Thursday, January 14, 2010

Helping Haiti

[ Update Jan 15: Fixed links to support planting a tree for Haiti ]

In the wake of the devastation left behind after the earthquake hit Haiti on Monday, there have been the usual calls for donations that follow any catastrophe. Seemingly dozens of disaster relief groups are pleading for contributions to help the survivors and the country get better.

Of course, do your study on whichever aid organization you might be inclined to chip in to support; sadly these worst of times inevitably bring out the scammers in hordes. The New York Times has an extensive list here of agencies you might consider.

This is clearly no time to be cheap, I know that. Unfortunately many of us are dealing with personal situations right now that preclude being able to give like we once could have, and it is frustrating. However, excepting the most dire of cases, there is something that most of us poor can still do to help Haiti.

Maybe not for the short term. But what the blow of this earthquake has managed to do, is to put international focus on what is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. These are more desperate times than ever, to be sure, but the quake acts to only worsen what was before, and what will no doubt be after, the most dismal economy on the planet; a fact which will most likely be disremembered once the current crisis is behind.

For one dollar you can plant a tree there, to make a real longer-term positive impact. Admitted it will not provide the immediate shelter, food, water, medical attention that is sorely needed right now to help the people and the country get well from the earthquake. For me and others in similar straits, that will have to be left this time for others to come through.

We can though use this opportunity, before our short attention spans get distracted elsewhere, to consider something seemingly so small as planting a tree to help out a country where 80% of the population in normal times lives under the poverty line. A country that's poorest status has been directly attributed to the degradation of its natural environment, with 98% of the country now deforested.

A country that's loss of tree cover has resulted in deaths and devastation much like the meantime earthquake, 2004's Hurrican Jeanne leaving over 3,000 dead mostly due to the massive landslides wiping out communities without the trees as safeguard. The deforestation's ongoing direct effect on soil erosion in turn has led to widespread desertification, lowering the productivity of the rest of the country. And on it goes.

So, yeah, it's just a buck and nope, it won't do squat for the situation going on there right now. But for those of us who have very little and for now can't do terribly much, while our attention is still concentrated on Haiti, maybe thinking about helping out our western neighbor for the long haul is also worth considering. And just as important even if it is for only one dollar.

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