In today’s hyper connected existence, we are easily made all too aware of the world’s problems.
Equally, there are so many charities telling you that they have the solutions.
So which ones do we think you should really be paying attention to?
The following are all the real deal and they’re in it for the people and the planet – not the profit.
Project Seagrass
You might not have ever given much thought to seagrass, and why would you amongst
everything else that’s on the news…?
So that’s why you might also not know that one hectare of seagrass is lost every hour. That’s the
same size as about two and half football fields – every single hour. Thousands of species depend
on seagrass for food and shelter, and whether you know it or not, us humans depend on
seagrass meadows to capture and absorb vast amounts of carbon. Anyway, if you didn’t know it
before, you certainly know it now.
Seagrass meadows help sustain people, biodiversity and the planet by acting as a natural sea
defence (trapping sediment and slowing down currents and waves), providing a home for baby
fish (including many species that are eaten by humans), and most importantly absorbing and
storing large amounts of carbon – which is vital in the fight against climate change.
But of course, they’re under threat. Pollution, decreased water quality, storms, disease and
human-induced threats such as scarring by boats and damage from chain moorings all play their
part in seagrass loss.
To combat this, Project Seagrass has created the world’s biggest ‘entry level’ seagrass citizen
science project; a conservation, education, and research tool called ‘Seagrass Spotter’ which
allows people to help locate seagrass. That in turns allows Project Seagrass to better understand
seagrass meadows around our coasts and the ways in which to protect them. So far, the charity
has planed over a million new seagrass seeds worldwide and is planning on planting a further
30km squared of seagrass along UK shores alone. A heroic effort that should be on the news for
sure.
Cool Earth
This is Cornwall’s self-confessed only climate charity that aims to protect rainforests around the
world. Admitting that although Cornwall doesn’t have and isn’t close to any rainforest
environments, Cool Earth does recognise that we are all dependent on rainforest ecosystems
and is aware of future challenges that our changing climate will bring to the Cornish coastline –
such as severe weather events become ever more frequent and rising sea-levels.
With rainforests storing carbon, regulating the water cycle and protecting over 50% of the
Earth’s biodiversity, Cool Earth aims to empower local people, create forest friendly livelihoods
and support resilient communities in its fight for effective forest conservation. Projects so far
have included:
– Championing a fast-growing, short-cycle crop called Inga that is low-impact, fixes nitrates in
the soil and produces beans for food security of indigenous communities
– Funding solar energy farms in Cameroon to provide both light and power for homes,
hospitals and schools, instead of needing to chop down and burn large logs from the same
rainforest that people rely on for their livelihoods
– Installing a series of accessible, hand-washing stations filled via rainwater in rainforest
communities in Papua New Guinea, leading to cleaner hands and therefore less illness, more
healthy people living in the rainforest to protect it and less trips to expensive medical centres,
resulting in higher cash security and therefore less pressure to sell rainforest
It’s definitely not a case of out of sight, out of mind for these guys – and we agree. There’s no
Planet B.
charity: water
Water makes up approximately 71% of the world’s surface and yet one in three people still don’t
have access to clean, safe drinking water. How is that possible – let alone acceptable – in today’s
world?
charity: water is on a mission to end the global water crisis by bringing clean and safe drinking
water to people in developing countries. So far, it has funded over 90,000 projects, serving
almost 15 million people across 29 countries.
The best bit? This non-profit organisation says that “generous philanthropists” and Gift Aid cover
its operating costs, so 100% of all public donations go straight to funding projects to bring clean
water to people in need – and they prove it with photos and GPS coordinates of exactly where in
the world your money is making a difference. Neat, hey?
Singing Gorilla Projects
Whilst the world is said to be experiencing a population decline generally (eventually reaching
zero by the end of the 21st century according to long-term projections), the same can’t be said
for Nkuringo, a little village tucked away on the edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in south
west Uganda. In fact, it’s quite the opposite; Nkuringo’s population is actually set to triple within
the next 30 years, placing untold pressures on its infrastructure, health services, education, food
production and effect on its immediate environment.
Singing Gorilla Projects is a wonderful charity working to help support Nkuringo and its
inhabitants by funding and managing community-based projects. So far, they’ve set up a music
school, installed over 50 water tanks to harvest rain water, sponsored children to continue their
schooling and have developed the Nkuringo Green Hill Health Centre to provide medical care
and services for the community, delivered by the community, all of which ultimately aims to
improve the welfare and enrich the lives of individuals who live there. Undeniably empowering
stuff.
Terra Praxis
Regularly demonised in the media (and with good reason), carbon is the bad buzzword in the
eco-world. Terra Praxis, a UK-based decarbonisation charity, is an advocate for next-generation
nuclear power as a key piece of the climate solution puzzle, by focusing on nuclear as a
component – rather than a competitor – to renewables. The word nuclear might feel a little
jarring in an environmental conversation, but it’s already proving to be a clean energy source in
countries like Sweden and France where it’s been scaled up and used to decarbonise their
electricity systems.
The organisation’s flexible nuclear applications, including heating, hydrogen and repowering
coal plants, use advanced modular reactors to accelerate the clean, green energy transition.
Admittedly, science-based terminology can be tricky to understand in real life terms, but
essentially these methods will:
– produce enough climate-neutral fuel to displace the 100 million barrels of oil currently
consumed around the world every day
– repower hundreds of existing coal plants that would otherwise continue to burn coal
– help to meet all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Essentially, they’re rapidly decarbonising the most carbon-heavy industries like the aviation,
shipping, transport and industry sectors such as coal plants, aiming to simultaneously fight both
climate change and energy poverty. All (nuclear) power to them, we say.
The Living Waters Project
Now this is an interesting environmental charity as it has two key objectives – one of which is a
physically tangible thing, and the other is entirely spiritual.
When Dr. Wendel Nixon, Founder of The Living Waters Project (TLWP), took a visit to Haiti
following the devastating earthquake in 2010, he was haunted by what he found. As he watched
people forced to drink water from rivers filled with cholera and other toxins, with parents and
farmers also powerless to provide clean water for their children and livestock, he took action.
In setting up TLWP, he not only aimed to provide clean water to those without, but also to restore
hope in these communities through a grassroots, holistic method of empowerment. You can
learn more about that here.
In our view, the human mind is an incredibly powerful thing, and we agree that thinking
positively can have a profound impact on your general wellbeing. It’s the law of karma – give
good vibes out, get good vibes back. Speaking of good vibes, private donors cover 100% of
TLWP’s operating costs, so you can rest assured that 100% of your donations will fund bringing
clean water and hope to people who need it most.
We know that these environmental and humanitarian charities are just the tip of the iceberg;
there are loads more out there who are also doing amazing things for the planet and the people
on it. If you know a charity making waves in the environmental sector, we’d love it if you dropped
us a message and told us about them.