These are organizations that have special meaning to me
and which I am happy and honored to support...
I hope you'll visit them!

As you may have guessed, I'm a sucker for a furry face! I strongly support the ASPCA's goal of finding homes for all unwanted pets, and their promotion of spaying and neutering dogs and cats. The ASPCA provides effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals by offering national programs in humane education, public awareness, government advocacy, shelter support, and animal medical services and placement.

Best Friends Animal Society in Angel Canyon, Utah runs the nation's largest sanctuary for abused and abandoned animals. On any given day they are home to about 1500 critters, from dogs and cats to horses and rabbits. They find good homes for adoptable pets, and provide a lifetime of care and love for pets whose needs are too great, or whose lives have been too traumatic, to place. They also rehab injured and orphaned wildlife, and provide assistance to animals and animal welfare groups in various ways.

The Fund for Animals, founded in 1967 by prominent author and animal advocate Cleveland Amory, has spearheaded some of the most significant events in the history of the animal protection movement. With regional offices working around the country on animal advocacy campaigns, and animal care facilities such as The Black Beauty Ranch in Texas, Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in California, and Rabbit Sanctuary in South Carolina, The Fund is one of the largest and most active organizations working for the cause of animals throughout the world. Especially since it joined forces in Nov 2004 with...

The Humane Society of the United States works worldwide to create a kinder society where our relationship with animals is guided by compassion, animals are respected for their intrinsic value, and where the human-animal bond is strong. Their goal is to ensure that animals are not abused by individuals nor institutions. Now joined with The Fund For Animals, the two groups will operate their advocacy programs under the banner of The HSUS, focusing on issues such as fur, sport hunting, factory farming, and malicious animal cruelty, including animal fighting. The Fund will continue as a direct animal care organization. The Fund's three animal care facilities will be coordinated with The HSUS's three animal care programs: The Cape Wildlife Center in Massachusetts, Spay and Neuter Clinic and Animal Welfare Center in Dallas, and Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) program, which provides free spay-neuter and veterinary services for dogs and cats in economically disadvantaged areas.

Defenders of Wildlife, dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities, focuses their programs on what scientists consider two of the most serious environmental threats to the planet: the accelerating rate of species extinction and the associated loss of biological diversity, and habitat alteration and destruction. They advocate new approaches to wildlife conservation to keep species from becoming endangered by encouraging protection of entire ecosystems and interconnected habitats while protecting predators that serve as indicator species for ecosystem health.

The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, founded in 1995, is the nation's single natural habitat refuge developed specifically for endangered African and Asian elephants. It operates on 2,700 acres in Hohenwald, Tennessee, providing a haven for old, sick or needy elephants in a setting of green pastures, old-growth forests, spring-fed ponds and a heated barn for cold winter nights. It also provides education about the crisis facing these exceedingly intelligent and endangered creatures.

FARM (Farm Animal Reform Movement) is an educational organization advocating a plant-based diet and humane treatment of farmed animals through eight grassroots programs: World Farm Animals Day, Great American Meatout, Industry Watch, CHOICE, Letters From FARM, Sabina Fund, and Feeding the World. FARM pursues dietary and agricultural reforms through national grass-roots educational campaigns, media blitzes, and participation in government decision-making processes. FARM grew from the Vegetarian Information Service, formed in 1976 to disseminate information on the benefits of plant-based eating on consumer health, animal welfare, and environmental integrity. FARM's added mission has been to advocate basic rights for farmed animals while they're still raised and slaughtered for food.

I think I could live with the animals,
they are so placid and self-contained...
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented
with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind
that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.

~Walt Whitman

Protecting America's wilderness since 1935 through the combination of science, advocacy and education, the Wilderness Society brings to bear scientific expertise, analysis and advocacy at the highest levels to save, protect and restore America's wilderness areas. They identify, inventory and protect America's most fragile wild places, devoting expertise and leadership to coalition efforts, creating a broad base of support for conservation campaigns and reaching out to diverse communities.

