Monday, December 29, 2008

Small Steps

Miss 604 has put out a challenge to let her know which of the 83,000 charities listed on the CanadaHelps website you would donate to and why; if your entry is chosen, she will give you a $25 gift e-card to donate to that charity. For her CanadaHelps Gift Card Giveaway, this is my choice:

The David Suzuki Foundation

I grew up in an environmentally conscious household with high school science teachers for parents. My mother was into recycling and composting before environmentalism became hip and my father has always been an avid outdoor enthusiast, as well as an accomplished taxidermist and entomologist. (I owe most of my topographical, ornithological, entomological and botanical knowledge to them). Many weekends of my childhood were spent gathering plant or pond water samples for my parents' high school biology classes. We often watched "The Nature of Things" and listened to"Quirks and Quarks" on CBC. After David Suzuki launched his foundation in 1990, my parents started making regular donations to help fund his fight to preserve Canada's oceans and forests for future generations; I want to continue my family's legacy.

I've always admired Suzuki's relentless activism in the face of extreme criticism; it's people like him who make profound changes because they don't give up the fight for what they believe in. I believe in Suzuki's push to re-examination of our lifestyle and how it impacts the greatest resource we have: the earth. If we pour toxins down the drain, they don't disappear; they poison the water supply. If we clear-cut forests, the top-soil erodes and the land is left barren. Everything is inextricably linked; what affects one thing affects the whole. I want to contribute to the whole.

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