Pair up mismatched gloves

At http://www.dothegreenthing.com/shop/get_gloves readers are encouraged to send in single gloves. These are matched for size and offered for sale for GBP 5. This is a clever way of ensuring that gloves whose partners have gotten lost don't get wasted. (Other suggestions for utilizing single gloves: as a sponge for bathing or cleaning and as a stocking substitute for small gifts.) Or to avoid buying anything you could simply ask your friends if they have any lonely gloves and mismatch them yourselves. Glove-matching parties are going to be all the rage in 2012!


Effort involved: looking at gloves. Pretty low-energy effort, if you ask me.


Image from: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/tracking-michael-jacksons-glove-online/

Conserve rainwater

Something that saves money as well as water is worth looking into. Rainwater conservation is one of those somethings, as that stuff that falls from the sky can be used to flush toilets, water gardens, wash cars and fill water guns aimed at loathsome people. Rainwater catchment devices range from the somewhat simple (the most basic of rain diverter kits can sell for less than $10) to an Escher-like level of boggle (http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm#RainWaterHarvestSystems). The more complicated systems are appropriate for installation only by the engineering-proficient or those who can hire the engineering-proficient. And if you're exceptionally lazy and/or cheap, you could always just stick a bucket outside and wet days and use the water in any way you please.


Effort involved: varies wildly.


Image from: http://www.flixya.com/photo/1963327/Funny-natural-car-wash-in-rain

Use GoodGuide for more ethical shopping

The tagline of http://www.goodguide.com/ is simple: 'Find safe, healthy, green & ethical products based on scientific ratings'. The database is an ever-expanding work in progress, and can be used in multiple ways. You can search or browse product categories online; you can also download a mobile app that scans barcodes in stores and allows you to see the environmental, health and social rankings of items you're considering buying. This is fantastic for the indecisive. If you often find yourself flummoxed by rows upon rows of similar products, these scores should make it easier to decide what to buy. (Of course, you might find yourself just as perplexed by moral quandaries like 'Hmm, this company has a better record of respecting labor rights, but that company does less damage to rainforests...' Don't say I didn't warn you.)

Effort involved: if you download the app, there's a fair bit of pointing and scanning, which can be quite fun. If you use the website, there's a fair bit of research.


Image from: http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/02/18/experiencing-the-paradox-of-choice-at-the-local-schnucks-grocery-store/

Take the time to appreciate a street performer

This may not apply if you live in a rural area, but if you regularly encounter buskers, magicians, jugglers, mimes, dancers, chalk artists or full-body paint-smeared human robots in public spaces it's likely you usually pass them with varying degrees of indifference. But many of them are very talented, not to mention hard-working and dedicated given the amount of effort and inconvenience it takes to ply their artistic trades out in the open. Take a few minutes to pay attention to one. If you're feeling flush, you could hand over some money. If you're feeling brazen, you could even applaud.


Effort involved: just a bit of your time.

Exchange unwanted gifts

You've done the responsible thing. You've waited a full day after receiving a gift (for which of course you graciously thanked the giver) to decide that you'll never use it and it's better off going to someone else. So why not set up an exchange with other recipients of terrible things? All you have to do is get together discreetly with some friends or family members and swap the unwanted presents, thus avoiding wasting a gift someone thoughtfully selected. After all, one person's terrible thing is another person's...less terrible thing.


Effort involved: picking out what you like, that's all.

Image from: http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog/get_crafty_with_your_cat

Help turn Volkswagen from the dark side

Greenpeace is running an amazing campaign at http://vwdarkside.com/ pressuring Volkswagen to end its damaging stance on pollution. It's amazing because the petition is called 'the rebel manifesto', potential campaigners are offered 'Jedi training' and there's a page of 'frequently questions asked' (with the option of translating to/from Yoda-ish/English). You may be sensing a theme here. Rarely has perusing the website of an environmental initiative aimed at a major corporate organization been this much nerdy fun.


Effort involved: the nerdy fun-ness referred to above keeps this from being painful.


