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Many organizations with good intent and survive on donations end up astray - see Red Cross and Haiti. Donating money to some organization that claims they will
by Alupis 6y ago
Many organizations with good intent and survive on donations end up astray - see Red Cross and Haiti.
Donating money to some organization that claims they will plant trees to offset some amount of greenhouse gas emissions is a lot like trusting the American Red Cross to build houses and schools after a disaster. You're hoping they do what they promise (and instead of doing that, the American Red Cross billed majority of the donations as "Administrative Fees"[1]).
So, in reality you may or may not be "cleaning up after yourself". Actually, you're not cleaning up after yourself... you're outsourcing that job (and don't actually care if it gets done) so you can feel free to release more greenhouse gases.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2015/06/03/411524156/in-search-of-the-red-cross-500-million-in-haiti-relief https://www.npr.org/2015/06/03/411524156/in-search-of-the-re...
- markdown 6y ago> see American Red Cross and Haiti. FTFY. The Red Cross is a reputable organisation that does wonderful work across the developing world. The American Red Cross is the corrupt one.
- Alupis 6y agoMy mistake in conflating the two. Updated - Thanks for pointing out the distinction.
- azernik 6y agoThough donating to it isn't a substitute for donations to the American Red Cross for disaster relief purposes. The ICRC specifically deals with armed conflict. For disaster relief you'll have to find another reputable charity.
- markdown 6y agoThis is not true. The Red Cross in my country, which is an ICRC affiliate, does provide disaster relief. As far as I can tell, this is true across the board. Eg: https://www.redcross.org.au/news-and-media/news/australian-bushfires-how-we-are-using-funds https://www.redcross.org.au/news-and-media/news/australian-b... https://reliefweb.int/report/viet-nam/thai-red-cross-society-s-money-donation-devastating-flooding-and-landslides-central https://reliefweb.int/report/viet-nam/thai-red-cross-society...
- azernik 6y agoMy assumption was that the comment I replied to was directed to Americans, and recommending the ICRC itself as opposed to the ARC.
- cle 6y agoIf your claim is that Cool Effect is BS, then do you have some evidence other than some whatabouts? If you could show that Cool Effect is BS and there was an alternative that really does offset the emissions, I'd bet these folks would be all for switching.
- TedDoesntTalk 6y agoThe alternative is to not create them in the first place for some stupid PR stunt. How is that not obvious?
- burkaman 6y agoAre you arguing that all donations are pointless because you can't know for a fact exactly what your particular dollars are spent on? If you just meant "not all nonprofits are perfect, make sure you do your research", I think that's common sense that doesn't really need to be said here.