Big Picture Content: Run away!

Ok, this is an itsy bitsy rant. But I'll put in a picture of the baby, so we cool ;)

I know this blog is really only read by like three people, and at least two of you already know about this so.... Skip now *grin*.

I was just reading an article on the new york times, and saw a link here. It's to "Ethos Water" for those of you not newtab clicking as we speak. Buy a bottle of water, help bring clean water to africa. Doesn't that sound faaaantastic? Well no, I think it's a bit crap actually. Because bottling water is bad for everyone, because plastic water bottles are a huge waste disposal issue, and because you can just DONATE MONEY as opposed to buying a product you don't need to donate less money than you would have in the first place. I'm thrilled that philanthropy & environmental awareness are moving up in the public eye. I'm sad that we feel like we have to trick people.

Part of this whole "raise a baby into a person" thing has involved us thinking about who we are and what we want him to learn about the world, on a day to day basis. Like how important it is to giggle ALL THE TIME. Some lessons are a little less obvious than this and we just hope he absorbs them on the more decadal time scale (seriously. Decadel is a word, Mom. I promise.). One of those lessons is tzedakah. And one of the ways we do it is through the One Percent Foundation. Wha? Well, a while back people started tossing this idea around... one percent. I mean, one percent of your income isn't so much, right? But it turns out its a nontrivial amount. I think it started with companies trying to demonstrate they understood the idea of embedding themselves in their communities. And now it has grown to encompass a larger movement - people who are giving at least one percent of their income to move the world forward. Onwards & upwards. Raising all boats. That sort of thing. We belong to OPF and it is a fantastic foundation started by some folks we've known for a long time (Hola, Mike & Daniel!). It is a group of "young people" (thank goodness someone still thinks we're young) investing our money and pooling it to increase the impact of our giving. It is just getting off the ground and growing so... click over. Check it out. And even if you don't jump on board with the awesomeness, it is the sort of awesomeness you can do ALL BY YOURSELF. And it will still be awesome. Find a group who you want to get behind. Help that old lady across the street. Don't push someone onto the subway tracks.

Do more than buy a bottle of water :)