Regular readers of this blog know that giving money is not usually at the top of my list of ways to do good. But something has made me realize that I might want to move it up the priority list, under a particular set of circumstances. For example, I recently started attending a play group [...]
"People working for good causes deserve to get paid, but not too much. It's offensive that someone who's supposed to be dedicated to important issues would buy a luxury car, a huge house, and expensive vacations." I hear this argument a lot. It begs the question: if someone who's devoted to making the world a [...]
"How can I do good without spending or giving away any money?" Someone asked me this recently. It's a doozy - usually, when we're talking about doing good, we're talking about donating, socially responsible investing, conscious consumerism, etc. All great stuff, but all involving money. Volunteering time is not a bad answer, but a little [...]
Is climate change real? If it's real, is it caused by people? I've seen a lot of passionate arguments on both sides of this debate and I'm far from qualified to sort it out. But here's what I really can't figure out: what difference does it make? Climate change believers want us to reduce greenhouse [...]
A teacher who accompanied her students to one of the Kielberger brothers' annual We Day events found that it left a bad taste in her mouth, and wrote about it. What, some Twitter friends asked, were my thoughts on the matter? After doing some research, I found out that my thoughts are not as straightforward [...]
Stacking functions is a concept I first heard from permaculturists, and it's all kinds of cool and useful. Recently, it struck me that The Savvy Do Gooder Way involves a lot of stacking functions. So what is it? Well, you know that old idea of killing two birds with one stone? Stacking functions is like [...]
Sustainable: you hear it everywhere. But what does it really mean? It often gets tacked on to the concept of environmentalism and the 'green' movement. But is that all it is? In spite of all the hype, the only question we need to determine sustainability is: "Can we keep it up?" For example: A business [...]
We've all heard the old saying: "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." Let's flip that on its head. "If you're not part of the problem, it's tough to be part of the solution." We're best equipped to solve problems when we're contributing to them. If the cause of a [...]
Judging by my Facebook news feed, people are plenty mad about stuff these days. Most recently, they're outraged about the violence in Gaza and the depression that took Robin Williams. They love to proclaim how angry they are, and how unacceptable it all is. Today, someone posted a photo of a bloodied, unconscious child with [...]
Recently, I was walking my baby home from downtown Edmonton on a Friday afternoon. As we hit the northern edge of the business district, we saw a man coming towards us. He lurched from side to side, stumbling and disoriented. A few paces away, he fell painfully to the ground and rolled just off the [...]
