poverty

No More Excuses: Striving to be a Better Person

/ Ava Rosenroth (The Goodness Geek) / 1 Comment

sunday 015

“I don’t give to charity, because too many of them are scams,” “I didn’t give to that homeless person because she will just spend it on drugs anyway,” “I didn’t comfort that crying person because he should toughen up!” Too often, we make excuses for not doing the most we can to help others. As human beings, we are not always able to help everyone who needs help, but much of the time, making excuses like this do even more harm that doing nothing at all. Today, I am exploring these different excuses, their effect, and what you can do instead. Continue reading →

How stigma hurts (and how to fight it!)

/ Ava Rosenroth (The Goodness Geek) / 3 Comments

379367_7377

Stigmatizing members of our community who are already at risk is, sadly, extremely common. When you see someone in need, sometimes it is easier to suppress your compassion than to offer help. You might even think that this will help to make them more resilient or encourage them to work harder or become more independent, but in truth, perpetuating stigma against marginalized groups makes life worse for them and for the health of our community. This week I am going to explore how stigma hurts and how you can help fight it. Continue reading →

Factual Inspiration – Facts that will make you happy in 2015!

/ Ava Rosenroth (The Goodness Geek) / Leave a comment

This week I’ve noticed a lot of sites taking a look back a 2014 – best, worst, most memorable, most forgotten, etc, etc. Rather than focus on the past, or tell you what you should do to stay on track for your resolutions, I thought it might be nice to dish out some straight-up inspiration to get you pumped and ready to make this year an awesome one. Here are a few ways that we’re already halfway there:

Continue reading →

What can I do to fight poverty?

/ Ava Rosenroth (The Goodness Geek) / 1 Comment

When you look at complex societal issues like poverty, it’s easy to feel like there’s nothing we can do to put an end to poverty on a meaningful scale. However, in reality, we are already halfway there, and I mean that quite literally. In 2002, the United Nations launched the Millennium Campaign, and set the Millennium Development Goals in several key areas, including poverty. Since then, the target of reducing extreme poverty rates by half has been met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline. Bill Gates (with the help of Bill Nye and presumably some other people who are probably not all named Bill) gave a pretty good explanation of how foreign aid has had a tremendous impact on global poverty, and has the potential to do even more good. Now, how can we amplify this effect and reduce the income inequality that is plaguing our own country and others around the world? Here’s a step-by-step for people looking to have an impact:

Continue reading →