#Like 501(c)3 status affects how we view what counts as a charitable effort | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

satanicspinosaurus · 6 months ago

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Humans make up somewhere around .01% of the biomass on Earth. Animals collectively make up about 2.59 gigatons of carbon (with arthropods making up the biggest chunk of that at about 1 Gt C) while plants represent a whopping 450 Gt C.

If someone has a non-anthropocentric view point & truly cares about the fragile web of life that allows me, a human animal, to live on this planet- I think that's a fine thing. I personally prefer to center my efforts around local humans, but the dude who is freaking out about monarch butterfly migration because the species is now endangered is not my enemy. The reality is acidifying the seas will fuck up calcium absorption in marine arthropods well before it affects me, a megafauna. But it will get back to me eventually. Anyone who has the ability to care greatly and deeply about something like another living creature shouldn't feel a gram of shame about it. I'm guessing the internet is having a moment specifically re: the student encampments because my dash is filled with posts like this today. I'm not saying to not feel those feelings or examine systems here. What I want to encourage you, is to think about how a calculated view of activism has been encouraged by rich tech bros in ther last decade. (So called "effective alturism".) I hope you, and truly believe you wouldn't, would never tell a person forced to carry a child to term in the US because of the fall of Roe would tell them that it's fine- they aren't dying like people in X or Y or Z places. I believe you would accept their suffering, and offer what you could. I don't think the woman who lets her yard grow wild for local pollinators or the enby who joins the civilian frog watch to help monitor local populations or the guy who pushes for bills to get rid of gestation crates in hog farming will save the world. Anymore than I believe the giving out free tampons to prisoners, funding cheap TB tests or co-ops that build maternity wards will. But I don't want an ounce less of any of it.

one of these days we as a society have to talk abt how the vast majority of people openly care more about animals and their welfare than they do about real human lives and don't feel an ounce of shame about it

#The views on humanitarian efforts has changed a lot over the last few decades #I'm glad “poverty porn” of the global South has been more called out #I do think about how tax structures in the Us #Like 501(c)3 status affects how we view what counts as a charitable effort #Other 501(c)x exist and do great work but often aren't codified into public consciousness #Almost like if it's not tax-deductible what is the point?#Which sucks because getting 501(c)3 is hard. And a lot of time it's not in the budget to do it.#I feel like I see less wild community projects now a days and we expect big organizations to be at the forefront.#Which pros and cons but my feral goblin ass isn't going to care based on how good your graphics are

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