Image from: http://www.maniacworld.com/dog-yoda-halloween-costume.html

Leave a cheery note someplace unexpected

This can be for a loved one or for a stranger. This can consist of words or images. This can be tucked into an item in a home or in a shop. This can be taped to a toilet seat or to the bottom of a stapler. This can be inspirational or snarky. This can include your name or remain anonymous. This can be targeted to someone or random.


This should be non-creepy. 


The effect? Well, imagine being surprised by a friendly note yourself. Exactly.


Effort involved: an easy meeting of pen and paper, then an easy tucking away of the paper into some nook.


Image from: http://www.happyplace.com/10430/the-most-enjoyably-cantankerous-notes-ever-posted-in-the-workplace/page/1

Give an edible mix

True to the URL, http://everythingyourmamamade.com/2008/12/12/354-edible-gift-mixes/ has a list of 354 cookie, drink, soup, etc. mixes that are easy to put together and easy to be used later. This may or may not be relevant for Christmas Eve. Also, this demonstrates that certain things belong in jars - spice mixes? Good. Moles? Less so.




Effort involved: you're likely to have the ingredients lying around for many of these mixes, so the effort is minimal. It's definitely easier than fighting crowds at the nearest megastore.

Image from: http://ridiculouslyinteresting.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/guest-post-a-jar-of-pickled-moles-haunting-trees-friday-disasters-and-anatomy-museum-corpses-a-smorgasbord-of-interesting-things-from-curator-neil-lebeter/

Nag yourself into doing good

http://www.hassleme.co.uk/ is simple yet ingenious. The site sends you emails at 'semi-unpredictable intervals' to remind you to do something. This can be whatever you want. Some ideas on the more good-making side of things:
- call your mom
- buy cake for a friend
- read about current affairs
- check your electricity usage
- make contact with an elected official about an issue that concerns you
- be slightly less rude than usual to a person who drives you up the wall


Effort involved: the service is so simple that it only takes a few seconds to set up the alerts. 

Sign up to send ecards for Tourism Concern

The Charitecards site allows you to send an unlimited number of ecards during your period of membership, with the bulk of the money going to charity. If you sign up in support of Tourism Concern (http://www.charitecards.com/tourismconcern/?), this money will aid efforts to ensure that tourism is non-exploitative and benefits local communities. And now that it's too late to send mail in time for Christmas without bribing a mail carrier, ecards are a practical way to go.


Effort involved: you can sign up once, and not have to worry about it again all year. And then every time there's a birthday or holiday, you'll have this communication option right at your fingertips (sort of like email, but better...).

Share a slideshow

With some exceptions such as inciting racism and teaching others how to make nail bombs, sharing information is inherently a good thing. Knowledge is gained, entertainment is had and connections are made. http://www.slideshare.net/ is an easy-to-navigate side where you can browse presentations or upload your own. The slideshows currently on the site are on topics as varied as the European debt crisis, John Lennon, gnocchi and pet insurance. Knock yourself out!


Effort involved: less than reading an actual, black-and-white, sad-looking, image-free report. Slideshows are like the comic strips of the information dissemination world, and the frequent clicking to get to the next slide can be oddly satisfying...

Image from: http://www.productbeautiful.com/2011/08/03/join-me-at-productcamp-austin/

Test your knowledge and feed a child

The knowledge in question is hunger-related, so with questions like 'How many people go to bed hungry every night?' this isn't the most outrageously cheerful quiz in the world. Still, it's only a couple of minutes out of your life and you might learn a statistic that you can drop casually into a conversation, making it seem like you're someone who never misses an issue of The Economist or a session of parliamentary proceedings. Because these are clearly the kinds of things that make for popular conversationalists.  


 


Effort involved: it's a multiple-choice quiz that takes no more than a few minutes to complete. So it will be the most painless test you've ever taken.