The Northeast Wilderness Trust, the only regional land trust focused exclusively on restoring & protecting wilderness, is working to ensure that the region's furry, finned and feathered families continue to have a place to thrive among the region's human communities. Working with landowners, government agencies, conservation organizations and other land trusts to restore and preserve forever-wild landscapes through conservation easements, land acquisitions, donations and other preservation methods, Northeast Wilderness Trust bases its land protection priorities on conservation science, wilderness potential, community vision, threat, and opportunity. Northeast Wilderness Trust works in ME, NH, VT, NY, MA and CT.

Since 1967 Environmental Defense, a leading national nonprofit organization representing more than 400,000 members, has linked science, economics and law to create innovative, equitable and cost-effective solutions to society's most urgent environmental problems. They are dedicated to protecting our environmental rights of clean air and water, healthy and nourishing food, and a flourishing ecosystem. Environmental Defense helped launch the modern environmental movement by winning a ban on the pesticide DDT, showing how a handful of individuals can use science and the law to bring about national reform. Since then, they have grown into one of America's most influential environmental advocacy groups, with more Ph.D. scientists and economists on their staff than any other such organization.

Ah! How I seek the sweet seclusion,
Where solitude reigns supreme...
No friend, no love, no sad delusion,
Just wilderness to live and dream.

~Ghalib

We strive to reduce our "carbon footprint" as much as possible. What we can't eliminate, we offset through Carbonfund.org,
a nonprofit organization that educates the public about the dangers of climate change. They provide a flexible, easy and affordable way for individuals, businesses and organizations to reduce their climate impact. Carbonfund.org is reducing the threat of global warming by promoting low-cost carbon reductions and supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects that reduce and offset carbon dioxide emissions. You can visit their site to calculate your carbon footprint and its offset cost, read about and select which program(s) you wish to fund, and make a tax deductible donation.

I believe it to be perfectly possible for an individual to adopt the way of life of the future...
without having to wait for others to do so.

~Mohandas K. Gandhi

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in December 1994 (yeah, ho ho ho! NOT.) It knocked the wind out of me, but my doctor (a superb human being, whose initials, oddly enough, are M.S.) told me, "It's okay to be bummed out about this for a couple of days, but then shake it off. Attitude is 80% of getting well." So I learned what I needed to know about this card I was dealt
(lesson #1 - there are worse things!), I do what I must to stay well, and I support the MS Foundation. A predominantly service-based, non-profit organization, their primary mission is to ensure the best quality of life for those coping with MS by providing comprehensive support and educational programs. They support research into the cause and cure of MS as well as investigations of various medical and complementary treatment options.

The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation does not fund animal testing, and was awarded the Humane Charity Seal!

If I can stop one heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one life the aching
or cool one pain
or help one fainting robin
unto his nest again
I shall not live in vain.

~Emily Dickinson

"Free Click" Sites
Click for free at the following sites to help save habitat and endangered animals, feed homeless pets and orphaned chimps, protect victims of violence, assist impoverished children, feed the hungry, end the environmental causes of breast cancer
and provide free mammograms, reduce air pollution and global warming, and more. (These sites also offer many other services
such as free ecards, petitions, forums, action alerts, recipes, green/healthy living tips and merchandise.)
Please click daily!

We have a choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place
- or not to bother.

~ Jane Goodall

A few more causes I believe in....

Help Protect The Alaska National Wildlife Refuge!

The most beautiful fashion is compassion!

In this world of things seen and unseen,
there are six visible directions.
The seventh direction is center, unseen,
yet it is one of the most powerful.
Often referred to as beauty, harmony, and balance,
and many other names.
It is the place where peaceful positive life exists.
It is not a place to be journeyed to,
rather a place within, to return to.
When in balance with self, one may help others find the center,
and thus bring about change.
One person cannot change the whole world,
yet can change the world for one person,
and that person can change the world
for another person.
In this way, we may bring about change
to our troubled societies.
Begin the healing.
Stand at the center.

~Douglas Spotted Eagle, @ 1992

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