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/

Give away something you no longer need

You're likely to have at least a few things lying around your home that you don't recognize or haven't thought about in a very long time. Do yourself a favor by decluttering, while doing someone else a favor by giving away something they might need. There are plenty of websites devoted to turning one person's trash into another person's non-trash, such as Craigslist and Freecycle. You could also go old-school and simply take your unneeded items to a charity shop. You could also also go lazy and simply leave the objects in front of your building, as long as this doesn't count as littering.


Effort involved: a quick search through your home to find things you don't need, followed by an online post or a trip to a charity shop.

Matchmake

We’re treading on dangerous ground here. Not everyone wants to or should be partnered, and you run the risk of ultimately being responsible for breaking someone’s heart. And yes, if this happens, you will get blamed for introducing the heartbreaker and heartbreakee. But everyone knows people who are eager to be in relationships (or eager for sexytime), so if you’ve conducted some due diligence on the two people in question and feel confident that they’ll get along, why not bring them together? Not to implant unrealistic suggestions in your head, but if they end up getting married you’ll definitely get copiously thanked during the wedding speeches. Ah, the glory.

Effort involved: some research, some thinking, some planning. And if you think it would be appropriate, some tagging along.

Win $5,000 for publicizing the East African crisis

GOOD is offering $5,000 for the best proposal that spreads local public awareness about the catastrophic famine, war and drought situation in the Horn of Africa. This is in response to the survey result that 52% of Americans are unaware of the situation. You have to be a resident of the US to be eligible, but if you're outside the country and can make contact with someone inside it, presumably you can forge a collaboration. Entries are  due November 28, after which the public will vote. This is such a cool opportunity that I'm not going to tarnish it by saying anything snarky. 


Effort involved: pretty extensive if you win, actually, as you'll actually have to put your proposal into action. But that's the exciting part.




Image from: http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/drought/

Photograph yourself using a gift

Have a few minutes to spare? Snap yourself wearing/eating/drinking/playing with or otherwise verb-ing it up with a gift. Then send the photo to whoever gave you the shirt/jam/whiskey/watergun/other noun. You don't even have to write a note of (repeat) gratitude - the photo alone should be enough to bring a smile to the gift-giver's face.


Effort involved: I did ask at the beginning if you had a few minutes to spare...

Cook with weeds

Weeds probably have a bit of an inferiority complex. How could you not, if you were defined as a valueless plant growing wild, especially one that grows on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury of the desired crop (dictionary.com)? One way to show your appreciation of poor underappreciated weeds is by ruthlessly devouring loads of them. You can find information on collecting and cooking dandelions, nettles, chickweed and other fun-sounding organisms at http://fat-of-the-land.blogspot.com/search/label/weeds. 


By all accounts, weeds pack a quintuple punch: 
- free
- abundant
- nutritious
- environmentally sensible (otherwise this useful food source might get wasted) 
- tasty (after all, there are plenty of currently trendy foods, like watercress and rocket, that   were once considered only lowly weeds) 

Effort involved: less than farming, certainly.


Image from http://animalol.com/funny-pictures-animals/dogs-pictures/dandelions-pictures-2795

Make your home available for couchsurfers

http://www.couchsurfing.org/ is just one of many sites devoted to connecting would-be couchsurfers and would-be hosts. It's a great way to save money on both ends, as travelers are spared the expense of hotel rooms, while hosts benefit from the chores, gifts and/or company of the guests. There are also benefits in terms of cross-cultural exchange. These websites are committed to safety through user reviews/references and varying degrees of vetting. Of course, common sense principles also apply; e.g. a woman living alone may not feel comfortable having a horde of college-age men descending on her home. Or she may. People are into all sorts of things.


Effort involved: signing up to the site, making a spare bed or couch available to a traveler, and providing feedback once it's over. And of course you can flip the, er, couches by becoming a free-room-stayer yourself.


 


Image from: http://www.wanginnovations.com  

Buy a ticket to the Match Against Poverty

A friendly soccer match will be held in Hamburg on 13 December, with 2/3 of the proceeds going to the UN's food crisis in East Africa. It's entirely likely that you: a) don't care about soccer, b) don't live anywhere near Germany, c) can't afford to buy tickets, d) are generally reluctant to leave the house, or e) meet some combination of the above characteristics. But if you know someone who'd be interested in going, it's worth mentioning http://www.beta.undp.org/undp/en/home/ourwork/goodwillambassadors/match_against_poverty.html.

Effort involved: arranging a trip to a soccer match could be quite a bit of effort, depending on where you are.  But if you're a fan this may feel more like play than like work.

Show the MDG comic book to a kid

This is a comic book about the UN's Millennium Development Goals, in the form of a story about famous footballers who get stranded on an island. Yes, it's just a bit random. But as it's never too early to start learning about human rights this is a great book to send to a child. Sure, you run the risk of being the dorky, dull family friend/relative who actually sends educational/earnest materials. But you could counteract this by also sending an ultra-violent video game or some cavity-inducing candy. Balance reigns.

