Green Options » donation

Top Ten Ways to Make Your Wedding Sustainable

Amiel Blajchman — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:36:29 +0000

So, the knee has been bent, the question has been asked, the positive answer given. Now comes the (un)fun part: organizing the wedding. Along with choosing the band, the cake, the colour of your linens, some couples are beginning to ask how they can make their special day more sustainable? After the break, sustainablog will present some of our favourite ways of making a wedding into a green wedding.

Social Responsibilty: Eco Child’s Play Donation

Jennifer Lance — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:05:12 +0000

This story contains additional media. Click here to view the media.

When I began Eco Child’s Play over a year and a half ago, I pledged to make Kiva loans on behalf of our blog. After making several Kiva loans, I’ve decided it is time to donate to and highlight different organizations helping families and/or the environment around the world. This month, I have made a donation to Women for Women International on behalf of Eco Child’s Play.

Google Banned by Myanmar Govt., Still Donates $1 Million to Cyclone Relief

Gavin Hudson — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:14:18 +0000

Despite being banned by the government of Burma (also Myanmar), Google has said that it will donate up to $1 million USD to assist victims of Cyclone Nargis.

Google has offered to match donations made to UNICEF and Direct Relief International for all donations made at Google’s Support disaster relief in Myanmar page, up to one million dollars.

Internet users in Burma reported that access to Google and Gmail had been blocked by the strict military junta governing the country in the summer of 2006. By this time, Yahoo and Hotmail had already made the censored IT blacklist.

Wisconsin Grad. Student Files for Divorce… From His Car

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:15:53 +0000

Not satisfied to “go carless,” or even have a carectomy performed, University of Wisconsin Ph.D. candidate David Zaks has announced his plans to divorce his car. Fortunately, the car is taking it well, and moving on… to New Orleans, in fact, to help out with post-Katrina reconstruction efforts. Help David finalize his divorce… we all need support at times like these.

Weekend

serenity_ii — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:26:32 +0000

So I wouldn’t say we were incredibly green this weekend, but we were relatively green.

The dude who lives on the other side of Mr. Obsessively Mowing hadn’t mowed in a long time–longer than it had been for us. So on the weekend, he mowed his yard. . .with a riding mower. . .then used a weedwhacker. . .then used a leafblower. . .then mowed again. . .while smoking. Way to cancel out your lack of pollution, dude.

Bill mowed too–with our reel mower, of course. He is much faster at that than I am. It’s nice to have all the leaves to enrich our soil.

We drove about 40 miles in an old pickup to go on a bike/trike ride. The colors were beautiful, we got to see some cool stuff, and it was a blast! In the beginning I was pulling the kiddo and was having trouble keeping up with Bill, but on the way back he pulled the kiddo and I got up in the 20 MPH range three times (I wouldn’t be utterly shocked to learn I was going 30 the first time, although it was probably more like 25).

We had a picnic. It wasn’t completely environmentally friendly, but we did pretty well. I used baby food containers to hold the pumpkin seeds we scooped out of our pumpkins when we made jack-o’-lanterns. We have two kinds of seeds–salted and sugar & spice. We took pudding (containers are recyclable), applesauce (organic, again in a baby food container), sandwiches (reusable containers), juice (in reused juice bottles), tap water (in Klean Kanteens), baby food (recyclable containers), organic chocolate, not-so-organic chocolate, fruit strips, granola bites, and I don’t know what all. It was an awesome feast, if I do say so myself. I did take a Ziploc bag to hold the silverware so it wouldn’t get the picnic bag messy. We used one recycled napkin.

I gave my son one of my old toys this weekend. Well, really it’s more like four of my old toys that are compatible.

We went to Goodwill to donate a whole bunch of stuff. Clothes, chairs, cookware, drinkware. . .so now there’s more space for the stuff we’ll actually use, which is nice. . .especially in the cookware department. Led to some interesting discussion:

Bill: Why did we get rid of the silicone brownie pan?

Karen: Because we have two glass ones now, so we don’t need to use something that gives off a smell when I use it.

Bill: But we kept our silicone muffin pan.

Karen: That’s because that’s the only one we have left, so if we give it away and I have a cupcake emergency, I’m in trouble. Don’t worry, there’s an iron one on my Christmas list.

Bill: That sounds light.

Karen: But good for us!

Bill: Until somebody drops it on a toe.

Karen: Well, would you rather have a broken toe or cancer?!

Bill: Well. . .either one would take a long time to heal. . .

He does raise a good point. Our gorgeous stainless steel pots and pans are pretty lightweight, but the other stuff we’re converting to is all pretty heavy. I have trouble holding my terra cotta roasting pan steady in one hand (it weighs about nine pounds), which makes it hard to scrape stuff out of it into a container. The glass stuff isn’t too bad, but the iron stuff is heavy and slightly complicated to take care of, since it can’t go in the dishwasher and has to be seasoned. Still, I’m sure it’s worth it. I’ve been smiling a lot in the kitchen lately.

Daily Tip: Donate Your Prescription Eyeglasses

Amy Stodghill — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:39:27 +0000

When you get a new eyeglass prescription, even though your old pair of specs will no longer be useful to you they might be useful to someone else. Next time you get new frames, instead of throwing your glasses away donate them to an organization that will give the gift of sight to those who might not otherwise be able to afford it.

Several charity organizations accept your old prescription glasses to help people in the U.S. and in countries around the world see better. Eyeglasses donations provide children ability to do schoolwork, and give adults independence and the ability to read again or to find better work. When you donate your glasses they are sorted by volunteers, who then determine the prescription, clean and re-package the glasses for various organizations that offer free eye care services and dispense glasses to those who need them.

Where to donate:

Lions Clubs across the U.S. accept donations of prescription eyeglasses. Lions Clubs also operate and have collection sites in Australia, Canada, France, South Africa, Spain and Italy.
LensCrafters donates eyecare services and accepts prescription glasses which are then distributed through their charitable vision care programs under the Give the Gift of Sight foundation.
New Jersey based New Eyes for the Needy also accepts glasses via mail.

Further information from Green Options:

Top 15 Charity Search Engines: Donate to Charity for Free

Daily Tip: Clothes Runneth Over

Daily Tip: Free Swap Party!

Donate to Charity When Buying or Selling Your House