World Earth Day is celebrated yearly on the 22nd of April, but actually started on the same date in 1970. Since then, it has become a tradition celebrated all over the world. Various activities are held to commemorate love for the environment and preservation of mother nature. Usually, it’s a clean up drive within the shores of a specific beach area, or underwater clean up and preservation as well as promulgation of the reefs and the underwater ecosystem, promotion of biodiversity and  tree planting projects, and many others.

Similar to World Earth Day is another day called Earth Day: Earth Hour, which is celebrated every 27th night of  March, in which people worldwide are asked to turn their lights off at exactly 8:30 PM local time and leave them off for a full hour. The thrust of this celebration is for The World Wildlife Fund For Nature to raise funds for a variety of different charities all over the world, in relation to conservation of nature and the environment.  Of course, 2010 Earth Hour was more focused on the effects of climate change to all people in every nation.

However we celebrate World Earth Day, we should be mindful of what we can do to help conserve the planet we live in. Even the simplest endeavor will bring much for the world.

Did you know that cash contributions to charitable institutions can be deducted from our taxes? Most people who give to charity just answer the call of goodness and get on with the nitty-gritty of daily life. The good news is, many offerings to charitable institutions, Mustard Seed Canada among them, are tax deductible.

For U.S. taxpayers and benefactors, there are qualifications to make contributions tax deductible. For donations made for the relief in Haiti, for example, there is a new tax break.  For Canadian taxpayers/benefactors, click here.

A simple four-rule guide for getting tax deductions from charity (from about.com) includes the following:

1. Actual donation of cash or property.
2. Contribution to a qualified tax-exempt organization.
3. Eligibility in itemizing tax deductions.
4. Record-keeping requirements (keeping canceled checks, receipts from charitable organizations, appraisals of cost of property donated).

The rules of tax exemption do not apply to contributions to the following:

* Cash or non-cash contributions to support political activity
* Cash gifts or non-cash donations to individuals
* Donations to profitable educational and medical institutions

To avail yourself of the benefit of tax deductions from donations, staying updated on new provisions on the tax deductions from cash contributions and impeccable and efficient record-keeping are a must. Donations of $250 or more may qualify for tax deductions as long as there is proper documentation and the rules apply.

“Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.” – St. Francis of Assisi

References:

about.com

ehow.com

thinkexist.com

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On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day kicked off our modern environmental movement. Founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin), the event was a response to political inertia around environmental issues. Twenty million people from 141 countries participated.

Earth Day was organized as a teach-in. Teach-ins were grassroots educational efforts of the day that had proven successful in raising awareness about the injustices of the Vietnam war. Now this format was used to raise global awareness about the environment.

In 1969, the way in which Congress (did not) respond to a massive oil spill off the coast of California sparked Senator Nelson into action. He was appalled and outraged at his colleagues’ apathy about the disaster. According to Wikipedia, Nelson said, “people were concerned, but politicians were not”, and that for politicians in 1969, the environment was a “non-issue.” He presented his idea of an Earth Day to groups across the country and organized the event from his office in Washington, DC. Earth Day is credited for raising global awareness of recycling, global warming, and investing in the green economy.

Forty years later, approximately 1.5 billion people from 191 countries are expected to participate on Thursday, April 22. The Earth Day Network, which was founded about the same time as Earth Day, says that this year, Earth Day can be a turning point for the major environmental issues of our time. From climate change to green jobs, the Network says this year’s Earth Day is a “pivotal opportunity” for all people, organizations and governments to “join together” and take action.

The Earth Day Network has be working ceaselessly since the first Earth Day was born. Among their many accomplishments in the last 4 decades are these highlights:

• Promote Civic Engagement
• Expand our understanding and use of the word “environment”
• Get people and communities actively involved in saving the environment
• Create timely, cutting edge environmental education programs
• Help bring clean water and sanitation to rural areas around the world
• Help support Earth Day

What will you do this Earth Day?  Check out the Earth Day Network (EDN) for ideas.

There is a stark difference between the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of residents in Luxembourg, compared to that to the wage earners from Haiti, Indonesia or the Philippines.  According to NationMaster.com, an online statistics website, the average annual salary of an income earner from Luxembourg is $37,499.20, while the average annual wages of earners from Haiti, Indonesia and the Philippines are the equivalent of $480.52,  $599.24,  $920.19 respectively.

From this contrast, we could see that the monthly earnings of one person from Luxembourg could pay a little more than 30 workers from the Philippines in one month; the same person from Luxembourg’s monthly income can pay more or less 60 workers from Haiti in a month.

To increase their career and earning potential in the international field, young people from developing countries take up courses on Hotel and Restaurant Management, Culinary Arts, Nursing,  Hospice Care, Nautical Engineering or Education.  In the meantime, both the politically apathetic and the politically aware still pay taxes, work and strive to make ends meet.

While waiting for the their government systems to improve the overall financial and economic situation in their countries,  many income earners from the Philippines, Indonesia and Haiti (to name a few), where the highest possible income is almost out of reach, aspire to travel the world and be qualified to work in, say, Luxembourg, or some other prosperous country to increase their earning power. In that way, they hope to give their families back home a good life, and to let the young ones go to college so that in time, they could also work and earn abroad.

