Today is the first day of World Water Week, and our friends over at charity: water have just launched UNSHAKEN – a new campaign to support clean water efforts in Haiti. All donations will go to one of eleven projects currently underway in the devastated country. Check out this great video they made:
Unshaken – charity: water’s campaign for Haiti from charity: water on Vimeo.
An unprecedented breakthrough in stem cell research may hold the key to combating a terrible disease and unlocking the gate to immortality…
“We’re not saying we’ve found the fountain of youth, but the process of creating iPS cells recapitulates some of the biology that our species uses to rejuvenate itself in each generation.” – Suneet Agarwal, Researcher at Harvard Stem Cell Institute
A new study explains in no uncertain terms that climate change will have very serious consequences for the future of human health.
“Some of the most personal effects of climate change are going to be health-related ones. We should want the government doing as much as possible now to prevent these effects, or minimize them when they occur.” – Jeff Levi, Executive Director of the Trust for America’s Health
A heated debate is under way over how money should be allocated to fight illnesses that affect young children in developing countries. While much headway has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, children continue to perish from simple dehydration.
“AIDS is still underfunded, no question. But maternal, newborn and child mortality is tremendous tragedy and gets peanuts.” – Jeremy Shiffman, Political Scientist at Syracuse University
Deciding which causes you want to support – with time or money – can be confusing. If you give to just one cause, you might feel like you’re neglecting something else you care about, and it seems like some of the categories overlap anyway. Aren’t health and a clean environment human rights? It depends on who you ask. Even defining exactly what it means to be or have a human right isn’t simple.
The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human rights and other major documents have listed health and a clean environment as “human rights,” but what might be more relevant for you as a budding philanthropist to realize is that giving to an organization with a specific mission can have a broad impact. Many microfinance and poverty causes aim to help their constituents develop sustainable livelihoods – which has environmental and health implications as well financial ones. Helping to preserve and restore local environments can have major health and economic benefits as well. All of these things make people better able to live happy, meaningful lives, which is the true spirit of human rights.
The point is to find a cause that excites you and in which you will enjoy becoming involved, whether by giving money or time. The impact you make might be far wider-reaching than you think.
Water, water… everywhere?
“I don’t know why anyone should need to be reminded of this, because it’s so obviously important and so obviously solvable. The answer really is people are blind to the obvious. It’s not sexy.” – Susan Keane, Public Health Expert at Natural Resources Defense Council