The holidays are not just about the getting and giving of stuff, they are also about loving one another and helping those in need.  And since we all need to green our living as we move into 2008 and beyond, we wanted to share a few ways to green your holiday giving.

Our friend Annie Leonard tells The Story of Stuff, one which is so close to the hearts of the EarthRights community, as it directly affects not only indigenous people in the areas where we work as well as all of us in our daily lives.

Since we all need to green our giving - and our living - as we move into 2008 and the years ahead, we'd like to share with you The Story of Stuff, a simple and excellent explanation of the journey materials take from natural resources around the world, to our stores and into our hands.  Our friend Annie Leonard tells this story, one that is so close to the hearts of our staff and supporters, as it directly affects not only indigenous people in the areas where we work but - whether we see it or not - it indeed effects us all.

A great option for green giving is to support a non-profit charity of your choice, and we just happen to know of a certain environmental and human rights non-profit that needs your help...US!  Please mail your donations to: ERI, 1612 K St. NW, Suite 401, Washington, DC 20006 or click here to donate online.

Your generous gifts will achieve the following in 2008:

• A $50 donation will fund our human rights investigators in Burma for one month as they risk their lives to document the abuses by the military junta and its corporate partners who continue to profit from destructive natural resource exploitation.
• A $100 donation will put a camera and tape recorder in the hands of these brave investigators from Burma, China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.
• A $500 donation will provide a full scholarship for one month to a student at the EarthRights Mekong or Burma School covering room, board, educational facilities and costs.
• A $1,000 donation will help us pay for depositions of ballistics experts, human rights specialists and eyewitnesses with testimony critical to our legal case against Chevron (which acquired Unocal in 2005 and continues to profit in Burma) for its complicity in the murder of environmental protesters in Nigeria.
• A $2,000 donation and above will ensure that we can sustain our commitment to the individuals and communities we serve in Burma, Peru, Colombia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Nigeria, and India—and to this planet on which we all depend.

Don’t forget, you can also “gift” a donation in honor of a loved one.  When you do this, your recipient will receive a thank you letter and gift from us letting them know that you donated in their name. 

Here are our Thank You gift options for you or your loved one.  Please indicate if you would like to receive one of these gifts on the memo section of your check, or on our online donations form:

• For donations of $250, you may receive an EarthRights International organic cotton, sweat-shop free t-shirt designed specifically for us by BISHOP of Seventh Denim .  This shirt is sustainable and one of a kind, available courtesy of BISHOP of Seventh to EarthRights International supporters.
• For donations of $100 , you can select a copy of the Echoing Green publication, Be Bold, which profiles environmental activists, including our own Katie Redford. We also have a handful of children's EarthRights International t-shirts for your green-minded kiddies!  Please indicate in the memo section of your check or online donation if your child would like one of these shirts.
• For donations of $500 , you can choose a copy of Speak Truth To Power by Kerry Kennedy, a beautiful coffee table book which profiles international activists including our own co-founder and Executive Director Ka Hsaw Wa.

Whether you choose a single donation for the holidays, or set up recurring monthy, quarterly or yearly donations as your holiday gift, you can rest assured that your tax free donations to EarthRights International will go to work you want it to - helping us defend the planet and it's most vulnerable people.

If you have any questions about holiday donations, please send us an email.