How you can help people "get wild" for wildlife

We all know that human overpopulation has a lot of consequences: food shortages, deforestation, pollution, social unrest, and poverty, just to name a few. While we're thinking about these human issues, though, it's easy to overlook the effects on the non-human world, first and foremost the endangerment of animal species.

Whether it's from a loss of habitat, being hunted and fished to the brink of extinction, or from environmental factors like poisoning from chemical seepage, our own imperative to propagate our lineage can imperil some of our more defenseless neighbors on planet earth.

To raise awareness about the dangers behind tipping this delicate balance, the good folks at the Center for Biological Diversity have created a clever outreach program that marries education with an actual tool to help prevent overpopulation: endangered species condoms!

Of course, proper outreach requires a lot of people to reach out and distribute these prophylactics all across the nation, and they want your help! Click here to sign up as one of their distribution volunteers, and if they still have a need in your geographic area, you'll receive a delivery of all six wildlife-themed jimmy hats (from birds to mammals to amphibians) to spread liberally around your community!

How often do you encounter a volunteer opportunity that lets you help threatened critters AND gives you an entree to flirt with complete strangers? Take advantage while you can!

Please consider texting a small donation to Haitian earthquake relief efforts!

The devastation in Haiti from yesterday's earthquake (and the continuing detriment from aftershocks over the coming days and weeks) is likely to be the worst global disaster in years...maybe in decades.

In the face of massive destruction like this, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless to help, but in the early stages of a natural disaster, there is one--and only one--thing we can do as outsiders: donate some cold, hard cash to the relief efforts.

There is a list at this link of many non-profit organizations with infrastructure in Haiti, any of whom will be able to put your money to use where it's most needed, but there are also two more immediate (and more modern ways) to make a small donation:

1. Text "Yele" to 501501 and a $5 donation to Wyclef Jean's Haitian relief organization will be automatically added to your next cellular bill, or

2. Text "Haiti" to 90999 and your mobile provider will zap a $10 donation to the American Red Cross for its post-quake disaster efforts (added to your next monthly statement).

Even in these tight financial times, most of us can scrape together five, ten, or fifteen dollars to send to the disaster zone. Even if you personally can't, though, you can still take initiative and get creative: organize a bake sale, car wash, sporting event, rummage sale, concert, walk-a-thon, raffle or other fundraiser in your community to pull together a few bucks. If you get a solid group of people donating items and promoting your event, you can collectively make a big difference!

If you're one of the millions of Americans with family in Haiti, and you can't reach your loved ones, the U.S. State Department has set up a hotline to assist your search at 1-888-407-4747. They are scrambling to gather information on the ground (where communications systems are practically nil), and to accommodate callers, but they warn that because of high volume, many callers may receive a recording on their first attempts.

Share some edible love during National Soup Month!

January is National Soup Month, and I suggest that we all celebrate it by extending the season of giving into 2010!

Food pantries around the country are in desperate need of donations right now, with a record 49 million Americans going hungry right now because of the economic slump.

Soup (being both a healthful and reasonably affordable staple) is always high on the list of suggested donations to food pantries. It's also--to borrow a term from a chain of souperies in the New York City area--a hale and hearty meal that's especially satisfying this time of year!

I hope you'll join me by picking up a few extra cans at your local grocer and dropping them off at a food bank in your community this month. If you clip coupons and look for a good sale, you can feed a family of four for just a few bucks!

You can find a food shelf near you by searching your ZIP code on Feeding America's website.

If you don't have the time, or if you're one of those who order in instead of visiting the supermarket, I hope you'll take a moment to make a donation of any size (literally every dollar helps) here.

I hope you'll join me in getting 2010 off to a soup-er start!