Comments on: Which climate change organization should I donate to?

Question: Which climate change organization should I donate to?

walla — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 07:49:43 -0800

We would like to contribute to an organization that is dedicated to alleviating global warming. Ideally a nonprofit but any organization that takes action in this direction would be fine. I'd prefer that it be something I could research online or find a rating such as those available on charitynavigator.com. Any ideas? Thank you!

By: amarynth

amarynth — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 08:17:03 -0800

Have you taken a look at the environmental category on charitynavigator and sorted by rating? I know the description fields are brief but they should give you some idea of what the organization does.

Is EESI the kind of thing you're looking for?

By: matthewr

matthewr — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 08:20:47 -0800

I don't think any charity has any direct impact on global warming. Only governments have the power to alleviate global warming.

For your donation to be worthwhile, I suggest donating to your favourite political candidate who supports climate change legislation. Assuming you're in the US, donating to an environmentalist candidate in a close-run winnable contest seems the most efficient use of your money. It's a shame you're asking this just after the mid-term elections — that would have been a good opportunity for this.

Another possibility is donating to an environmentalist pressure group. However, the green lobby is never going to be able to compete with the big-business lobby in Washington, so I suspect helping to elect a relatively environmentalist senator/congressman etc would be more worthwhile.

By: judith

judith — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 10:25:18 -0800

i like carbonfund.org, which "supports climate-friendly projects that directly reduce a specific amount of carbon dioxide emissions" and in that, feels satisfyingly direct.

By: walla

walla — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:14:30 -0800

Thanks everyone - these are all the kinds of ideas we are looking for, and carbonfund and EESI both look interesting. Does anyone know of a good information source about environmental interest groups and/or organizations like EESI? Charitynavigator does not evaluate them.

By: amarynth

amarynth — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 11:53:01 -0800

Actually, EESI is on Charity Navigator. Their evaluation is here.

By: walla

walla — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:20:25 -0800

Thanks for the heads up, amarynth - I did find EESI, but I'm still having trouble with interest groups. I know of a couple of influential ones, like the Sierra Club and the NRDC, but other than that I'm at a loss.

By: owl

owl — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 13:08:52 -0800

I recommend the Union Of Concerned Scientists, a good environmental organization that puts weight on scientific study and practicality instead of politics or myth.

The UCS are proponents of reducing greenhouse gases and fighting climate change. I'm a member and I know that they do good work.

Some other reputable orgs that also might interest you are:

Natural Resources Defense Council
The Nature Conservancy
The Sierra Club and
The Wilderness Society

I hope you find one that you suits you. The environment is very important to humanity and needs your help.

By: walla

walla — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:14:49 -0800

Thanks again everyone - these were all great. I think we may go with Union of Concerned Scientists but we will look into all of these.