Resources for Climate Friendly Giving

Here are some charities that do positive things for the environment. I even separated them into two sections to reduce decision anxiety. If you like animals, pick one off the Wildlife list. If you like trees, pick one off the Nature list. Once you've done that, go to their website and give them five bucks.

Why only five dollars?

Because it doesn't feel like much money.

Now before you say, "well, it's not much money, so what's the point?", I'll also add that five dollars is much better than nothing. And let's be honest, if I suggested giving any more than that, most people would give nothing. A whole lot of people giving five dollars would go a long way for those charities. Much further than if a whole lot of people gave them nothing.

…Although, to be perfectly honest, this exercise in giving is really more about you than the charity.

Oh great! Do I get something?

No. Well, sort of. Please be quiet and let me explain.

In under five minutes and in about the same number of clicks, you can proudly say to yourself that you did something positive for the planet. Your five dollars planted a tree or fed a displaced orangutang. Whatever makes you feel good.

Once you've done that, sit quietly for a moment and consider the fact that with minimal effort and inconvenience, something you did had a positive environmental impact. Feels good, doesn't it?

Imagine if you gave five dollars a month for years. Imagine if everybody gave five dollars for years. How many trees could that plant? How many species might that save?

Now think about all the other little things you do in life that have a negative environmental impact. Every single-use plastic bag, light left on, unnecessary car trip, tap left running, glass bottle in the rubbish bin. They are all small things but, like your five dollars, they add up. Plus, they don't make you feel good. (At least they won't now that I’ve pointed them out.)

Like your five dollars, making very small tweaks to your routine can result in big changes that are both good for the planet and good for you. I don't mean good for you in the sense that saving the planet will benefit you and your descendants. Don't pretend you give a toss about your unborn great-grandchildren. I mean good for you in the sense that you get a little dopamine hit when you do something that makes you feel proud of yourself. Like that one time you ordered a chicken parmigiana with salad instead of chips.

Taking small, positive steps to help the environment will give you the same little "I'm an exceptional human being" feeling as doing things for your health like eating salads. In fact, it's better because you can be an environmentalist and still eat chips.

Giving five bucks feels good.

Taking your re-usable bags to the supermarket feels good.

Using a Keep Cup feels good.

Now just imagine the self-satisfied euphoria you'd feel if you did a cold-wash load of laundry on the eco setting.

Giving five dollars today is a nice easy way to get started on changing your personal identity from Climate Killer to Climate Hero. If giving to a charity feels good and you want the new Climate Hero identity to stick, sign up to give them five dollars a month. You won't even notice the monthly deduction and if you keep doing it for years, your donations will make a difference to them. You can confidently say that your generosity has resulted in a few more trees being planted. (Preferably don't say that while warming yourself in front of your log-filled fireplace.)

I'm not sure if I can afford it.

Maybe you can't. Some people are very poor (thus the need for charities). That said, if you pay for Netflix, will still have something clean to wear if you don't do laundry for a fortnight, and had a barista make you a coffee in the last week - you can afford it.

NB. If you live in Australia and all you have left in your bank account is five dollars, you might as well spend it on a charity because it's certainly not going to buy you a coffee.

Ok, fine. I'll pick one and give them five bucks. What if I don't like any of these charities?

That's fine. I'm just giving you a small number of reputable organisations to save you having to google anything yourself. I’m not attempting to replace an internet search engine. If you have another charity that you'd prefer to give to, particularly something local to your area, go ahead and look up their website yourself. It will only take you an extra ten seconds to give them five dollars instead of clicking a link below.

Are you done?

Yes. Wait. Actually, I have one more thing to add…

DO NOT (sorry for yelling, but this is very important) send me a self-righteous fake-apology email explaining that you "are all in favour of environmentalism but you can't possibly donate to these charities because they spend fifteen percent of their budget on marketing instead of tree planting."

I'm glad you want to ensure that every cent you give is going to an organisation that will use it to make the world a better place. Really. You're a Climate Superstar. Maybe you should think about that next time you give five dollars to the Coca-Cola Company. If a charity spends fifteen cents of your dollar on trying to get other soft drink addicts to send them a little bit of money every month so they can keep their elephant orphanage running, I'm fine with that and you should be too.

OK, now I'm done. Please give someone five dollars. Thank you for being a Climate Hero.