Easy Ways To Donate

The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back

by: Bill Shore

The Cathedral Within uses the metaphor of architecture to look at the way individuals allocate their resources to improve public life. Just as the enduring magnificence of a cathedral is not erected overnight, so, too, the transformation of a society takes many, many years to complete. And just as the construction of a cathedral is less a reflection of its builders' interest in masonry than a testament to the soaring reach of the human spirit, philanthropy is not so much a response to need as to a basic human requirement to give something meaningful back to society.

Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/09/2009)

Giving Back to the Earth: A Teacher's Guide to Project Puffin and Other Seabird Studies Around the World

by: Pete Salmansohn, Stephen W. Kress

Here are more than 40 creative, hands-on activities: art projects, role-playing, wildlife observations, science demonstrations, running games, and more. The guide is organized into seven major themes, including seabird adaptations, the marine ecosystem, human impact on the environment, people making a difference for wildlife, and more. Includes annotated bibliographies and Internet resources.

Amazon Price: $8.69 (as of 07/09/2009)

Giving Back : Using Your Influence to Create Social Change

Business entrepreneurs have always played a key role in America's financial growth. Now social entrepreneurs are also being recognized for their significant contributions. Management expert Peter Drucker insists that "social entrepreneurship%u2026is as important as economic entrepreneurship. More important, perhaps. In the United States, we have a very healthy economy but a very sick society%u2026.Fortunately there are enough successes around so that we know it can be done-and also how to do it."

Amazon Price: (as of 07/09/2009)

Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity

The Earth's biodiversity-the rich variety of life on our planet-is disappearing at an alarming rate. And while many books have focused on the expected ecological consequences, or on the aesthetic, ethical, sociological, or economic dimensions of this loss, Sustaining Life is the first book to examine the full range of potential threats that diminishing biodiversity poses to human health.

Amazon Price: $27.16 (as of 07/09/2009)

Fixing Climate: What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat--and How to Counter It

by: Wallace S. Broecker, Robert Kunzig

Fixing Climate gives a colorful history of a few of the theories and some of the people that have identified the course of catastrophic climate change The book deftly explores how we arrived at the point where climate change is no longer preventable and will continue even if we all adopt sustainable alternatives the day after tomorrow. ... Broecker and Kunzig make the case that this scheme is not just attainable but essential to our survival

Amazon Price: $18.25 (as of 07/09/2009)

The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability

by: Professor James Gustave Speth

In Speth's view, the accelerating degradation of the Earth is not simply the result of flawed or inattentive national policies. It is "a result of systemic failures of the capitalism that we have today," which aims for perpetual economic growth and has brought us, simultaneously, to the threshold of abundance and the brink of ruination. He identifies the major driver of environmental destruction as the 60,000 multinational corporations that have emerged in the last few decades and that continually strive to increase their size and profitability while, at the same time, deflecting efforts to rein in their most destructive impacts.

Amazon Price: $18.48 (as of 07/09/2009)

It's Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living

by: Crissy Trask

Surveys find that over 80 percent of Americans agree with the goals of the environmental movement. Sadly, most Americans admit to doing little more than basic recycling when it comes to acting on that disposition. What is the reason for this great divide between environmental sentiment in this country and individual actions? Author and environmental consultant Crissy Trask seeks to answer this question-and solve the disparity-with a new book that makes it easy to be an environmentalist, no matter how busy or hectic your lifestyle. This is a day to day guide with simple, practical suggestions that anyone can put into action.

Amazon Price: $10.39 (as of 07/09/2009)

Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World

From the creators of the highly acclaimed New York Times best-selling Day in the Life and America 24/7 series, Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt, Blue Planet Run provides readers with a fascinating and thought-provoking look at the water problems facing humanity on every continent, as well as some of the hopeful solutions and courageous "water heroes" focused on alleviating this crisis.

Amazon Price: $29.70 (as of 07/09/2009)

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity

by: Ronald J. Sider

Do you want to make a true difference in the world? Dr. Ron Sider does. He has, since before he first published Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger in 1978. Despite a dramatic reduction in world hunger since then, 34,000 children still die daily of starvation and preventable disease, and 1.3 billion people, worldwide, remain in abject poverty. So, the professor of theology went back to re-examine the issues by twenty-first century standards. Finding that Conservatives blame morally reprehensible individual choices, and Liberals blame constrictive social and economic policy, Dr. Sider finds himself agreeing with both sides. In this new look at an age-old problem, he offers not only a detailed explanation of the causes, but also a comprehensive series of practical solutions, in the hopes that Christians like him will choose to make a difference.

