Monday's Good Deed: Greenpeace

There was a blog-worthy encounter of me with one of volunteers from Greenpeace last fall. I was walking to the bank and a Greenpeace volunteer was standing just a few feet away from the bank entrance asking me if I was interested in donating to Greenpeace. Immediately I made a gesture to him that I was not interested and continued my way to enter the bank. It was always my gut reaction to reject such kind of solicitation along the bypass. However, it recurred in my mind that I was rude in rejecting him and perhaps I should approach him and offer some encouraging words (I still didn't intend to donate any money). Finally, after my business, I walked out of the bank and saw the volunteer. The pedestrian light turned red so I had to wait for a while to go across the street. Meanwhile, I approached the volunteer to offer my kudos for the organization for what they have done (the biggest thing I knew so far was that they stopped or at least delayed the whale hunting for 'research purposes' by the Japanese government). Not surprisingly, he thanked me and continued to persuade me about donating to Greenpeace by promoting what they have been doing to protect the nature. Finally, I caved into his persuasion and made a donation of $20 (yeah, I am that soft-hearted). Later, to my surprise, I found out that I have signed myself off to a commitment of monthly donation of the same amount. It was my bad for not reading the fine print clearly, but I didn't complain much and didn't plan to suspend my monthly donation. If it is for a good cause and I can afford it, why not?

Greenpeace has been one of the environmental non-profit organizations that actively and creatively uses Web 2.0 technology, such as Youtube, Facebook, MySpace, Blog, and etc. to harness the grassroots power. On Youtube, it was the eighth most viewed non-profit and activism channels of all time. You can subscribe to the Greenpeace channel and get updates from the organization periodically. Nothing is easier than watching a youtube clip, right?