Effort involved: a little clickety-clickety.

Host a party for a charity

There are several ways to do this. You can simply put out a donation tin whose contents will go to a particular charity. You can arrange for donations of food and drinks to your party, so that guests' payments for these refreshments go to the charity. You can dedicate an upcoming event, like a bat mitzvah, graduation or bachelor party, to the charity so that donations to the organization are made in lieu of gifts. Whatever option you choose, you can feel virtuous about your debauchery - a very good thing!

Effort involved: no more than the effort of hosting any other party. 

Image from: http://www.graphicshunt.com/funny/images/ninja_turtle_party-13352.htm

Eat at home for The Hunger Project

The Hunger Project's motto is "empowering women and men to end their own hunger", which they do through community organizing, advocacy and other campaign work. As mottoes go, that's a good one. To continue using the organization's own words when it comes to ways to support its work: "Dine at home instead of going out for dinner, ice cream or whatever with friends, and send money you would have spent to THP". As easy-to-implement ideas go, that's also a good one. Goodness abounds here.

Effort involved: inconsequential. Eating in is often easier than the bother of getting dressed, finding a restaurant, waiting for food, etc. 

Use short bursts of exercise to save on heating

In cold weather, many people feel guilty for running the heater constantly. This could be for environmental or financial reasons, given the recent increase in fuel costs in plenty of places. One way of saving money and energy is to try short bursts of exercise. YouTube and http://www.exercisetv.tv/ are full of options. And you can also just do your own thing: jump, skip, dance, run or lift heavy items in the comfort of your home for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Not only will you get fitter, but you'll be able to forestall the march to the thermostat. Of course, this isn't practical for a lot (or most) of the time, but there are loads of benefits to replacing fuel heating with internal body heating at least some of the time.

Effort involved: well, effort is kind of the point with this one, since you want to warm yourself up through physical activity. But it's possible to get very warm and well-exercised in a short amount of time.

Image from: http://www.squidoo.com/shake-weight-is-funny

Pressure govt. on the migrant worker convention

The United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families is a mouthful. It's also an important document aimed at enshrining migrant workers' rights. Among other things, the convention bans the confiscation of migrant workers' identity documents and guarantees access to public education and health services. The entire text is available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cmw.htm but it's not exactly light reading, unless you're the kind of person who enjoys a nice frothy legal text before bedtime.


As only 39 countries have ratified the convention, it's likely that you live in a country where it hasn't been approved. In general it's been ratified only by largely migrant-sending countries rather than by largely migrant-receiving countries, given the political difficulties of endorsing migrants' rights in much of the world. These difficulties have only intensified in the wake of the global economic crisis, as xenophobia always becomes more popular at such times. While the convention appears to have been mostly forgotten or neglected by the most powerful countries in the world, that doesn't mean it's not worthwhile to add your tiny voice to the others calling for it to be recognised. To do so, all you have to do is contact a politician in your country - preferably one working on migration or UN matters - and ask for the convention to be further considered.


Effort involved: a bit of research to find out the relevant politician you should be addressing. This may allow you to enjoy those migrant-picked strawberries a little more.


Image from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/dec/22/migrant-workers-remittances

Perform a sex act without expecting reciprocation

Well, this one speaks for itself, doesn't it?


Effort involved: hopefully this will be effort you enjoy.

Buy a mustachey gift for Movember

Movember is a delightfully oddball fundraising idea. Basically, males grow out their facial hair to raise funds and awareness of men's health issues such as prostate and testicular cancer. But you don't have to be follicularly blessed to participate. One way to spread the word and/or contribute money is to buy mustache-themed gifts being plugged by the Movember website. Some of the goods on offer:


- mustache cookie cutter set
- mustache cycling clothes
- Nietzche mustache necklace
- Mr Mo T-shirts


And if your wallet is feeling a bit airy at the moment, you can just order some free promo materials. These will allow you to help increase knowledge of Movember and men's health in general. 


Effort involved: buying something? Seriously, you're asking?

Condemn the US funding cut to UNESCO

If you've seen any news site in the past 24 hours, you'll know that the members of UNESCO - a major UN organization with responsibility for educational, social and a host of other matters - just voted to admit Palestine as a member. This was a brave move given the US Department of State's petulant threats to eliminate its funds. It's preposterous for the US to be pushing democracy-building in various parts of the world, at least in rhetoric, while it refuses to abide by the democratic process of an institution as important to global culture as UNESCO. The US's economic embargoes have proven to be arbitrary, unhelpful and ultimately harmful to ordinary people, and this type of politically motivated, supposedly ethical embargo looks set to be the same. Yes, the decision to end funding is based on a decades-old law. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't bombard the State Department with angry phone calls about these hypocritical displays of moral isolationism in the hope, however slim, that the law will eventually be overturned. http://contact-us.state.gov/app/answers/list has a list of phone numbers, and there's also an email message form. Happy bombarding!

Effort involved: all you need is a phone or, if you're Skype-ishly inclined, a computer.


Image from: http://heartsandminds.org/quotes/anger.htm