Category: Charity

Ocean Clean Up!

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Plastics have revolutionized modern life, and helped us in uncountable ways. Unfortunately, they also cause a lot of damage in the world. One of the big problems caused by plastic is the pollution of our oceans. Millions of tons of plastic garbage is floating in the sea, causing a lot of damage to wildlife when they get tangled or try to eat it. This problem has existed for decades, but it’s been reaching critical levels lately.

Fortunately, there are good people working to end this problem!

Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Rokke has announced a plan to fund a 600 ft (182 m) long yacht dedicated to ocean research and health. The REV (Research Expedition Vessel) will have a trash collection system able to collect 5 tons of garbage a day! It will also have sensors for collecting data, two aerial drones, and and underwater vehicle for exploration and research.

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The vessel will be managed by World Wildlife Foundation Norway, and will be staffed with dozens of scientists. It’s in the planning stages and should be ready to sail in 2020. I can’t wait to see this cool ship in action. 🙂

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Another project dedicated to this problem is The Ocean Cleanup. Started in 2013 and headed by founder Boyan Slat, this organization has been testing methods of garbage collecting on the high seas. Thanks to investors who raised $21 million dollars, they plan to have a large-scale system in place sometime during 2018. They have the ambitious goal of clearing out half of the massive Pacific Garbage Patch in 10 years, which is a HUGE undertaking but would kick butt if they could pull it off. 🙂

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You can stay up-to-date on their progress here!

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And for an example of clean up on a smaller, more personal scale, there’s the inspiring story of Pukka Travel’s coastal cleanup day. This 2017 expedition featured four boats carrying 50 volunteers around a section of Norwegian coast, where they collected trash from the beaches and coastline. After only 3 hours, they had rid the ocean of 1400 kg (~3000 lbs) of garbage!

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Check out some gorgeous photos of this expedition here. This is a really cool idea, and I would love to be part of something like this. 🙂

The state of our precious oceans is worrying, but it’s so good to know that there are some people and organizations out there working on the problem. It seems that the solution will likely come from individuals instead of governments, so I hope that these efforts continue to grow. We CAN clean up our planet and make a difference!

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Do good with just a click!

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Some of the biggest change in our lives and in our world comes from the accumulation of tiny, everyday actions. One routine thing most of us do every day is to start up the computer and open a browser. Every browser has a customizable home screen for when the program first opens; most people set a search engine, email, or weather site as the default.

I suggest another home page – Greater Good’s “Click to give” sites. These websites represent a specific cause, and each one has a big button that can be clicked every day. When they reach a certain set goal of clicks, money is donated to the cause by sponsors. It costs you absolutely nothing but a second or two and a mouse click! They also have merchandise and other offers that give a portion of the proceeds to charity.

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There are currently nine “Click to Give” sites: Hunger, Breast Cancer, Animals, Veterans, Autism, Alzheimers, Diabetes, Literacy, and Rainforest. I have the Animal site as my default, but you can choose whichever one has the most meaning to you. The sites are listed in a row up above the button, so it’s easy to go through and click the button on all of them! 

By setting one of these charity sites as your homepage, you can do a little good as soon as you start up your computer, which for many of us is first thing in the morning. What a great way to start the day! 🙂

Here are instructions to change your home page on a few different browsers:

Firefox
Go to the top right corner of the screen and click on the three lines. Select “Options” from the drop-down menu. An options webpage will open up. Near the center of the screen is a box where you can paste in the URL of the site you have chosen.

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Internet Explorer
Go to the right top corner of the screen and click the three dots. From the drop-down menu, select “Settings”. A new drop-down will appear; near the center there is a box where you can paste in the URL of the site you have chosen.

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Chrome
Go to the right top corner of the screen and click the three vertical dots. From the drop-down menu, select “Settings”. A new webpage will appear; near the center, turn on “show home button” by clicking on the little grey circle. Select the dot beside “custom web address” and paste the URL into the box.

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This is just one way to add a little bit of positivity and good into your day! 🙂

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Check out my Youtube channel for positive videos!

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Walk for a Dog!

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Autumn is here (at least in this hemisphere), and that means falling leaves, cool temperatures, and best of all, long walks with the dog! I love hiking in the woods and on walking trails, and even a stroll around the neighborhood can be refreshing when the weather is crisp. My dog Chester loves it too, of course. :3

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One thing I always do while I walk is to use the Walk for a Dog app. It’s a free app you download on your phone, and it works as a pedometer to track the distance you travel during your walks. They then donate a few cents per mile, I believe about 11-25 cents, to an animal charity of your choice. All you have to do is open the app and click “start walking”, then just toss your phone in a pocket or in my case, a fanny pack (yeah, I don’t care if they’re uncool, they’re super useful, so NYAH!). Press one more button to stop the walk, and your donation is logged.

I love this app, because you can do good in the world just by walking around! It adds some extra enjoyment to a fun trip like a hike, and it even makes exercise seem more meaningful. I can see it adding to motivation a bit too; knowing that animals will be helped might just get that stubborn jogger out of bed and onto the pavement. 🙂 Since signing up, I’ve walked almost 65 miles!

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Check out Walk for a Dog and sign up! Sometimes it feels like making the world a better place is hard, but this is one simple way to do it. In case you’d rather help out two-legged charities, there are also apps for that too, like Charity Miles.

You CAN make a positive difference in the world! 🙂

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