Investing in a Better World... "You must be the change you want to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi
I am a firm believer that for every win we have financially, we should give something back. I encourage investors and visitors of our site to find a charitable cause that speaks to the heart and to donate a percentage of investment profits accordingly. Wealth gives us the opportunity to be grateful and generous.
I have chosen causes as they come my way for a multitude of reasons and am grateful when I can help in a small way to make a difference.
Dawn L. Van Zant
President - InvestorIdeas.com®
The goal of Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project is to put an end to dolphin exploitation and slaughter once and for all. Dolphins are regularly captured, harassed, slaughtered and sold into captivity around the world - all in the name of profit. The Dolphin Project works not only to halt these slaughters in countries around the world, but also to rehabilitate captive dolphins, investigate and advocate for economic alternatives to dolphin slaughter exploitation, and to put a permanent end to dolphin captivity.
The Dolphin Project has achieved many important victories for dolphins over the years. We brought the world's attention to brutal drive hunts taking place along the coast of Japan, as seen in the 2009 Academy Award-winning feature documentary "The Cove,"; we successfully negotiated for an end to dolphin slaughter in the Solomon Islands; we and we continue to raise awareness that captivity is cruel.
Ric O'Barry has been working towards their goals for over 40 years, and he continues his quest to put an end to dolphin suffering
To Donate to The Dolphin Project: http://dolphinproject.net
To Donate to The Dolphin Project: http://dolphinproject.net
Each year, Aptus Treatment Centre provides school supports, clinical services, community programs and residential services impacting over 2700 people of all ages and abilities. Aptus specializes in supporting children, teens and adults who have a developmental disability, including those with a dual diagnosis mental health disorder. Aptus has 13 locations serving the GTA.
A nature-focused educational environment and activity hub for both students with complex disabilities and the greater community, the Aptus Teaching Landscape in North York is an enhanced learning green space that will include a fruit orchard, edible garden and mini-arboretum. The Aptus Teaching Landscape is in memory of Zachary Van Zant, a 21-year old student at Aptus, who passed away shortly after graduating. His love and passion for nature and time outdoors will always be remembered.
Giant Steps is an innovative approach to meeting the needs of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Giant Steps Toronto is a program of therapies and academics for elementary school-aged children in Toronto and York Region. It provides a co-ordination of services to children, families and schools that are unavailable elsewhere. Autism affects as many as 1 in 200 children, with varying degrees of communication, social and sensory disorders. Many children with autism cannot speak and are socially isolated, some needing constant assistance with the most basic life skills. www.giantstepstoronto.ca
There are approximately 350 wild Bactrian camels in the Mongolian Great Gobi Reserve A south of Bayan Toroi and approximately 650 additional camels further south in Xinjiang province, China, living in three isolated and separated pockets. The wild Bactrian camel is an amazing creature that lives in one of the world's harshest environments and in some areas in the absence of fresh water, has adapted to drinking salt water slush which no other mammal can tolerate.
In the Mongolian Gobi its main enemy is the wolf. Further south in China it is the threat from hunters and illegal miners. In the Chinese Gashun Gobi there is no fresh water and this former nuclear test site holds herds of wild camels that have not only adapted to drinking salt water slush, but have also survived over 43 atmospheric nuclear tests.
Samples of skin taken from the remains of dead Bactrian camels have been sent to scientists for genetic DNA testing and in every case, the results have been remarkable. Each skin sample has shown two or three distinct genetic differences to the domestic Bactrian camel and a base variation of three per cent. This answers the charge that the wild camel is a domestic runaway and points to the fact that the wild camel herds are relicts of an original wild stock that man first domesticated over 4000 years ago. Only the wild camels, in the Gashun Gobi in Xinjiang, are completely isolated from domestic camels. This lack of an opportunity to hybridize is what makes their survival so vital. It is these remnant herds that the Wild Camel Protection Foundation is striving to save, by establishing the Lop Nur Wild Camel Nature Reserve.
The Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF), a UK based charitable foundation with Jane Goodall as its patron, was established in 1997 specifically to protect the critically endangered wild Bactrian camel in its pristine desert environment in the Gobi deserts of China and Mongolia.
Its outstanding achievement is to have raised finance and persuaded the Chinese government to establish a 150,000 square kilometre national Nature Reserve to protect the wild Bactrian camel in Lop Nur, the former nuclear test area of China. The wild Bactrian camel survives in this harsh environment on a salt water slush that no other mammal can tolerate. In addition, the wild Bactrian camel has survived over 40 atmospheric nuclear tests and current scientific research is showing that it has a base genetic make-up which varies from the domestic Bactrian camel by as much as 3 per cent.
