Doing Good Better

A recent book has cited Cool Earth as one of the best charities to give to if you want your money to have the most impact on climate change.

Doing Good Better is a new book by William Macaskill, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University and co-founder of Giving What We Can.

He argues that we have the power to make a massive impact to the world, and gives examples of charities to donate to that make that impact reach even further. We’re very proud to be included.

1.22 billion people in the world earn less than $1.50 a day. And it’s mostly down to chance: 85% of the global variation in earnings, Macaskill says, are down to the accident of birth: “The extremely poor are poor simply because they don’t live in an environment that enables them to be productive.”

That means 15% of us are in an extraordinary position. In a world with unimaginable extremes of inequality, the lucky ones among us have enormous power to effect change. This challenge is what MacAskill’s book is a toolkit for meeting.

His interest in the subject of altruism is reflected by his other work. He has already co-founded two not-for-profit ventures – 80,000 Hours, which advises people on how to choose a career that will enable them to do good; and Giving What We Can, a charity portal that focuses on the most effective kinds of donation.

Giving What We Can looked at more than one hundred climate organisations to work out cost-effectively prevent the release of carbon dioxide.

Their conclusion?

“The easiest and most effective way to cut down your carbon footprint is to donate to Cool Earth.”

We’re really grateful to William MacAskill and his team for taking the time to research Cool Earth and for writing about their findings. We know that it’s already inspired a lot of our newer donors to look us up and start giving to Cool Earth.

If it’s inspired you too, welcome on board, and congratulations for being part of the most effective way to prevent carbon emissions from forest loss.