you can visit the link in this post or click on the FreeRice.com banner on this blog!

On a related note, the folks at almostmonumental.com found two more sites whose aim is to put an end to world hunger. With a simple mouse click on both TheHungerSite.com and hungerfighters.com, you can donate food to a person in need somewhere in the world.  Bookmark these sites today and click away!

Lifeline to Africa

*  Nearly 2 billion people in the world, approximately 35% of the global population, still do not have electricity.

*  The areas in the world with the high levels of poverty also have the lowest levels of modern energy consumption.

*  People in least developed countries on average spend 6% of their income on batteries ($24/year) – if people in developed countries were to spend the same that would amount to $2331/year!
(excerpted from Freeplayenergy.com).

I first discovered the Freeplay Foundation when I was writing a post on the Freeplay crank/solar-powered radio that I own.  The Freeplay Foundation is a non-profit humanitarian organization that supplies the Lifeline Radio (pictured here) to those in developing countries, giving them a "lifeline" of information and education they would otherwise lack.  You can donate a Lifeline Radio for only $70 U.S. Dollars to places like Rwanda and Afghanistan.  Also, CEO, Kristine Pearson, has been named one of TIME magazine's Heroes of the Environment for 2007!

For a limited time (Jan. 22-Feb 1), the Freeplay Foundation and  will eBay be auctioning off ten Lifeline radios (which are not available to the public).  The radios will be autographed by Tom Hanks and will be accompanied by a personal letter from the actor himself.  All of the dollars raised, including $15,000 donated by eBay, will go directly to the Freeplay Foundation.

People can go to www.ebay.com or can click on www.shopvictoriously.com to place their bids.