Image from: http://geeksyndicate.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/dvd-review-aqua-teen-hunger-force-%E2%80%93-season-2/

Give a reusable gift instead of a throw-away one

Part of the joy of consumption is being done with the item eventually. Who apart from fashion-obsessed dictators’ wives with a tenuous grasp on reality wants to hang onto things forever? But reusable gifts win you brownie points for being things that the recipients will notice again and again, hopefully causing them to think of you again and again. Plus, there’s that whole reduce-waste-happy-environment-blah-blah stuff too.

Some suggestions:

- a plant instead of cut flowers

- a beer making kit instead of a 12-pack

- a book of chocolate recipes instead of a box of truffles

- a sewing machine instead of clothes

- a paper making/recycling class instead of stationery

- a pet instead of a set of novelty meats

Clearly I'm getting a bit desperate, but you imaginative people should be able to come up with something...

Effort involved: presumably no more than buying a disposable gift.

Image from: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/YVFqZjSkiUK/Shows+Continue+Xiongsen+Bear+Tiger+Park+Guilin

Plant a tree

This action is the environmental equivalent of a Tae Bo video - old-fashioned but effective. If you'd like to connect your own tree planting to a larger project, you could give the UN Environment Programme's Billion Tree Campaign a whirl.


Effort involved: a decent amount of physical exertion, but it's all productive. Replace a workout with a planting session, and you're golden.



Image from: http://www.network54.com/Forum/272761/thread/1318584093/One!life+%26gt%3B+Trees-+men+as+trees,+walking!

Raise £2 for Save the Children with a click

The bank Halifax is making the quite generous donation of £2 to Save the Children every time someone clicks on the appropriate button: http://www.halifaxonlinechoir.com/. £2 for 2 seconds worth of work? Yes please! (There's also an offer to donate £3 if you 'join the choir', but this didn't work on my computer. Your internet accessing thingie may be better, though.)


Effort involved: seriously, 2 seconds.




Image from: http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn82/UO-Player/?action=view&current=easy-button.png&newest=1

Donate to the CIVICUS Crisis Response Fund

CIVICUS is a network of civil society organizations that promotes social activism and community organizing. 2011 was an especially busy year for its Crisis Response Fund, given the Arab Spring and Occupy protests you might have heard one or two things about. It's important to help fill the coffers of this fund so that CIVICUS can remain responsive and supportive of the activist movements that no doubt will be active the next year.


Effort involved: opening your wallet, which may or may not be fat around this time of year.

Choose a charity challenge

If you're the adventurous type, the following options - ski the North Pole, bike through Cambodia, dog sled in Sweden, visit volcanoes in Ecuador, etc. - should appeal. Interested, you say? http://www.charitychallenge.com/index.html offers these excursions and more, in support of various charities. You can fund these activities yourself, which is likely only an option for the independently wealthy. Or you can raise funds or sponsorship. You get a fantastic experience, the charity gets a chunk of money, and the people who are supporting your trip get a warm glow - cheers all around.


Effort involved: considerable. The effort expended in actually doing the challenge is one thing; that should be exhilarating, so it's not an issue. In my mind, approaching people for money so you can do something fun is the awkward part. So you may want to consider holding some sort of ticketed or selling event - an art auction, a strip show, an old-fashioned bake sale - to help raise funds.


Image from: http://www.celebratebig.com/pacific-northwest/seattle-weird-science-fair/index.htm

Tell someone you love them

I know, I know, your nausea radar is going crazy right about now. I don't blame you. But it's fantastic to make a declaration of love without it being a "you-first/no-you-first" hostage situation*, even though sometimes the most basic of feelings can be the most difficult to verbalize** and even though it can be dyslexically easy*** to confuse one feeling with another****. Part of the problem, of course, is making something sound genuine when it's been rendered a language-bound cliche***** a million times over****** because we've all seen too many movies and listened to too many pop songs. And who even knows what it's all about*******? Violence******** or distance********* or the only convincing form of spirituality**********?


Anyway, the suggestion for today is just to tell someone - your brother, your best friend, your senator, whoever - than you love them.

Effort involved: physically, none.