References

Gross National Income (GNI) per capita

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Mustard Seed donors have managed to raise enough money to purchase an entire 17 hectares of fertile land in Indonesia.  The plan for this land is to build a completely sustainable school. There is enough land that if it is used wisely, everything from books, to teachers’ salaries could be paid for exclusively using harvests from the land. This land is in the center of hundreds of villages with tens of thousands of children. Many of these villages are without schools. If all goes well this school will house and feed 2000 children at any given time, all through a good use of this land. This school will give many children a chance to go to school and learn a chance that most people take for granted.

A few weeks ago when the earthquake hit Haiti many people were horrified to see the disaster that it caused to the Haitian people. While many people were helping out by donating money and supplies to the helpless victims, musical artist and singers were helping out in another way. Rap artists, R&B singers, and even some pop singers joined together to make a remake of Michael Jackson’s “We Are The World”.

Ten Americans from a Tennessee Baptist Missionaries, that called themselves New Life Children’s Refuge, were arrested in Haiti for Kidnapping.  The group was caught trying to illegally bring 33 Haitian children  into the Dominican Republic.  They were stopped at the boarder and authorities became suspicious when they did have proper documents for the children.  Authorities said some of the children were asking for their parents.

The Americans have been question by a prosecutor at police headquarter were they have been since their arrest.   The group of Americans deny all charges of child trafficking and insist they were only trying to help.  They claim they were taking them over the border to an orphanage they were establishing in the Dominican Republic.

Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Lassegue said, “We have information about people trying to steal kids to take them out of the country, which is the reason why the government has decided to reinforce security.”

Laura Silsby, group leader, told CNN, “They really didn’t have any paperwork … I did not understand that that would really be required.”

Carla Thompson, another member of the group said, “God is the one who called us to come here and we just really believed that this was his purpose.”

Evidence has been found that reveals that the majority of the children were not orphans.  This case my prove to be diplomatically sensitive because of America’s huge role in Haiti Relief Efforts.

The Americans might be sent home for trial because Haitian judicial system was destroyed by the quake.

References

1. NY Times.com

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Okay, we all are familiar with the internet, its that thing that seems to collect people who are mean and rude with nothing better to do. It was a bunch on internet nerds who attacked youtube, and many other sites about a year ago. But for the first time is a long time, the internet is actually doing something generally good.

Now, do you remember about a month ago when a bunch of girls decided it would be a good idea to post their bra color for breast cancer? Well it might have worked for everyone that was in the loop, but to most it was very annoying. A similar event is happening right now in Haiti. As most of you know by now, you can donate to the help of Haiti by texting 90999, but do you know how everyone found out about that? Yep, it was people surfing the web who posted it on facebook.In fact, the program has raised over 27 million dollars, that is a lot of money! I guess it goes to show how one person can get hear a good idea and get everyone else in the world to like it to. All from the desk in his house.

Canadian Businesses add to Haiti Relief Efforts.

Canadian businesses have donated millions of dollars to help victims of the earthquake that has devastated Haiti.

The BMO Financial Group has pledged $250,000 to the Red Cross effort in Haiti.  CEO Bill Downe said, “The devastation in Haiti is massive, and all of us at BMO are deeply saddened by the news.  We are also making a direct appeal to our 36,000 employees to consider donating to the relief efforts.”  Western Union and MoneyGram, have suspended fees on transactions for charitable donations to the Haiti relief efforts.

A tour operator Transat, based out of Montreal, will donate $25,000 to the Red Cross’s Haiti Earthquake Fund, plus another $25,000 to its partner SOS Children’s Villages, which is a place for orphaned and abandoned children in Port-au-Prince.

Other businesses like Rogers Communications and the Rogers family, National Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group and many more have donated to the Haiti relief efforts.

References

1. CBC.ca

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There are truly some vultures in this world.  People that prey on the weak and the poor to take advantage of them.

Haiti has been hit by disaster and left in rubble and yet there are individuals who sense of compassion and humanity has turned into selfish greed.  There are people taking advantage of Haiti relief efforts.

If you are planing to aid in the relief of Haiti please beware of scam artist looking to make a quick buck stealing from the poor and needy. The FBI and security experts have warned about scams as requests for donations to aid victims in Haiti that have started pouring in via e-mail, text message, telephone and Twitter.

Over 400 Internet addresses related to Haiti have been registered since Monday’s earthquake.  Some of the sites are legit but many of them are scams.

It is very hard for me to comprehend this type of behavior.  I can’t believe people are actually scamming others that want to help, but I guess the saying are true,” one evil doer destroys much good and the money is the root to all types of evil”

Tips to avoid scams

• Check out the organization at sites like the Better Business Bureau.

• Examine the Web address of purported groups.  Avoid ones that end in a series of numbers.

• Be extremely skeptical of Web sites asking for personal information, such as a Social Security number, birth date or bank account information — it could go to identity thieves.

References

1. Sun-Times.com

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