Top Ten Links
Bookmark all of these!
1) World Campaign
- A truly creative site, this was a major inspiration for creating
these pages on my site. One of the few sites to take a comprehensive,
big picture look at the issues of the world. They are all connected.
If you follow only one link from this page, follow this one, and
bookmark it. This is an ideal site to get familiar with the basic
debates on the main issues of the world. They also have a great
"message of the day" you can subscribe to to stay informed
of global news.
2) Earth Day Network - Want to get involved at the local level but need a place to start? This is it. Find groups and events near you, many centered on Earth Day, April 22, but most working year-round.
3) The Sierra Club - Supporting the Sierra Club, the world's largest and most influential environmental organization, is a sure way to make your voice heard. Due to its size (700,000 members), the club can plan big projects and influence public policy more effectively than small groups. Their web site has a lot of news and can serve as a great home page for your browser.
4) NetAid - Some sites are helpful in finding places to volunteer in person, but NetAid.org has a unique idea - online volunteering. Share your skills without leaving home (i.e. web design, copyediting. etc.) The rest of the site has other good features, and focuses on issues surrounding extreme poverty.
5) The Hunger Site - This site, with its sister pages such as the Rainforest Site, break down the immense money and help needed to tackle big issuies into small, easily palatable chunks. Sinply bookmark the page and click once a day. Viewing the site's advertisers sends much-needed money to help feed starving people around the world. I've also downloaded a remarkably informative Hunger Site screensaver, and other merchandise is available. Really, this is the least you can do.
6) Scorecard - This site will shock you more than any other here. Why? Because, by typing in your zip code, you can find your community's levels of pollution, risks of cancer, water contamination, and major area polluters, all up-to-date. Then you can e-mail people to do something about it.
7) Tolerance.org - A nice-looking site focusing on an important issue - teaching tolerance, an unfinished and daunting task in many areas of the world. The site has interactive features to explore your own biases and history, ways to volunteer, and current news.
8) Stop Family Violence - Excellent site for contacting your legislators to support treaties, petitions, and bills supporting women's rights and other critical issues. Incredible ease of use - just type in your zip code and you can choose to e-mail your representatives with pre-written requests, or your own.
9) ENN - The Environmental News Network - a vast database of environmental articles, as well as up-to-date news.
10) Human Rights Watch - Stay informed on major political, environmental, and political issues affecting human rights around the world. Search regions or topics.
More Links
Check these out for more ways to get involved!
What You Can Do - This is an excellent list of ways to decrease your "ecological footprint," from the WorldWatch Institute.
The Meatrix - What is the Meatrix? A great spoof of the Matrix designed as vegetarianish propoganda. Cheesy, but informative, and a surprisingly apt metaphor.
A Just Cup Of Coffee - The type of coffee you buy has a big impact on farmworkers and the environment. Here's how to make that impact a good one.
Changing the Climate - A very amusing site to stop by. If you want to get involved in a fun and slightly radical way, buy some of these stickers to put on cars. Other people's cars, of course: the gas-guzzling demons of America, SUVs. The stickers smugly state, "I'm changing the climate! Ask me how!"
Move Our Money - Wildly interactive, this is probably the most fun site here, and also one of the most sobering. It details what an absurd amount of money is spent by the Pentagon (a counter screams upwards as you surf) and how even a small amount could help solve so many of our problems in America.
HotEarth - A powerfully concise and effective introduction and explanation of global warming - It IS real, it IS happening, it IS humanity's fault.
EarthShare - A simple and small site with some ways to donate and get involved. They run a lot of public service campaigns; you can download some for your site.
EarthPulse - A very professional site with information and articles, EarthPulse is a division of National Geographic. However, it makes me a little wary that they are co-sponsored by Ford.
Environgentle - Environmentally-friendly gifts and supplies.
The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s - Think you know the companies that make the products you use every day? Think again. What makes this list striking is it only lists companies convicted of breaking the law. Makes you wonder what crimes were never prosecuted.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN) - A good way to get your hands on a lot of official informaiton concerning global warming.
National Institute for Literacy - Since ignorance is a problem that impacts all others, literacy and education are the only solutions for all the issues burdening our troubled planet. Learn how you can help others in your area.
National Labor Committee - Great information here on human rights abuses by corporations and labor problems worldwide. Order materials such as videos and books to learn about the hidden dark side of your favorite brand names.
Council for Biotechnology Information - An in-depth site that offers relatively unbiased information on the positive effects of biotech foods as well as current debates.
Independent News - A sub-section of a British news site, this has a lot of information specifically about global warming and its effects.
Redefining Progress - Dedicating to re-orienting the economy to value the environment and people first. This has a lot of articles and asome fun interactive parts, such as calculating your own ecological footprint (the amount of materials you consume.)
Global Exchange - Features many sections, but the best parts are the details of specific campaigns against corporations. This link goes to directly to The Gap campaign, so you can find out their latest atrocities. For example: In Saipan, a US territory replete with sweatshops, Gap does the most business of any company on the island--over $200 million a year, contracting in six factories. Whereas these companies import without tariff or quota restrictions and label their clothes 'Made in the USA,' they do not adhere to US labor laws.
Save Our Environment - Featuring the Save Our Environment Action Center. Find out how to get involved now!
Don't Buy It! - Great site for kids from PBS.
Progressive Majority - Dedicated to identifying progressive leaders and helping to get them elected.
World Summit Policy Briefs - From the WorldWatch Institute and 2002 Johannesburg Summit.