*Long Winters
**Young Galaxy
***Paul Westerberg
****Spiritualized
*****Bloc Party
******Stars
*******Jens Lekman
********Antony and the Johnsons
*********Azure Ray
**********David Bowie

Encourage the switch to paperless receipts

I imagine most people have had the experience of begrudgingly taking receipts they didn't want and would later be mildly inconvenienced by, just to avoid the potential slight awkwardness of telling the cashier that said receipts were unwanted. If someone's offering you something, after all, it can feel churlish to reject it. But switching from traditional receipts to email or cellphone versions saves businesses money in addition to avoiding paper waste. It may come with privacy concerns, but there are also the advantages to consumers of easy-to-ditigize financial records and, trivial as it is, less cluttered wallets and pockets. 


Whether you personally opt for paperless receipts or not, it's sensible for businesses to offer the choice. And all it takes to encourage businesses to do so is to make the suggestion in a letter, email, phone call or brief conversation with staff in a shop. It's not going to singlehandedly save the Amazon, of course, but any effort to reduce a culture of waste is worthwhile. The unprepared poets of the future will just to have to use their own skin when inspiration strikes.


Effort involved: a few sentences.


Image from: http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/archives/2003/Jan/

Enter the '1 of 7 Billion' short film contest

The 7 Billion Actions initiative of the UN Population Fund is holding a competition for short films that address the following issues:


- Poverty and breaking the circle of inequality
- Empowerment and progress of women and girls
- Young people
- Reproductive health and rights
- Healthy environment and healthy people
- Aging
- Urbanization-planning for growth

Extra points, presumably, for short films that manage to tackle these topics without being horribly depressing. The entries are due February 15, 2012, 1st prize is $4,000, and more information is available at http://www.7billionactions.org/film. Go on, what are you waiting for?


Effort involved: not going to lie to you- considerable, as filmmaking takes some time. But you could always make this easier on yourself by doing a single-take 10-minute movie and hoping that you win points for unusual technique.


Image from: http://entertainment.ezinemark.com/funny-moments-of-photographers-77362b4817a5.html

Share a report on the irresponsible super-rich

The provocatively titled Outing the Oligarchy: Billionaires Who Benefit from Today's Climate Crisis is an impressive piece of research. It lists the individuals whose wealth is most founded on environmentally devastating investment and other decisions. The ultra-wealthy have so much influence that it's important to know whether their money and power are being used for largely good, largely bad or neutral ends. Bathing in gold coins, for instance, might be considered neutral.


Effort involved: well, the report is 150 pages long. But all you have to do is skim through it and pass it on; it will be very difficult not to find an interesting tidbit in it.


Image from: http://topcultured.com/5-things-i-would-do-with-f-you-money/scrooge-mcduck-make-it-rain/

Enter an art contest on the right to food

The FoodFirst Information and Action Network is running an art contest themed around the right to food: http://www.stop-impunity.org/?page_id=23. The contest is open for submissions between now and February 10. Any filmed or photographed artwork or performance is acceptable, and first prize is 1000 Euro. Plus all three winners get to attend 'the European Summer School for the Right to Food' (no, I don't know what that is either). Not bad for what could be just a few minutes of you goofing off and uploading the video...


Effort involved: as much or as little as you'd like. Did I mention the 1000 Euro?



Image from: http://www.superstock.com/stock-photos-images/4029R-181363

Adopt a gorilla

Ok, this one will require you to shell out between $40 and $750. But not only will you be supporting the work of the conservation group The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (this is one organization that would benefit from an acronym), you'll also be able to mention your adopted gorilla, which, let's be honest, would be pretty cool. And you won't even have to clean up primate feces if your gorilla feels the need to make a display of dominance, so it's the best of both worlds.


Effort involved: a credit card payment. You don't actually have to read the newsletter, certificate, updates and other things that come with your adoption package, since someone else is taking care of your adoptee! You can be a totally negligent parent!


