Choosing an Environmental Cause and Organization

If you want to go "green" you probably are also thinking about selecting one or two environmental causes and organizations to support. This can be a difficult task, with so many causes and organizations out there! It takes a bit of time and research to decide.

The first thing you need to do is decide what is most important to you. Do you feel the urge to save endangered species? Want to preserve the jungle? Or perhaps you are more drawn to the ocean and maintaining its purity. There are causes and organizations for everyone, you just need to figure out which one you find most appealing.

For example, if you are interested in animal causes and organizations, you might want to check out the National Wildlife Federation. They raise money to help protect wildlife species and you can join them, choosing which species you want to help. Other good animal causes and organizations include the Save the Animals Fund. This group is also very active in the animal protection arena.

Prefer marine animals? You might want to go with Greenpeace. Although controversial, they have been praised for their help with protecting and working with whales. There are also numerous marine life centers that focus on the rescue, healing and release of wild marine animals that have been injured or found abandoned.

If pollution is something that scares you and makes you want to get involved, you can look at the causes and organizations based on the type of pollution you find most offensive. For example, the Clean Air Task Force and the Clean Air Trust both aim to lower air pollution, while Global International Waters Assessment focuses on water pollution.

Other worthy causes and organizations can be found for conservation of forests and land as well. In fact, conservation is such a popular cause that if you do a search for it on Google, you will come up with millions of results!

Selecting a cause for conservation depends on what you are passionate about. Do you want to conserve the rainforest? If so, which ones, temperate or tropical? Perhaps you would rather focus your efforts on coastal areas, coral reefs or even a desert. There are over a dozen types of conservation societies and you need to decide ahead of time what area you want to preserve.

Some of the more popular conservation organizations include the Nature Conservancy, Flora and Fauna International, and the Conservation Fund. Any one of these is a dedicated cause and organization worth looking into.

When you choose to support causes and organizations, you have several options as well. You can simply donate money, or raise money from other areas to donate (through bake sales, documentary showings, etc.) or you can work to bring awareness to the cause. The way you go about this depends on your resources and character. A shy person would probably be better at talking to friends and family about the cause, or perhaps designing a website, while an outgoing person might even take on door-to-door propaganda!

Whichever of the many causes and organizations you choose; it will be a worthy one. They are all important and we need people to participate.