There is an excellent article in this month’s Body and Soul magazine about Earth Day and how it has, in some ways, become commercialized and lost its true meaning since it was founded 40 years ago. The article details ways in which we can truly honor the earth, truly make a difference in our every day lives, and eliminate the fluff in between. Check that article out here.

In other news, I recently got an email from a doctor friend of mine who has spent the last month in Borneo donating her time and skills to establishing a much-needed healthcare clinic. I was shocked to read this email as it detailed the horrific conditions of the island and outlined the terrible ways in which animals and the environment are being treated. Here is her email, in response to my inquiry about how saving the world was going:

We’re not saving the world by any means–more like watching it get destroyed from a front-row seat, as we hear chainsaws and see piles of rainforest wood everywhere we turn, as we see rainforest birds and monkeys caged in people’s front yards and drive past devastated fields that used to be jungle. But we’re trying. This clinic offers villagers the chance to pay for medical care with labor rather than cash, so they in theory don’t have to turn to illegal logging to pay when a big health problem hits a family. A lot of this precious wood goes to places like Home Depot and Lowe’s where clueless Americans, myself included, buy cheap plywood without asking questions. Except now I won’t go back to those places.

There are green alternatives to these products and materials that are destroying the environment, ones that are responsibly harvested. Avoid wood that is not certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which means it has not been harvested from clear cutting forests and illegal logging.

There is an excellent article on volunteering recently posted on Lessons I Learned.org, a blog by activist Daniela Papi on the lessons she has learned from her years of experience with NGOs and doing philanthropic work with various volunteer tourism companies around the world. The post offers a very specific discussion of mistakes that can be made when intentions are good, such as participating in a project that has little long-term impact on the immediate community. Check out the post here.