Image from: http://www.pics.efreez.com/view-funny_gorilla-1280x800.html

Make a list of mood boosters

...and ensure that one of these is always near at hand. This could be anything, e.g.:


- orchids
- gin
- dark chocolate
- the jersey of your favorite team
- a stuffed animal
- a vibrator
- your go-to comfort music
- a treasured gift
- a jump rope for working out frustration in the form of sweat
- a crossword puzzle
- a photo
- Virgin Mary incense


If your mood is good, you'll be less likely to harm the moods of the people around you. And that is good.


Effort involved: fun, simple, easy to do. All you need is a pen, a paper and a brief think.

Treat someone to a meal

In a restaurant or in your home. A friend or a homeless person. A six-course meal or a bunch of snack foods. Anything goes.


Effort involved: totally depends on you (see above and below). 

Image from: http://engrishfunny.failblog.org/2010/03/11/engrish-boiled-scorn/

Thank a volunteer

People who devote their time to charitable ends aren't acknowledged enough. Often this is because it isn't clear when someone is volunteering; other times it's assumed that strangers shouldn't be doing the acknowledging. But since we all benefit from the work volunteers do, thanking them is a very simple but worthwhile thing to do. They're guaranteed to be appreciative. So the next time you find yourself at a charity shop, bake sale, protest, half marathon, [whatever], consider taking the time to thank one of the volunteers.


Effort involved: one line, a few seconds. All you have to say is "By the way, thanks for doing this." Maximum impact for minimum opening of your mouth!


Image from http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1441860

Shower with another person to save water

This one might have you wrinkling your noses. I know I'm showerishly selfish, and wouldn't want to share that space with someone else. But depending on your bathroom situation, doubling up on a shower or bath could be an efficient use of resources. Your shower buddy could be a relative, a friend, a partner, or even a pet. Mind you, if you use this time to engage in non-cleanliness-related activities, the energy savings will be lost.


Effort involved: no additional effort, just packing in an additional body.

Replace one disposable item

This is an easy one. Whether it's a case of plastic forks, paper towels, light wood chopsticks or [insert scientifically plausible material] batteries, using reusable versions instead is cheaper and more environmentally sensible. They're also just as easy to find. Depending on what you choose, you may want to do a bit of research on this one. For instance, you may or may not find menstrual cups a satisfying substitute for tampons and maxi pads. Apologies if that mental image itself is not very satisfying.


Effort involved: the only difference is saving and washing, rather than discarding and re-buying. One advantage is that you get to invest in something real purty.




Image from: http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/home-gifts-master-crane-chopsticks.html

Contribute to Wikipedia

www.wikipedia.org is arguably the single most useful and interesting website that will ever exist. (That "arguably" keeps this statement from seeming too overblown, although in this case I think it's a horn worth loudly blowing...or something.) Whether you already contribute to the site or not, there are plenty of ways to support it: 


1) You could become a contributor. All you have to do is create an account, read one of the site's handy guides and begin adding content. 
2) If you already write for the site, you could encourage others to do so as well. This democratization of knowledge thing tends to work better as more and more people get involved.
3) If you're not interesting in adding content, you could review existing content for accuracy. This is just as important for keeping the site reliable.
4) You could make a donation. This would help keep Wikipedia advertising-free.
5) Or...?


Effort involved: opening your wallet, typing some lines, doing some research, yadda yadda.

Image from: http://fayinc.wordpress.com/category/w/

Shop to support female entrepreneurs

www.globalgirlfriend.com is a pretty smiley business all around. First, its products are fairly traded and environmentally responsible. Second, they're also pretty reasonably priced. Third, 5-30% of each purchase goes toward Camfed's micro-grant program, which gives women in sub-Saharan Africa the opportunity to start their own businesses. Fourth (well, this one is dubious), a package labeled 'Global Girlfriend' arriving on your doorstep will make everyone think you've sent away for a very tiny mail-order bride. Well, three out of four ain't bad.


Effort involved: looking at pretty things, buying pretty things, enjoying pretty things. An easy three-step process. 




