This holiday season (RED) products make a red hot gift list while offering a great way to really make an impact with your purchasing power. When you choose a (RED) product proceeds go directly to The Global Fund where 100% of that money is used to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
These are fabulous finds you would want to give anyway because (RED) partners with the world’s most iconic brands to produce super cool products, that happen to save lives. Here are a few of my favorites:
I took this photo behind the text this past October while on a Global Team of 200 insight trip to Johannesburg. This portrait hangs in the Mandela House in Soweto, Johannesburg. Madiba is Mandela’s Clan and this name is used as a sign of respect and honor.
1. ONE thinks the perfect #GivingTuesday gift is Heifer and ONE’s Limited Edition Goat. Giving just one goat to a family in need can be enough to change their entire lives. One goat can provide up to one ton of milk a year – and that translates to milk, cheese, butter and other dairy products a family can sell on the market for income. And not just temporarily – the benefits of livestock are long-term and only grow over time. Just take a look at this infographic .
2. Shop on #GivingTuesday at Diapers.com or any of these sites and they will be donating one life-saving vaccine through the Shot@Life campaign with every $50 purchase when you use code SHOTATLIFE50.
3. For #Giving Tuesday every dollar donated to WaterAid for safe water and toilets will be matched. If Water Aid can raise $50,000 by midnight, that amount will be doubled! Sip it, quench it, save it, give it, #doubleit with WaterAid for #GivingTuesday.
4. Support Every Mother Counts For as little as $5, you can help provide transportation for a pregnant woman in Uganda, so that she has access to life saving care when she may need it most. 100% of every dollar that is contributed will be directed to programs on the ground.
Or order your custom holiday cards with Minted, where 10% of every purchase made here will go directly to Every Mother Counts.
Or Purchase some Oiselle EMC running gear here, where 40% of the proceeds go to support Every Mother Counts.
5. Give while you shop by purchasing from companies that give back.
Happy #GivingTuesday!
I am not a big fan of violent video games, so clearly I’m not about to support a company that produces a product that feeds into real life armed conflict. The question is not about which company makes the most violent video games, and the X-box or Nintendo question is no longer about which has the better graphics. It’s about which company has a conscience and how much it bothers consumers that people across the world may be harmed in the making of the toy they are about to buy.
The Enough Project’s Raise Hope For Congo campaign wants to raise consumer electronics awareness in time for the Black Friday shopping frenzy. According to the Conflict Minerals Company Rankings List they have released the X-Box is the clear choice in this selection. The consumer electronics products we use daily rely on certain minerals to function, the source of those minerals in some areas fund violent conflicts that have lasted decades. Companies are aware, and some have acted responsibly to make sure the resources they purchase are not part of the problem.
I only learned the truth about Conflict Minerals when listening to Photographer Marcus Bleasdale give his incredibly powerful National Geographic presentation at the Social Good Summit in NYC this past fall. The images he showed opened my eyes to the source of elements of the very cell phone in my hand. Suddenly I was connected to those people in the photographs.
Over 5.4 million dead. Over 2 million displaced. Congo is home to the deadliest conflict since World War II.-www.enoughproject.org
I can honestly say I never thought I’d feel the emotion of gratitude when thinking about my son’s X-Box habit, but now that I know what I know, him playing the X-Box compared to the Nintendo, is a relief. Turns out according to the research done for the rankings, Nintendo is the worst company, dead last, in terms of accountability along the supply chain. Basically, they don’t care where they get them, or who gets hurt along the way, as long as they can make and sell their products. Microsoft, the maker of the X-Box, on the other hand has a green light ranking on The Conflict Minerals Company Rankings List marking it as one of the companies that has taken proactive steps to trace and audit their supply chains, pushed for some aspects of legislation, exercised leadership in industry-wide efforts, and started to help Congo develop a clean trade.
Our consumer dollars give us the power to hold the quality of lives of others in our hands. I am not talking about crushing fellow customers in the black Friday rush into Wal-Mart here. I am talking about becoming aware of how things are made, and choosing to be a conscientious consumer . When we have money to spend, we can choose to spend it on those companies who are actually making a positive impact in this world, as opposed to those who are just out to make a buck. You can see how the companies you are planning to buy from are rated here in this chart and then purchase accordingly, yes we do have a say in what goes on across the world. Our consumer dollars speak volumes on these issues, and the pressure on companies to take responsibility has turned the tide of the conflict in the Congo.
Last week, Alysha Atma of the Atma Foundation put it beautifully. We were on a conference call with ONE, ENOUGH Project, and JWW, all organizations working towards, preventing genocides, improving accountability and transparency from governments, and large companies. Alysha told us she was inspired to make a difference by her young son, when she realized that every action has a personal story behind it. she explained;
“He inspired me to put dinner table talk into action. I realized that every day is an opportunity to give back. I wanted him to learn that a responsibility comes with the good fortune of him having been born here.”
I love that sentiment, every day is an opportunity to give back. So what can we do?
-Share the message on Social Media to help raise awareness about the issue.
-Use the power of your consumer dollars wisely and with good conscience by check the The Conflict Minerals Company Rankings List before you buy so you know if you want to support that company or not.
The Raise Hope For Congo movement needs your help to increase demand for conflict-free electronics products. As a consumer, you can influence electronics industry leaders as they weigh whether or not to invest in making their supply chains transparent and producing verifiably conflict-free products. Tell companies that if they take conflict out of their products, you’ll buy them.
–Send an e-mail right now to electronics companies letting them know you care where they source their materials.
-Get involved in campaigns with organizations such as Enough, JWW, Atma Foundation and ONE that are working towards conflict free products in the Congo.
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Today is the first ever World Toilet Day and a new report released today Co-published by WaterAid, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, and Unilever’s leading household cleaning brand, Domestos, We can’t wait highlights the stark consequences that the lack of toilets and good hygiene practices have for women and girls. according to this report there are still 2.5 billion people in this world without adequate sanitation. Lack of sanitation directly impacts education, health and safety, especially for women and girls.
“One in three [people] lack access to adequate sanitation,” noted UN Deputy-Secretary General, Jan Eliasson and Unilever Chief Executive Officer, Paul Polman in the report. “The result is widespread death and disease and social marginalization. Poor sanitation exposes women and girls to the risk of assault and, when schools cannot provide clean, safe toilets, girls’ attendance drops.”
In Rhode Island, one man has come up with an innovative solution. Dr Stephen Mecca is a Professor in the department of Engineering-Pysics-Systems at Providence College, and a visiting scholar at the University of Ghana. He co-Invented the micro flush valve and with his research team has created an environmentally sensible , sanitary, and dignified, re-invention of the toilet. Designed for warm weather environments, this toilet takes less than a cup of water to flush, and that comes from the hand washing of the previous user. In the above video Dr. mecca explains how it works.
This Microflush toilet is the type of innovation that can transform lives, and the We Can’t Wait Report shows that strong partnerships between the public and private sectors are key to tackling the sanitation crisis, and that more frequent cross-sector collaboration is essential to improving the lives of women and girls.
Infographic source: the We Can’t Wait report
About WaterAid
WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. The international organization works in 27 countries across Africa, Asia, Central America and the Pacific Region to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 19 million people with safe water and, since 2004, 15 million people with sanitation. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org, follow @WaterAidAmerica on Twitter or visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraidamerica.
