This December 3 is Giving Tuesday, an international day dedicated to charitable giving to kickoff the holiday season. What better way to celebrate than by giving back to Mother Earth to ensure our children can keep exploring and enjoying the planet’s beauty for years to come. Here are seven eco-friendly Giving Tuesday options to consider this year.
Protect Our National Parks
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Help out our National Parks by supporting the National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service. The foundation helps protect the 400+ national park sites across the county and they can use every bit of help keeping these places beautiful, clean and open for visitors. Consider donating, buying holiday gifts that give back, or simply heading out to the parks you love in order to help ensure that these remarkable places that we all know and love stand protected for generations to come.
Replant the Coral Reefs
The coral reefs are vital to our ecosystem and sadly they’re dying off. Without the reefs, our oceans and even our air are at risk. Help Coral Gardeners in Tahiti save the planet by donating and adopting a coral. The team will plant a coral in your name (or someone else’s if it’s a gift) and then they’ll send a you certificate with a photo of the coral they plant on your behalf, plus its exact coordinates so you can always visit it on your next vacation.
Cleanup Florida’s Marine Life Ecosystem
Courtesy of Westin Cape Coral Resort
Help clean up the planet and take a vacation to sunny Florida all in one go. Now you can spend a day preserving Southwest Florida’s marine life ecosystem by participating in canal cleanups with the Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village. After giving back, you can enjoy your handy work kicking back in your room with water views, dining at the waterfront restaurants by the dock or by taking water taxi to the nearby beaches.
Save Baby Sea Turtles
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Did you know that six out of seven species of sea turtles around the world are endangered or threatened due to reasons ranging from poaching to getting caught in fishing gear and plastic pollution? Thankfully, See Turtles is helping to save hatchlings and every dollar raised can save at least 10 endangered baby sea turtles. You can donate money to help them, or make a vacation out of it and join one of their turtle conservation tours.
Preserve Scotland’s Wilderness and Become a Lord or Lady
Courtesy of Highland Titles
Highland Titles is one of the world’s leading innovators in land preservation with a creative approach to land conservation. By selling small plots of land to help fund the rescuing of woodlands, tree planting, maintenance and acquisition of land at risk of development, Highland Titles ensures this land cannot be purchased or developed. Beyond simply giving back to Mother Earth, this unique and eco-friendly opportunity to purchase a souvenir plots on the estate in Glencoe Wood, Scotland, this purchase also grants its recipient with the legal use of the Scottish title of Laird, Lord or Lady!
Remove Plastic from the Oceans
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Interested in getting the family PADI certified so you can go diving on your next water getaway? This Giving Tuesday, PADI will be giving 20% of all proceeds from PADI Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver or Rescue Diver eLearning course purchased at padi.com to Project AWARE. Project AWARE is a global nonprofit that works with scuba divers across the globe to protect underwater environments. Through its 50,000 dedicated community members, Project AWARE has removed over one million debris items from our oceans.
Conserve Africa’s Wilderness and Wildlife
Take a life-changing journey that also gives back with Wilderness Safaris. Operating in seven countries with over 40 camps, the safari operator exists to protect wilderness areas and the fauna and flora they support. They work to protect these areas, including local communities through its non-profits, supported by Wilderness Safaris, which aim to facilitate sustainable conservation through leadership development and education of children in Africa. The non-profit has a camp aimed at uplifting young women through female speakers and facilitating immersive environmental activities, as well as the Children in the Wilderness (CITW) YES program designed to cater to learners who display exceptional potential and commitment to environmental conservation.