Image from: http://listverse.com/2010/02/17/top-10-facts-about-mail-order-brides/

Use a Green Passport as a travel guide

The UN Environment Programme has developed Green Passports - travel guides focused on social, economic and environmental sustainability - for Brazil and Ecuador. You'll need to speak Portuguese/Spanish to benefit from these, but there's also a general guide for everyone who's not traveling to these countries and/or doesn't speak these languages. This is full of mostly common-sense tips to ensure that your impact on the areas you visit is as beneficial as possible. We've all seen the clueless entitled tourists staggering around obliviously and destructively, plonking all their money into foreign-owned businesses that do little to benefit the local economy, right? And we've all thought "Gee, I don't want to be that guy" or "Gosh darn it, I should stop being that guy," no? Well, even if you answered no to both questions, http://www.unep.org/greenpassport/ is worth checking out.


Effort involved: the reading is easy, the putting into practice may be slightly tougher.

Fight sale of animal-tested cosmetics in EU

The European Union has a more animal-friendly stance than some other parts of the world, as it's already illegal for companies to manufacture animal-tested cosmetics within its borders. It's pledged to go further by prohibiting the sale of such cosmetics as well. But as it's now considering delaying the ban for another 10 years, the EU Humane Society has created a petition to oppose the delay. Signing the petition seems reasonable. After all, it's one thing to use animal products and testing when it's medically necessary for humans. But to do so just for vanity seems harder to justify. After all, no one looks good in guinea pig.


Effort involved: You know the drill by now. Click, sign, click.

Image from: http://stupidnfunnytshirtgifts.com/search/pg=1&prod=Tees_T-shirts_Gift_Ideas/Funny_Animal.htm

Adopt a water conservation tip

http://wateruseitwisely.com/index.php is a good resource for reducing water use, which everyone would benefit from doing. The site's cornerstone is a slightly overwhelming list of 100+ tips, some of which are reproduced below: 

- For cold drinks keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap. This way, every drop goes down you and not the drain.
- Wash your fruits and vegetables in a pan of water instead of running water from the tap.
- Collect the water you use for rinsing fruits and vegetables, then reuse it to water houseplants.
- Designate one glass for your drinking water each day or refill a water bottle. This will cut down on the number of glasses to wash.
- Bathe your young children together.
- Make suggestions to your employer about ways to save water and money at work.
- Water only when necessary. More plants die from over-watering than from under-watering.
- One more way to get eight glasses of water a day is to re-use the water left over from cooked or steamed foods to start a scrumptious and nutritious soup.


If you're a would-be overachiever you could combine these so that you simultaneously bathe your young children, water your houseplants and rinse your fruit, but that seems to be taking things a bit far.


Effort involved: these sorts of lifestyle tips tend to be easy to implement, but also easy to forget.


Image from: http://www.dothegreenthing.com/blog

Support the child soldiers treaty

While only two countries have yet to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, its optional protocol on the rights of children in armed conflict has been left un-ratified by 51 countries. This protocol goes further than the convention, by requiring signatory countries to enforce a ban on compulsory recruitment of soldiers under 18, among other things. That was a rather preposition-heavy sentence. And this, the full text of the protocol, is a rather preposition-heavy document: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc-conflict.htm. However, Amnesty International has made it easy to pressure governments to adopt the protocol. It's provided a template to send to UN representatives of countries that have not ratified the protocol.


Effort involved: only filling out a few fields. You could do this in your sleep, you internet-savvy citizen, you.

Make someone laugh

Remind someone of an inside joke. Lend out your favorite comedy DVD. Email a funny photo. Cover your body in neon paint and run naked through a bar. Film a sketch. Parody a song. Wear something outlandish. Do something inappropriate. Engage in wordplay. Dance absurdly. Make a face at a baby. Make a face at an adult. Injure yourself. Whatever it takes.


Effort involved: depending on which route you take, incredibly little.

