Why I Give Where I Give

Giving Tuesday felt like a massive imposition, but there’s a way to think about this.

I get it. The original idea around Giving Tuesday was a terrific one. Beginning in 2012, back in the days when my business was still in full force and I was making some money, the idea was appealing. Here’s the back story:

After the effects of this year, especially given that I no longer run that consultancy, things are a bit different. First, I am grounded by Covid, as are we all (okay, okay, some of us are). I can’t fly, that means I can’t work, and I can’t do my travel blogging. So, that income is dead. For now.

Medium in its questionable wisdom or lack thereof has managed to mangle not only my income but also that of many of the rest of us, most especially people who’ve been around long enough to have a substantial following and the income that comes of it. Now that the Follow button has become a sad joke, any income I might have hoped to make from my labors, well. Worse, the people I follow, I can’t find either, and their stuff no longer appears so that they can benefit financially from my eyeballs. Go figure. Merry Christmas.

Honestly.

The unemployment I get as a gig worker barely tops a hundred a week. I’m not sure what you can do with that, it’s better than nothing at all, but because the funds were based on a year during which I was in startup mode, there’s nothing to be done. So, not a lot to play with in terms of generosity.

Still, research shows, and it has really been emphasized, that those who have suffered the most financially, those who need charity or who are living right on the edge, tend to be more generous than those who don’t. Case in point, the Grand Turtle, Mitch McConnell, as well as most of his party. That said, nothing turns a Republican into a Democrat faster than to need unemployment insurance and food stamps. Funny how that works, when hoarders become helpless when it’s their turn in the lack barrel.

So when my inbox got bombed yesterday- and I mean BOMBED- with requests and demands to give, I had to go horseback riding.

I’m so glad I can still afford the occasional lesson. Standing in a stall, scrubbing down a horse who is hugely happy to have you there is one hell of a nice way to shrug off the shit, even as I collected plenty of it on my sneakers.

GIVE GIVE GIVE GIVE

I’ve been getting bombed with GoFundMe Campaigns since March. Some I have given to, others I’ve written about and promoted (Kilimanjaro cleanups, for example). I have given what I can where I can, depending on how much I make on Medium (BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) and how badly the house construction costs have run over budget.

A lot, in fact. At least three times what I budgeted for. You can relate, I’m sure.

But I did give. Some of what I gave went to the Safina Center:

Their mission:

At the Safina Center we advance the case for Life on Earth by fusing scientific understanding, emotional connection, and a moral call to action. We create an original blend of science, art, and literature in the form of award-winning books and articles, scientific research, photography, films, sound-art, and spoken words. We bear first-hand witness and then we speak up, we speak out, and we teach. Our work is designed to inspire and engage others to devote their time and energies to conservation of wild things and wild places. Our creative works have proven their power to change people’s lives and their view of the world.

and

People cannot engage unless they see solutions. We generate some light here; we are guides and thought-leaders. Our Fellows program supports and propels world-recognized writers, artists, and filmmakers. And perhaps more importantly our Launchpad (early-career) Fellows are — with your help — launching professional careers that will carry their important work into coming decades. We are pleased to have a wide circle of Creative Affiliates, highly accomplished and exceptionally creative people who share and amplify one another’s messages and work, and the work of the Safina Center.

The Safina Center is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based on Long Island, N.Y.

This place is one of the few where the overused and much-abused term “thought leader” is wholly legit.

Yeah, you say, they all say that. With so many charities siphoning off money for personal use so that the end product doesn’t get much of what’s left, if you’re jaded, I get it. This isn’t that.

Carl Safina is a personal hero of mine, and his center receives half of what I have left when I expire. But that’s not all. Where they are active is often in places where you and I and the environment (and human rights and and and and) are going to benefit, and so will future generations. To wit:

The Safina Center is one of the reasons this article came about. For those of us who are deeply concerned about the costs of commercial fishing both in terms of wildlife, discarded (read: dead, wasted life) catch as byproducts of netting, bird life killed by lines on the ships, people forced into slavery or outright killed in the name of fishing, this kind of movement is a godsend.

It’s going to take time, and it’s also going to take massive efforts to redirect cultures away from the kind of seafood consumption that is doing so very much damage in our world. But this promises to revolutionize not only what we eat, but also those who grow the products used to make this food, which means education, retraining and redirecting, and opportunities for farmers to refocus.

What about taste? If you, like I am, a huge fan of crabcakes, there is more than just hope. From the article:

Artichoke, hearts of palm, and cabbage play the role of crabmeat in the final product, with rice flour and potato starch used for binding and a hint of Old Bay seasoning for taste. The cake comes as a frozen lump and is easy to prepare: thaw, fry, top with tartar sauce. The crispy outside and cakey inside does everything a crab cake is supposed to do. Was I aware that I was basically eating an artichoke patty? Yes, I was. Was this a problem? Not at all.

Besides. You check the price on a pound of blue crab meat lately? Yeah. That. From thirty to forty bucks.

If you are a vegan, and if you care about this kind of thing, then you will forgive me if I suggest that what you save on purchasing plants instead of prime rib might be well served (pardon the pun) invested in this kind of work.

In the last few years I’ve been educating myself on what we’ve learned about fish, their consciousness, their ability to feel pain or have emotions and awareness. Those things have caused me to feel much more strongly about how responsibly we treat our aquatic buddies, not only from the standpoint of how we care for these living creatures, but also the shit we keep dumping into their house, as it were.

If someone poured sewage into your living room, how might you feel? Precisely.

So there’s a great deal to be said about supporting organizations which are focused on cleaning up, educating, enlivening our lives with new discoveries, sharing incredible new science about those creatures with whom we share this tiny marble. And who are determined to make sure that most of it is here when your grandbabies have grandbabies.

In a year full of lousy news, this is the kind of story and work I can not only get behind, but it also reminds me of why I send money to the Safina Center. It’s not just about giving. It’s about giving where the gain is out-sized in proportion to your gift. That life on earth-all life on earth- may potentially benefit from the few bucks I can afford to send even in a shit year, with a shit president, and with shit income, I can still find money to give.

Because while I may not be working, the money I do give needs to work. To that end, if I am going to give anything to charity, it’s important that those funds, no matter how meager, and they are, pay off long after I’m fish food myself.

I want to be a part of that kind of story. Already am.

So yeah. Everyone needs something these days. You will forgive me if I don’t respond to the panhandlers on my street corners in Eugene whose signs say that they need money for chew. Forgive the pun, but folks, go spit.

There are better things to do with the funds we can set aside. Safina gets mine.

I hope when you choose to give, your gift keeps right on giving.

To see the books Carl Safina has written, and they have deserved every single award they have won ( a lot of them) AND there is a new one for kids, please go to:

Please note: I do not have a business relationship with the Safina Center. Just an emotional one.

Thanks for reading, and to Dr. Safina, thanks for writing.