the nature conservancy

Here's another way to give someone a very cool gift while saving the planet this holiday season. Chances are very good that you've probably heard of The Nature Conservancy. The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. Their vision is to leave a sustainable world for future generations.

You can make a good, old fashioned donation to The Nature Conservancy to help support their conservation projects all around the world. Or, you can shop the Nature Conservancy Marketplace and pick a specific conservation project to support in your name or on behalf of someone else. Protect sea turtles for $25 (and get a cute stuffed turtle as a special gift) or adopt an acre in Costa Rica for $50 (sadly, this one does not come with a free trip to Costa Rica). You can also shop the Marketplace for clothing, jewelry, ornaments, water bottles, books, DVDs, etc. and 10% of sales will go toward the Nature Conservancy. Not sure whether your mother-in-law would appreciate a donation to rhinos on her behalf? Get her a gift certificate to The Nature Conservancy Marketplace instead and let her choose for herself!

You can also join The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign. The Conservancy is working with local partners to bring the Atlantic Forest of Brazil - one of the world's biggest and most endangered tropical forests - back by reforesting 1 million acres of land. They are close to their goal of planting 1 billion trees by 2015 (they're at 9,953,810 trees right now!). One dollar plants one tree. You can also give a gift of trees by planting trees on someone's behalf.

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unconditional love

A little tweet from GOOD caught my eye the other day. It read, "2 hrs left to join our Document Gratitude challenge! Send us a photo of what you are grateful for to win $300." I can come up with at least a frillion things that I'm grateful for right off the top of my head, but one particular photo always sticks out in my mind.

This is our kitty, Minnie. We rescued her this summer and she has been the light of my life ever since. I am so grateful for her every day, so I submitted this picture of her for the Challenge. I noticed that a lot of the other submissions were talking about organizations they support, so I figured that this would be a fantastic way for me to pay some stuff forward.

In my submission titled "Unconditional Love", I mention that I would give some of the prize money to the rescue organization that brought Minnie into our lives, The Animal Project. The Animal Project is a wonderful, NYC-based organization that tries to find homes for rescued cats every day. They have foster families all over the city that take care of rescued animals to save them from overcrowded & kill shelters. You can help The Animal Project save precious little lives by adopting a pet! Every Saturday you can meet their adorable, adoptable animals at PETCO on the corner of 92nd Street and Broadway in Manhattan from 2 - 6pm. They mostly have cats for adoption but occasionally they have dogs as well. You can also help by becoming a friend on Facebook and spreading the word about their adoption events and encouraging everyone you know that may be thinking about adopting a pet to RESCUE an animal. They'd also be happy with some cold, hard cash donations, so no excuses for being allergic.

Not all animals are lucky enough to land with a rescue organization like The Animal Project, so they end up in city shelters. That's where Rock & Rawhide does its great work. This new charity was started by a friend of mine after she dropped off a rescued kitten at a city shelter and was heartbroken to see the poor animals on death row spending their last days of life in cold, empty cages. She started Rock & Rawhide to collect donations of toys, rawhides, treats, blankets, and more for dogs and cats placed at Animal Control and other high kill shelters. They plan to enlist artists who will help them collect items at concerts, local music gigs, touring bands, DJ events, art shows, chef events, direct from individuals and are working to raise awareness of adoption and the importance of quality of life for shelter animals. According to Rock & Rawhide, "Many shelters do not give the animals these items as they are cash-strapped and money is often spent elsewhere. While other organizations raise funds for shelters operating costs, we want to ensure the animals directly benefit...not someone's pocket." You can help them by following them on Facebook or Twitter to find out where to donate items, or you can make a donation to purchase items for the animals.

If you do nothing else, at least do a little Gratitude Challenge of your own today and think of or take a photo of something that you're grateful for. You can also check out all the other things that people are grateful for in the GOOD Gratitude Challenge here (AND THEN VOTE FOR ME!).

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the shelter pet project

I saw this sad little cartoon advertisement last night and when I got home later and looked up the website, I knew this was going to be my next post.  First, check out the adorable website for The Shelter Pet Project.   The Shelter Pet Project is a movement to help find homes for great pets.  While you're chuckling at the cute talking animals on the website, also check out the wonderful things they are doing to save animals and ways you can get involved.

Most importantly, anybody thinking about getting a pet PLEASE adopt a shelter pet.

If you're looking for a shelter to support, there are literally thousands all over the country that need your help.  I'd like to give an extra-special shout-out to S.A.V.E., A Friend to Homeless Animals, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit shelter and animal welfare organization dedicated to protecting the health and wellbeing of homeless companion animals in the Greater Princeton, NJ area.  My sister-in-law and her husband adopted their dog, Pepper, a year ago and are still hopelessly and helplessly in love with her.  A tax-deductible contribution to SAVE’s Annual Fund directly supports the care and nurturing of the animals in the shelter, and helps ensure that they can give these dogs and cats a second chance for happiness in a new home.

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