Other achievements of the WCPF have been the organizing of a meeting between the vice-Ministers of the Environment of the governments of China and Mongolia, which resulted in the signing of an agreement by both countries to cooperate in wild Bactrian camel protection. In addition, the WCPF is currently involved in establishing a captive wild Bactrian camel breeding programme near the Great Gobi Reserve A, a protected area in Mongolia. This programme had the full backing of the Mongolian government. It is vital as there are only 15 wild Bactrian camels in captivity out of as total of under 800 in the wild.
The WCPF has raised over $250,000 from international trusts and companies and is constantly striving to raise additional finance. In 1999, the National Geographic Society and the Royal Geographical Society financed a WCPF expedition into the Chinese Gobi to survey the wild Bactrian camel population. This resulted in a sighting of 169 wild camels, an enormous achievement.
An environmental, awareness-raising educational programme linked to the new Reserve and Jane Goodall's Roots and Shoots scheme in China and Mongolia has produced awareness-raising booklets both in local languages for schools and adults in both countries and this programme is constantly expanding.
Further details of the work of the WCPF or any of its current programmes can be obtained from.
Adopt a Wild Camel today - SPONSORSHIP: CAPTIVE WILD BACTRIAN CAMELS
Wild Camels Protection Foundation - News:
The Flagstaff International Relief Effort (FIRE) is dedicated to providing resources and support to individuals and communities in need, from poverty, political instability, or natural disasters. FIRE's programs are currently focused in Mongolia.
FIRE works with partners at all levels - local, national and international - to establish education, health, and poverty reduction programs enabling individuals and communities to design initiatives that will achieve their goals of an improved quality of life.
Since 1999, FIRE has completed seven distribution trips, shipping a total of ten 40-foot containers filled with donated winter clothing, medical supplies, and educational materials. Over the last decade, 21 FIRE medical volunteers have conducted trainings with more than 450 Mongolian medical professionals around the country and delivered more than $630,000 worth of medical supplies to thirty-six clinics and hospitals countrywide.
Additionally, 46 FIRE clothing volunteers have personally distributed 76 tons of winter clothing to over 65,000 individuals, and 80 computers and 6,000 English-language library books to one dozen schools throughout Mongolia. To date, FIRE projects have provided aid in 12 of Mongolia's 21 provinces.
for video clips about our efforts, please go to... http://www.youtube.com/user/meredithpotts
Founded in 1992, the Marion Institute is dedicated to identifying and promoting programs that seek to enhance life for the Earth and its inhabitants. We are committed to uniting people who want to heal the planet - and themselves - by encouraging a deeper understanding of the past, a dynamic experience of the present, and a passionate vision of a healthy future.
Nepal House Society is a not for profit society whose aims are to provide therapeutic support to the children of Nepal.
NYC Urgent Death Row Dogs helps support and rescue dogs in NYC
"WE BELIEVE that in the best American tradition of helping others help themselves, now is the time to join with other countries in a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty. WE RECOGNIZE that a pact including such measures as fair trade, debt relief, fighting corruption and directing additional resources for basic needs - education, health, clean water, food, and care for orphans - would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries, at a cost equal to just one percent more of the US budget.
WE COMMIT ourselves - one person, one voice, one vote at a time - to make a better, safer world for all."
ONE Spirit is proud to be able to offer a way for you to directly help a Lakota child, family, or elder in need.
ONE Spirit is a Native American service organization founded to assist and support American Indians. We are proud to think of our organization, ONE Spirit, as a group of people who exchange friendship, with American Indians. at present our focus is the Lakota Sioux in South Dakota. We invite you to become part of ONE Spirit's network of sponsors, partners, friends and volunteers, to dream with the Lakota people a new dream - and to help the dreams come alive!
Mission
The ONE Spirit Mission is to assist the Lakota people in preserving and revitalizing the Lakota culture, language, and self-sufficiency while meeting the basic needs of Lakota families, children, and elders. We strive to cultivate an intercultural relationship that recognizes that we are all related and that American Indians are an equal and valued part of our society.
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On Thursday October 13th, the South Dakota PBS show "Focus" explored the topic of youth suicides on Native American Reservations. John DuBray from Pine Ridge, Dan Ross---who is walking 2300 miles in support of the youth and the youth centers---and I were on the show, along with professional experts on youth suicide. John did a great job of talking about the need for youth centers on the reservation.
The show can be seen in entirety at this link: South Dakota Focus
Education is beyond the reach of many of the children living at the Guatemala City garbage dump, as they cannot afford the uniforms, books, supplies and enrollment fee required by the public schools. Together we can make a difference in the lives of the children who need us most. It is my hope that you will join us in these efforts... changing the life of a child at the Guatemala City garbage dump.
The Cove exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises off the coast of Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. The majority of the world is not aware this is happening
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