A better place

This world is a beautiful place and needs to be protected

Actions to protect or lessen threats to our shared planet will tend to make the world a better place.

A question that will occur is: a better place in whose opinion? And the answer will not necessarily be simple or agreed by everyone.

An acquaintance of mine once decided that she could make the world a better place by trying to convince everyone that wind turbines were harmful to people's health and that she would do her best to stop them being built. For a time her campaign was effective; she slowed down the development of the renewable energy that the world must develop to displace fossil fuels. Of course after a time everyone realised that her belief was unfounded, a delusion. She did a lot of harm while intending to do good.

I've written elsewhere that probably the best thing I've ever done is to counter this delusion and the lies told by those who have opposed the development of wind power. I believe that I have made the world a little better place in at least this aspect.

One of the great threats facing our shared planet is climate change. Any effort to get action on slowing climate change will tend to make the world a better place. It's something I've tried to do in a very small and probably largely ineffectual way.

Of course I'm not saying that one should never do anything other than those things that one believes will make the world a better place, but one could at least try to avoid doing things that will harm the world.

Perhaps this page, if anyone reads it and thinks about it, will make the world a better place in a very small way?

What can you do to make the world a better place?

Just a few suggestions of what you might do to make he world a better place (several of the suggestions below were taken from 10 Simple Ways to Make the World a Better Place by Samantha Hodder:

You could donate blood;
Donate to worthwhile charities;
When you see rubbish that has been dropped irresponsibly, pick it up and dispose of it properly;
Volunteer to help out in a charitable organisation in your community;
Donate to the Fred Hollows Foundation. It spends the donations it receives on restoring sight to third-world people.
If you see weeds in a public park or garden, pull them out (be sure that they are weeds though);
Donate used, but not worn out, clothing so that others can use them;
Foster an animal;
Change your buying habits to be kinder to the Earth - don't buy stuff that you don't need and will be likely to throw away soon, avoid products that are over-packaged;
Consider reducing the amount of meat in your diet;
Register as an organ donor;

Related pages on external sites...

10 Simple Ways to Make the World a Better Place by Samantha Hodder (This was published in Tiny Buddha which "is about reflecting on simple wisdom and learning new ways to apply it to our complex lives—complete with responsibilities, struggles, dreams, and relationships.")

How to Make the World a Better Place, written for The New York Times by Nicholas Kristof; some good advice if you scroll past the many advertisements.

Effective Altruism: Giving What We Can