Making a Difference

You may have noticed that I’ve added a new graphic in my sidebar with a cow wearing a Santa hat. It’s a public service announcement for Heifer International, an organization that I’ve supported for the last few years because its innovative practical approach to addressing poverty in the world. What I like most about this charity is that when I make a donation, it becomes a gift that keeps on giving. Here’s a brief explanation from Heifer.org:

What would be the better gift for someone you love this holiday season — another present that gathers dust on a shelf? Or a donation that represents a heifer and training in its care, that brings health and hope to struggling families?

Better still, every gift multiplies, as the animal’s first offspring is passed on to another family — then they also agree to pass on an animal, and so on.

A good dairy cow can produce four gallons of milk a day — enough for a family to drink and share with neighbors. Milk protein transforms sick, malnourished children into healthy boys and girls. The sale of surplus milk earns money for school fees, medicine, clothing and home improvements.

And because a healthy cow can produce a calf every year, every gift will be passed on and eventually help an entire community move from poverty to self reliance. Now that’s a gift worth giving!

An Associated Press article about the organization summed it up this way:

The idea behind Heifer … is similar to the notion that it’s better to teach a man to fish so he can feed himself than to give him a fish that will feed him just once. One animal could eventually benefit an entire community.

Both as a family and as business owners, we have purchased Heifer gifts — like a water buffalo — in honor of family, friends and clients. We would then send a special card that explained the donation made in their name and what the gift meant. And when we’ve done this, the reaction by the recipients has been overwhelmingly positive, with many of them going out of their way to call us to express their sincere appreciation for such a unique and inspirational gift — something that happens less often with more traditional gifts.

As you’re considering gifts to give this holiday season, consider giving a gift that keeps on giving. Consider a gift from Heifer.

Brian Ulrich writes:

…blogs have allowed women to participate openly in the same political sphere as men, even in highly segregated societies such as Saudi Arabia.  That is certainly true.  In societies with high internet penetration, blogs can have a democratizing, community-building function.  Although we’ve seen this in the United States, its occurrence in politically closed societies such as Bahrain is significant because of the nexus of people it can bring together in certain types of interactions.  I don’t know all the ramifications that the term “public sphere” has in political science, but it sounds like a local one may have emerged in certain Gulf states of a type that would have been unlikely prior to the internet.

*
(H/T: Daily Dish)

I’ve always loved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I still eat them for lunch often. Aside from the great taste, they are easy to fix and can last all day without worrying about it spoiling. Now I have one more reason to keep on eating those PB&J’s: it reduced my carbon footprint and helps fight global warming. So says The PB&J Campaign:

Each time you have a plant-based lunch like a PB&J you’ll reduce your carbon footprint by the equivalent of 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over an average animal-based lunch like a hamburger, a tuna sandwich, grilled cheese, or chicken nuggets. For dinner you save 2.8 pounds and for breakfast 2.0 pounds of emissions.

Those 2.5 pounds of emissions at lunch are about forty percent of the greenhouse gas emissions you’d save driving around for the day in a hybrid instead of a standard sedan.

If you have a PB&J instead of a red-meat lunch like a ham sandwich or a hamburger, you shrink your carbon footprint by almost 3.5 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

Pretty impressive! And it tastes great too! In fairness, it’s really not just PB&J sandwiches that will make a different.

Any plant-based meal you eat instead of something based on meat, fish, eggs, or dairy products can have a big impact.

But wait! There’s more!

You’ll conserve water at lunch too! How about 133 gallons of water conserved at lunch versus the average American lunch? To put this in perspective, five PB&Js or other plant-based lunches per month would save more water than switching to a low-flow showerhead. If you’re replacing hamburgers, it should take you just three lunches to conserve more water than the low-flow showerhead.

Still not satisfied? There’s more still!

Don’t forget the land you save from deforestation, over-grazing, and pesticide and fertilizer pollution: about 24 square feet at lunch.

I’m happy to help out. I’ll do my part to fight global warming. Eat more chicken PB&J’s!*

*
*This does not mean that I will completely give up hamburgers and other animal-based meals. I simply can’t cut out delicious, fresh-off-the-barbecue grill hamburgers… or steaks… or porkchops… or marinated chicken… mmmmmmmmm, grilled marinated chicken… (drooling)

I was pleased to come across this article this morning on NewsOK.com:

EDMOND — Two national studies released in the past month gave high marks for Edmond Electric’s wind energy program and for the utility’s overall quality of service.

…

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory rankings, released in late April, lists Edmond Electric’s Pure & Simple wind power program at No.1 in “green power sales as a percentage of total utility retail electricity sales” and as having “the lowest price premium charged for a green power program using new renewable resources.”

The laboratory’s report says Edmond Electric is one of 800 utilities across the country offering customers an option to buy renewable energy from sources such as solar and wind.

When Edmond Electric launched this renewable energy program a few years ago, our family was among the first to sign up. Customers can choose a fixed number of Pure & Simple blocks (100 kWh each) or choose the 100% Pure & Simple option. (We signed up for the 100% option) It only costs an additional 9¢ per 100 kilowatt hour, a very small price to pay to utilize a renewable, pure and non-polluting energy resource — wind, which is something we have a lot of here in Oklahoma. We actually have received tax credits that offset part or most of the increased cost. And, with our installation of a programmable thermostat more than a year ago, our electricity costs have actually gone down!

Something else I learned from this article is that our family is in good company. Edmond Electric’s largest wind power subscriber is the University of Central Oklahoma, which buys 100 percent of its electricity from the Pure & Simple program — impressive!

I’m grateful and proud of our utility company for being on the forefront of offering renewable energy options to its customers. “Going green” is not only good for the environment; it’s also good for the soul!

Valentine’s Day is looming. If you haven’t yet bought your Valentine a special gift, consider a gift that keeps on giving even after the “holiday of love” fades away, like these gift ideas from our friends at Heifer International:

• Passionate for peace? Love to give hope? Send a Heifer kiss in honor of your honey for Valentine’s Day! Heifer kisses are Valentine and donation all in one. For a limited time only, choose one of our Valentines Day animated ecards for your honoree. What heart could resist a lovely llama, enchanting heifer or gorgeous goat?
  1. Honor Your Honey With a Heifer: A good dairy cow can produce four gallons of milk a day - enough for a family to drink and share with neighbors.
  2. Give Your Sweetie a Goat: The gift of a dairy goat represents a lasting, meaningful way for you to help a little boy or girl on the other side of the world.
  3. Share Your Love - Send a Llama: At home in rough, mountainous areas of Latin America, llamas are a blessing to families with limited pasture land because they can eat the scrub vegetation that other domesticated animals won’t eat.

This organization is one of the most worthwhile charities I have ever invested in. Our family has given friends and family these Heifer gifts, including a water buffalo one Christmas. Their response was overwhelmingly positive and genuinely moved, some going out of their way to call and thank us for such a unique and special gift — something that has rarely happened with any other gift we’ve given.

Living in a nation of abundance, we often lose sight of how blessed we truly are. This Valentine’s Day, for our loved ones who likely have everything they need, instead of a box of chocolates, a dozen roses and/or a diamond ring, necklace or earrings this Valentine’s Day, consider a genuine gift from the heart that will give in the most lasting and meaningful way — a Heifer gift that will touch not only your Valentine’s heart in a very special way, but will change the lives of a family much less fortunate.

Learn more about what Heifer is about and how their gifts work, click here.