Amazon Price: $10.87 (as of 07/09/2009)

A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and The Business Solution for Ending Poverty

by: Philip Smith, Eric Thurman

"Phil and Eric have done us a favor by breaking down the challenges of growth for microfinance into bite-sized elements any reader can benefit from, and have challenged and inspired us all to get more involved ... they have done an admirable job showing us what is happening, what is possible, and what we can do from their perspective as successful business people."-Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, from the Foreword

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 07/09/2009)

Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty

by: Mark Winne

Having been a part of the movement since the 1970s, serving as (among other positions) the executive director of the Hartford Food System, Winne has an insider's view on what it's like to feed our country's hungry citizens. Through the lens of Hartford, Conn.-a quintessential inner city bereft of decent food options apart from bodegas and fast food chains-he explains the successes he witnessed and helped to create: community gardens, inner city farmers' markets and youth-run urban farms. Winne concludes his tale in our present food-crazed era, giving voice to low-income shoppers and exploring where they fit in with such foodie discussions as local vs. organic. In this articulate and comprehensive book, Winne points out that the greatest successes have been an informal alliance between sustainable agriculture and food security advocates... that shows promise for helping both the poor and small and medium-size farmers. For the most part it is a calm, well-reasoned and soft-spoken call to arms to fight for policy reform, rather than fill in, with community-based projects and privately funded programs, the gaps left by our city and state legislators.

Amazon Price: $17.96 (as of 07/09/2009)

World Hunger: Twelve Myths

by: Frances Moore Lappe, Joseph Collins, Peter Rosset, Luis Esparza

In this completely revised and updated edition of the most authoritative book on world hunger, three of our foremost experts on food and agriculture expose and explode the myths that prevent us from effectively addressing the problem. Drawing on and distilling the extensive research of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First), Lappé, Collins, and Rosset examine head-on the policies and politics that have kept hungry people from feeding themselves around the world, in both Third and First World countries, as well as the misconceptions that have obscured our own national, social, and humanitarian interests. Written in a straightforward, easy-to-read style, World Hunger: Twelve Myths shakes many tenaciously held beliefs; but most important, it convinces readers that by standing together with the hungry we can advance not only humanitarian interests, but our own well-being.

Amazon Price: $10.92 (as of 07/09/2009)

A Kids' Guide to Hunger & Homelessness: How to Take Action! (Service Learning for Kids)

by: Cathryn Berger Kaye

Kids learn about the causes and effects of hunger and homelessness, read about what other people (including young people) have done and are doing to help, explore what their community needs, and develop a service project. Includes facts, quotations, real-life examples, write-on pages, resources, a note to teachers and other adults-and a lot of inspiration to get out there and make a difference in the world. A hands-on, get-involved student workbook

Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 07/09/2009)

The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight Against AIDS in Africa

by: Helen Epstein

Epstein, a public health specialist and molecular biologist who has worked on AIDS vaccine research, overturns many of our received notions about why AIDS is rampant in Africa and what to do about it. She charges that Western governments and philanthropists, though well-meaning, have been wholly misguided, and that Africans themselves, who understand their own cultures, often know best how to address HIV in their communities. Most significant is Epstein's discussion of concurrent sexual relations in Africa. Africans often engage in two or three long-term concurrent relationships-which proves more conducive to the spread of AIDS than Western-style promiscuity. Persuade Africans to forgo concurrency for monogamy, and the infection rate plummets, as it did in Uganda in the mid-1990s. On the other hand, ad campaigns focused on condom use helped imply falsely that only prostitutes and truck drivers get AIDS. In addition, Epstein examines what she calls the "African earthquake": social and economic upheaval that have also eased the spread of HIV. Epstein is a lucid writer, translating abstruse scientific concepts into language nonspecialists can easily grasp. Provocative, passionate and incisive, this may be the most important book on AIDS published this year-indeed, it may even save lives.

Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 07/09/2009)

The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working

by: Robert Calderisi

It isn't the legacy of the slave trade or colonialism, or the supposed inequities of globalization and world trade, that are to blame for Africa's travails, argues this stimulating contrarian essay. The author insists that Africa's problems are largely of its own making, the product of dictatorial, kleptocratic governments; rampant corruption; economic policies that hobble agriculture, discourage private investment and strangle new businesses with red tape; and a cultural fatalism that inures Africans to misery. Calderisi draws on his experience as a World Bank official in Africa, peppering his analysis with personal anecdotes about Africa's callous, venal officialdom and misguided economic policies. He offers a muted defense of World Bank policies, but also decries Western "political correctness" in indulging Africa's dysfunctions and calls for a new tough-love approach to foreign aid. Assistance to most countries, he contends, should be cut in half and conditioned on thorough democratic reforms and strict oversight by Western donors; responsible governments-he lists Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, Mozambique and Mali-should get a large increase in aid with few strings attached. Calderisi's focus on Africa's internal faults and his somewhat essentialist musings on the "African character" will stir controversy, but his cogent argument is an important addition to the conversation over Africa's future.

Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 07/09/2009)

Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa (CBC Massey Lecture)

by: Stephen Lewis

In 2000, the United Nations laid out a series of eight goals meant to guide humankind in the new century. Called the Millennium Development Goals, these targets are to be met by 2015 and are to lay the foundation for a prosperous future. In Race Against Time, Stephen Lewis advances real solutions to help societies across the globe achieve the Millennium Goals. Through lucid, pragmatic explanations, he shows how dreams such as universal primary education, a successful war against the AIDS pandemic, and environmental sustainability, are within the grasp of humanity. For anyone interested in forging a better world in the third millennium, Race Against Time is powerful testimony.

Amazon Price: $11.96 (as of 07/09/2009)

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good

by: William Easterly

No one who attacks the humanitarian aid establishment is going to win any popularity contests, but, neither, it seems, is that establishment winning any contests with the people it is supposed to be helping. Easterly, an NYU economics professor and a former research economist at the World Bank, brazenly contends that the West has failed, and continues to fail, to enact its ill-formed, utopian aid plans because, like the colonialists of old, it assumes it knows what is best for everyone. Existing aid strategies, Easterly argues, provide neither accountability nor feedback. Without accountability for failures, he says, broken economic systems are never fixed. And without feedback from the poor who need the aid, no one in charge really understands exactly what trouble spots need fixing. True victories against poverty, he demonstrates, are most often achieved through indigenous, ground-level planning. Except in its early chapters, where Easterly builds his strategic platform atop a tower of statistical analyses, the book's wry, cynical prose is highly accessible. Readers will come away with a clear sense of how orthodox methods of poverty reduction do not help, and can sometimes worsen, poor economies.

Amazon Price: $11.05 (as of 07/09/2009)

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

by: Jeffrey D. Sachs

Sachs came to fame advising "shock therapy" for moribund economies in the 1980s (with arguably positive results); more recently, as director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, he has made news with a plan to end global "extreme poverty"--which, he says, kills 20,000 people a day--within 20 years. While much of the plan has been known to economists and government leaders for a number of years (including Kofi Annan, to whom Sachs is special advisor), this is Sachs's first systematic exposition of it for a general audience, and it is a landmark book.For on-the-ground research in reducing disease, poverty, armed conflict and environmental damage, Sachs has been to more than 100 countries, representing 90% of the world's population. The book combines his practical experience with sharp professional analysis and clear exposition. Over 18 chapters, Sachs builds his case carefully, offering a variety of case studies, detailing small-scale projects that have worked and crunching large amounts of data. His basic argument is that "[W]hen the preconditions of basic infrastructure (roads, power, and ports) and human capital (health and education) are in place, markets are powerful engines of development." In order to tread "the path to peace and prosperity," Sachs believes it is encumbant upon successful market economies to bring the few areas of the world that still need help onto "the ladder of development." Writing in a straightfoward but engaging first person, Sachs keeps his tone even whether discussing failed states or thriving ones. For the many who will buy this book but, perhaps, not make it all the way through, chapters 12 through 14 contain the blueprint for Sachs's solution to poverty, with the final four making a rigorous case for why rich countries (and individuals) should collectively undertake it--and why it is affordable for them to do so. If there is any one work to put extreme poverty back onto the global agenda, this is it.

Amazon Price: (as of 07/09/2009)