After seeing the devastating footage on the situation in Japan it seams natural to pitch in a bit to help the victims. Especially living on the Ring of Fire myself now, I feel a bit more connected to earthquake related topics and it’s effects. I can barely imagine what people in Japan are going through after getting hit hard three times: the earthquake, the tsunami and being on the verge of a Design Basis Accident. Not to forget all this is happing in the middle of winter with temperatures around freezing!

Mel and I usually donate a bit to people in severe need worldwide, as we understand that there can be situations in life where you are dependent on help from others to literally survive. The Red Cross provides a very easy way to make donations via your cell phone, by simply texting REDCROSS to the phone number 90999. That’s it. $10 will go to the organization for each text message and will show up on your next mobile phone statement. More info here.

What we did this time was to give the money we get back from recycling and donate it immediately. It’s like hitting two birds with one stone. in the State of California you get ¢5 reimbursed for each bottle that has a California Refund Value ( CRV ) indicator on it. Some other States have a similar system — I think in Michigan you even get ¢10 for each item. If you go to local recycling centers to drop off the bottles you also get money for aluminum cans plastic bottles and glass bottles. So, we have been collecting our ‘trash’ for a few weeks with barely any effort. Instead of throwing the containers in the regular trash, we just put them to the recyclable ‘trash’. Today, while running errands, I stopped by the recycling center on the way to drop off the empty containers.

All in all, the ‘trash’ was almost $20 worth and could be donated as I got the pay-out immediately. Done.

Collecting recyclables can become a simple habit and the received monday can be donated for a good cause. Think about it, it’s really that simple.