Activism

Activism is a very important part of my life. I know a lot of people who are really into political activism - talking to our representatives in government, canvassing (going out into the street putting up posters and handing out flyers and so on), organising protests, etc. That's not something that I have much energy for, so I leave it to more capable and willing people.

My brand of activism, which I feel strongly is just as important - no more, no less - as political activism, is social justice activism: activism done in a social context, during casual conversations, etc. I do speaking gigs in schools and wherever else I'm invited, doing Trans 101 for people and putting a human face and personal story on issues that many of them had no previous experience with or understanding of. I put myself out there all over the internet, all in the name of education.

I think it's really important, and seldom discussed, that activism doesn't have to mean marching with a sign or going to meet with government officials. Sometimes activism is speaking up when someone says something offensive - or if it comes up generally - and helping them understand why it's offensive. Sometimes it's explaining a new term or concept to a friend. Sometimes it's signing a petition or clicking a link (see below for some links you can click to make a difference!) or calling a phone number and pressing a key when the automated answering system asks you to vote for something.

So - be an activist! Find a cause - or several - that you feel strongly about, and do what you can for it. It doesn't have to take up all your time, but a little effort here or there really can make a huge impact in the long run.

Hate On Display: A Visual Database. The ADL's (Anti-Defamation League) excellent guide to hate symbols.

(On each of these websites, you can click a button to support the cause - each click creates funding, and costs you nothing! Bookmark these sites, and click once a day!)

A donation of staple food to the hungry is made with every click. 24,000 people around the world die of hunger every day. 18,000 of them are children under the age of 5.

With every click, a contribution is made to help underpriveleged women get mammograms. 43,000 women and 450 men will die this year from breast cancer.

With every click, a contribution is made to help to prevent life-threatening diseases, restore vision to blind children, and enable child amputees to walk. 200,000 children die every week from preventable causes.

With every click, a contribution is made to provide books to children around the world. Over 1.6 million books have been distributed since 2004.

A land donation is made with every click. Every second, more than an acre of rainforest disappears.

With every click, food is provided to an animal in a shelter or sanctuary. 27 million unwanted animals are given to shelters in the US alone every year. Over 10 million animals are put to death every year in the US alone because they are abandoned and unwanted.

With every click, food is provided to US veterans in need and their families. While veterans represent 8% of the total population in the United States, they represent 16% of homeless adults. On any given night there may be over 75,600 homeless veterans in shelters and on the streets across the US.

How good is your English vocabulary? English grammar? Arithmetic? World geography? Take this neverending multiple-choice quiz, with a bunch of different subjects available; for every right answer, 20 grains of rice are donated to the hungry through the United Nations World Food Program.

Do you use Firefox as your web browser? (If you don't, you should!) If so, do you have the Greasemonkey add-on? (If you don't, you should!) If so, get this script. Then you can load up http://freerice.com/, change the subject to 'Multiplication Table', answer the first question, and leave it alone. It will continue answering questions for you, very quickly, so that you donate thousands of grains of rice for every minute you let it run.

(If you use Safari as your browser, you can run the script through GreaseKit. If you use Google Chrome as your browser, you can run the script through Greasemetal.)

 

How good is your world geography? Take this quiz, which gives you city and country names and asks you to click on a map to show where they are; for every right answer, up to 10 cups of clean drinking water (depending on how close you are) are donated to those who need it around the world.

 

How good is your world geography? Take this neverending multiple-choice quiz; for every right answer, 1 spoonful of flour is donated to hungry people around the world.

EcologyFund.com - you can click several links to save land across four continents - FREE.

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation - make a donation and/or spread the word

GreaterGood.com - donate to any of a number of great causes