Philosophical Vegan Forum

I'm the Co-President of Life Science at the Science Research club at my school, and we're trying to determine a cause to donate to.
We're staying away from anything political, like the League of Conservation Voters (which I don't particularly like anyway). We're not sure what to donate to, though. Greenpeace? WWF?

What do you guys think?

Greenpeace? Are you serious? I thought you were pro GMO? From what I've been told, I think it's best if you convince your group there that Greenpeace is not a good option.

Anyways, try doing extensive research about charities that you're interested in. Make sure they're secular, and donate to charities about particular environmental issues you care about.

I'm not sure, but most likely not Greenpeace. brimstoneSalad will soon give you an explanation about what a terrible organization Greenpeace is (wasteful usage of donors' money, troublesome & useless protests, lack of support of veganism, etc.).

I'm not such an expert on Greenpeace, but brimstoneSalad is, so I'm sure she can answer your questions about them. I think the quickest description I can give, of what's wrong with them, is this:

They pander to their donors and do whatever appeals to the donors, thus earning them lots of money, but don't promote anything unappealing (yet effective, like veganism), in order to avoid turning off donors from giving them money. They then squander this money on ineffective and useless "activism".

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1085&p=10810&hilit ... ace#p10810
Maybe some other threads too.

^Hmmm... Yeah, I've heard there are some issues with Greenpeace, albeit I haven't looked into it that much.
Assuming that's not a good charity, do you guys have any suggestions on what IS a good environmental charity?

Btw, Greenpeace, for all of its controversy, isn't against veganism. According to their website, they promote it as a way to help.

I think Lightningman_42 covered it pretty well. Greenpeace is pretty terrible. WWF isn't terribly useful either, but probably better than Greenpeace.

The best environmental charity is going to be one that advocates consumers reduce meat consumption; it's the single easiest and more effective way for most people to go greener.
Do you think you wouldn't be allowed to give it to mercy for animals or something like that?

When do you have to decide by?

brimstoneSalad wrote:I think Lightningman_42 covered it pretty well. Greenpeace is pretty terrible. WWF isn't terribly useful either, but probably better than Greenpeace.

The best environmental charity is going to be one that advocates consumers reduce meat consumption; it's the single easiest and more effective way for most people to go greener.
Do you think you wouldn't be allowed to give it to mercy for animals or something like that?

When do you have to decide by?

I'm not sure. If I say Mercy for Animals, and say it's because meat is bad for the planet, then it would probably just start an argument and it would be too controversial to do. But I could just say it's because it helps animals.

That's why I was thinking of something more overtly environmentalist.

There's no real deadline. It's just that we might at some point do a bake sale or pizza sale or something, and we're wondering what to do with the money. We could spend it on the club or a cause.

EquALLity wrote: There's no real deadline. It's just that we might at some point do a bake sale or pizza sale or something, and we're wondering what to do with the money. We could spend it on the club or a cause.

Selling slabs of meat and cheese to help animals... maybe not super productive.

I know you wouldn't be able to control exactly what they sold if it was a bake sale or pizza sale... better to stick with selling something that's more likely to be vegan, and that has a better margin. Like popcorn. You can convince them based on the cost of the popcorn itself vs. what it's sold for. Cents net dollars. With pizza by the slice the margins are terrible.
Or sell pins/buttons/shirts.

As to what to benefit, mercy for animals is a good one. They're not so controversial like PETA.
For environment, look for a a research institution that does research on solar technology (I'd say nuclear, but that would be more controversial).

A tip: you don't have to give the money to a non-profit. You could do better by giving it straight to a researcher as a tiny grant. That way you can narrow in on more useful research, and skip the red tape. Nobody buying this stuff is going to be claiming it on their taxes anyway.

Don't donate to greenpeace.

How about the Good Food Institute? Since they focus on developing meat alternatives it may be more palatable to carnists.

miniboes wrote: How about the Good Food Institute? Since they focus on developing meat alternatives it may be more palatable to carnists.

That's a good option, also pretty non-controversial.

brimstoneSalad wrote:

EquALLity wrote: There's no real deadline. It's just that we might at some point do a bake sale or pizza sale or something, and we're wondering what to do with the money. We could spend it on the club or a cause.

Selling slabs of meat and cheese to help animals... maybe not super productive.

I know you wouldn't be able to control exactly what they sold if it was a bake sale or pizza sale... better to stick with selling something that's more likely to be vegan, and that has a better margin. Like popcorn. You can convince them based on the cost of the popcorn itself vs. what it's sold for. Cents net dollars. With pizza by the slice the margins are terrible.
Or sell pins/buttons/shirts.

As to what to benefit, mercy for animals is a good one. They're not so controversial like PETA.
For environment, look for a a research institution that does research on solar technology (I'd say nuclear, but that would be more controversial).

A tip: you don't have to give the money to a non-profit. You could do better by giving it straight to a researcher as a tiny grant. That way you can narrow in on more useful research, and skip the red tape. Nobody buying this stuff is going to be claiming it on their taxes anyway.

Not sure where you got meat from.
I could try to sway them away from a pizza sale/bake sale, but that's really not in my control.

Mercy for Animals is a good organization, but it's overtly against meat. I could suggest it, but it's not necessarily going to happen.

I think it'd be better to give to a non-profit. Something that spreads awareness or directly helps the planet seems more productive than research to me.