Start a workplace exercise program

This doesn’t have to be formal or complicated. It could simply involve getting some colleagues together to move around on a lunch break. Only the impetus is needed. You could organize group day passes to a local gym. You could arrange a friendly race or other athletic competition. You could simply pop in an old exercise video in an empty conference room and have everyone attempt to work off the pizza they shared for lunch. It may give you some petty satisfaction to see your god-awful boss or the coworker you’ve secretly deemed your nemesis red-faced, dripping with sweat and cursing their bodies. 

Effort involved: well, a fair bit, honestly. But effort/suffering is made easier by seeing the simultaneous effort/suffering of other people. You may as well put social pressure to good use!

Image from: http://www.katsaksyoga.com/2010/08/21/galaxies-within-karnapidasana-ear-pressure-pose/

Give pencils by signing up for Camfed news

Camfed is an NGO that sponsors girls' education in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania and Malawi. Supporting girls' education has been demonstrated to be one of the most effective ways of reducing poverty and producing all sorts of other happy benefits. So if you'd like to contribute to this happiness you can sign up to the Camfed newsletter at http://uk.camfed.org/site/PageServer?pagename=involved_index; for each signup the organization will provide an African girl with a year's worth of pencils.


Effort involved: so little you can sneeze at it. You can always remove yourself from the mailing list. Also, you can always use dummy email addresses to sign up to the newsletter multiple times. This might be a case where mild fraud has a positive outcome.

Image from: http://www.psdeluxe.com/articles/inspiration/40-awesome-pencil-sculptures/

Make a dish that reminds someone of home

Few things are as evocative of a place as food. Since you're likely to know at least one person who's far from home, one way to ease homesickness for a moment is to prepare some food specific to their native land (even if 'their native land' is just the next county over). Whether you dry some squid for a Korean, grill some lard for a Romanian or milk a yak for a Tibetan, they're sure to appreciate the gesture. And if you're a terror in the kitchen, you could always just find a product, e.g. kangaroo jerky for an Australian, instead of cooking a dish.

Effort involved: it depends on how ambitious you want to get. One plus is that depending on what you cook, that could be one of your own meals sorted. 


Image from http://kendrasforestburgadventure.blogspot.com/2011/07/contemplating-canada.html.

Ask your company to give time off for volunteering

One major obstacle to volunteerism is lack of time. And no matter how busy people's work schedules are, most people have down time or quiet periods at some point. So it's logical to encourage your company to allow a small amount of time off work (ideally paid) so that employees can partake in community service. This is useful on multiple grounds: workforce morale is boosted, the local community is benefited, and the company's social responsibility credentials are bolstered. And none of this takes any extra money. Bitchin'.


Effort involved: interesting effort, since this will be time away from your normal routine.


Image from: http://gvanv.com/homewrld/brochure/panel3.html

Put food out for birds

It's more difficult for birds to find food once the weather turns cold. Happily for anyone who just happens to have leftover food, birds like all sorts of human-ish goodies. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds recommends leaving out moistened bread, cake, milk, grated cheese, cooked potato, raisins, fruit, pastry, dry oats, black sunflower seeds, and water for the winged in winter. 

Effort involved: pretty negligible. And you get the advantage of something to look at through the window.

Visit an independent business instead of a chain

Supporting independent businesses helps to preserve choices and keep things interesting - for yourself, for your neighborhood, and for the local economy. And it's easy and enjoyable to do: get your espresso at the Italian-style cafe rather than a Starbucks, browse for books at the socialist co-op bookshop instead of on Amazon, or pick up children's gifts at a family-owned wooden toy store rather than the super-shiny god-of-plastic behemoth that is Toys 'R Us. Yes, you may end up paying a bit more. But you're also more likely to find something more off-kilter, to have a conversation with an employee who's passionate about their work and their products, and to have a more pleasant experience all around.


Effort involved: no extra effort, apart from possibly walking a bit further to head past the chain stores.

