The additional offender groans.

The additional offender groans.

BBB Advice on Donating by Text Message for Haiti Relief Efforts

January 14, 2010 – Arlington, VA – In the wake of the earthquake
disaster in Haiti, Americans are donating via text message more than ever before. BBB Wise Giving Alliance advises donors that giving through text can be a safe and easy way to give—but you should still use caution.

Within days following the disaster in Haiti, it was widely reported that more than $3 million was donated through text message to such organizations as the Red Cross and others.

“It’s encouraging that people are making small donations through text messages,” said Art Taylor, President and CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. “An incredible amount of money will be needed to address the crisis in Haiti and charities will certainly welcome gifts made through any means available. However, donors should still do their due diligence to make sure their money is going to trustworthy charities.”

BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers the following tips on giving through text:

• Confirm the number directly with the source. While BBB Wise Giving Alliance has not yet heard of any scams relying on text message donations, this emerging method for donating is ripe for exploitation by scammers.
• Be aware that text donations are not immediate. Depending on the text message service used by the charity, text donations can take anywhere from 30-90 days to be transferred to the designated charity. If you would like the donation to be received immediately by the charity, you can give online through the charity Web site, by calling the charity directly or by sending a check in the mail.
• Review the fine print. When you give to a charity through text message, you might also be signing yourself up to receive text message updates from the charity in the future. A charity should include the details of its text campaign on its Web site so you can see what you’re signing up and how you can opt out.
• Research the charity. Giving wisely to a charity isn’t just about making sure that the solicitation isn’t coming from scammers. Wise donors make sure their donations are going to charities that are best equipped to help in the relief efforts and responsibly use the money for its intended purpose.

For more information or to schedule an interview with a BBB Wise Giving Alliance spokesperson, contact Alison Southwick at 703-247-9376.

Only 2 days left

We’ve seen an amazing response so far, but to reach our goal of 1,000 new donors by Thursday, we need you to make a matching donation right now:

http://repoweramerica.org/match

Let’s be clear. The only way we’re going to win on clean energy is to upend business as usual politics.

Enough people need to act with enough strength that our elected officials can look beyond what Big Oil and Big Coal want — so they can lead, taking us into the 21st century to a clean energy economy. Otherwise those powerful special interests will ensure that we ignore the greatest challenge of our time.

We’ve got to push past them with a movement of ordinary Americans just like you coming together to solve the climate crisis so we can revitalize our country and leave our children and grandchildren a legacy of clean American energy.

You can see the personal determination people have to seize this moment in the notes supporters like you have been sharing as they match each other’s donations. I wanted to share a few of these notes with you:

Mathew in Norristown, PA:
Thank you so much for your support. Every person that contributes is making an investment in our future. A future with clean renewable energy for our children, thank you again.

Daniella in Los Gatos, CA:
It surprises me that we are even having to battle Big Dirty Energy at this late stage in the game. Yet, fight we must. Thank you Joan for offering this matching fund opportunity.

Jeremy in Edgewood, KY:
Thanks for matching my donation Ali. I believe clean energy is the way to greater prosperity and security for this great nation of ours (and for the world).  Let’s make it happen.

Join each of these new supporters by making your first contribution today. A previous donor has pledged to match your gift, doubling your impact.

Make your first donation of $25 now. If you’d like, you can exchange a note with the donor who matched your contribution.

The powerful interests thrive when we sit on our hands. But their power wilts when we decide to act.

We can have the clean energy future America so urgently needs — but only if we’re willing to fight for it. Help inspire a movement big, broad and strong enough to win.

Thanks for everything you do,

Maggie L. Fox
President and CEO
The Alliance for Climate Protection

3 Steps to reduce dangerous toxins in your home today

1. Get rid of conventional cleaners:
   Most conventional cleaners contain dangerous ingredients including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, harsh acids, and hormone disrupters linked to cancer, reproductive toxicity, and eye and respiratory irritation.

   The solution: Use nontoxic, biodegradable cleaners free of synthetic fragrances. Most cleaning jobs can also be done with baking soda and vinegar.

2. Filter your water:
   The public water supplies in 19 of America’s largest cities delivered drinking water that contained contaminated levels exceeding EPA limits, including rocket fuel, arsenic, lead, fecal waste, and chemical by-products created during water treatment.

   The solution: Get a water filter, and ask your water utility for its "Consumer Confidence Report." But avoid bottled water – most brands are not much better than tap water and the bottles contribute to mountains of waste. Carry and refill your own reusable water bottle instead.

3. Use care with paints/stains:
   Conventional paints contain three dangerous chemicals: VOCs, fungicides, and biocides.

   The solution: Use super-low or even zero-VOC paints and stains. Look also for "biocide-free" paints and those that use natural pigments. If your home was built before 1970, consider having both your home and your children’s blood lead levels tested. Paint over lead-based paint to minimize dust and chipping.

Brought to you by Lifecoach Vaness

Why a first kiss can be a deal breaker

Whether it’s a soft peck on the cheek or a passionate encounter of lips, a kiss is an exceedingly rich and complex exchange of postural, tactile, and chemical cues that can have profound consequences for romantic relationships, report psychologists from the University of Albany in the Journal for Evolutionary Biology. As evidence of just how biologically important this exchange can be, one study found that 59 percent of men and 66 percent of women have experienced a first kiss as a "deal breaker".

The Albany researchers also found a marked difference in the preferred style of kissing. Male students preferred overall wetter kisses than their female fellow students and showed a greater preference for tongue contact and open-mouth kissing. The researchers speculate that males are unconsciously looking to maximize saliva exchange, which provides clues about fertility and may also allow the male to exchange hormones, including testosterone, which passes directly through the membranes of the mouth into the bloodstream and can boost female libido. Because men are less chemo-sensitive than women, men may need more saliva than women just to pick up the clues.

When participants were asked if they would have sex with someone without kissing first, more than half of the males responded positively, but only one in seven females would consider having sex without kissing first. When asked to rate kissing as an important ingredient in forming a relationship and in bonding, women rated kissing overall more important than males. Women also felt that someone’s being a good kisser was not a good enough reason to start a relationship. Interestingly, for short-term relationships, both men and women preferred wetter kisses, probably to maximize the hormone exchange and heat things up.

Monika Rice

Brought to you by LifeCoach Vaness