Counteract a negative online comment

Anyone who’s read the comments under an article, review or blog post knows that the Internet abounds with pointless vitriol. Even apart from being immature and hurtful, this type of trolling makes online information less helpful, since you have to scroll through plenty of unproductively angry comments to get to ones that are actually entertaining or useful. So the next time you see a troller’s comment, balance it with a positive or at least thoughtful one. You can call yourself an “elevator of Internet discourse” (but not online, because you’ll get (fairly) blasted for pretension).

Effort involved: a line of text doesn’t take long to craft. Making it witty - now, that’s another story.

Image from: http://javaura.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/troll-web.jpg

Celebrate World Toilet Day

...as you do every year, of course. This year you can try buying a sanitation-related gift to celebrate. These gifts don't actually go to your friends, sadly, but they do go directly to people who need them, happily. Items at varying price levels are available at http://shop.wateraid.org/browsecategory.aspx?catid=19. You can also go to http://www.oxfam.org/en/getinvolved/unwrapped, choose your country site, and search for "toilet". This is useful stuff given that 1.2 billion people don't have access to any sanitation facilities, forcing policymakers and sanitation experts to resort to the inelegant phrase "open defecation". Happy toilet buying!


Effort involved: there are fewer sanitation-related products for sale than, say, shoes, so there should be less agonizing over choice.

Image from: http://livethelife.org.za/blog/2011/03/watch-where-you-dive/

Buy out-of-date groceries

The sell-by and best-by dates on groceries are often misleading. They tend to be much earlier than necessary as a way for supermarkets to avoid any possibility of legal issues as well as encourage shoppers to frequently replenish their purchases. So great deals can be had by buying foods that are past their peak of freshness, but are still perfectly fine to eat. In the UK, sites like www.approvedfoods.co.uk and www.foodbargains.co.uk offer out-of-date items at highly discounted prices. Sites like these exist in other countries as well. And supermarkets often have small, unloved sections devoted to past-date products. 


Effort involved: little or no more than the effort you currently spend on grocery shopping. To save even more time and money, you can qualify for free or discounted shipping by getting together with a few other people to make big online purchases.


Image from: http://www.funnysigns.net/boneless-bananas/

Start a virtual tiger park

WildAid campaigns against the illegal wildlife trade in an attempt to protect threatened species. One way of supporting its work is by playing the Facebook game My Conservation Park, as 15% of in-game purchases go to WildAid's work with tigers. I haven't played the game so I can't vouch for its entertainment value, but if you're a Facebook gamer this could be right up your alley.


Effort involved: Step 1: sit on couch. Step 2: click on link. Step 3: play. Step 4: buy a park ranger or something else.



Image from: http://www.chinafacttours.com/index.php?image-255-aid-2735.html

Think about the words you use

Everybody now: "It's political correctness gone mad!" It's odd that such a generic phrase has come to replace language that's considered irritating in part because it's so standard, so predictably PC.

Anyway, this isn't a call to replace vowels in certain words because they reflect patriarchal hegemony or to start using lowercase letters as a protest against the individualistic-cum-narcissistic nature of our language, blah blah. It's just about not being, well, a douchebag. (This is one word I cling to, because it's so delightfully disgusting. In the interests of variety, though, we should start mixing it up with things like "colostomy bag", "enema bag", "urethra cleaning bag", etc.) 

It's not hard to see that a lot of common usage has plainly sexist, racist or other problematic origins. "Stop being such a pussy!", for instance, is pretty clear: women are cowards + women have pussies = cowards are pussies. "Nappy" might be more ambiguous; it's sometimes used as a catch-all term to refer to anything dirty, but its most frequent use is as a descriptor of black people's hair. Certain people's conflation of the two is a bit worrisome. Happily, though, it seems that most people who use terms in these ways aren't actively racist, sexist, etc.; they're just parroting what they hear without questioning how those terms came into use. So the suggestion for the day is to do just that. This might just improve our vocabularies a smidge as well.

Effort involved: no heavy lifting, as this one's all mental.


Image from http://blog.charleslloydfitness.com/2009/03/20/douche-bag-top-10-ways/