I donate for Ocean Cleanup - Help! (Christmas campaign)
Update: The campaign is over. Formal Mind GmbH has donated €525 on behalf of SE-Trends to the Ocean Cleanup Project donated. Thanks to all readers!
Just like last year, I'm not sending out any Christmas mail this year. Instead, I am donating the value of a stamp to the Ocean Cleanup Project for every email recipient of the SE-Trends newsletter. The cut-off date is the number of SE-Trends email recipients on January 1, 2023.
You can subscribe to the SE-Trends newsletter on a weekly or monthly basis here.
Please forward this e-mail to friends and colleagues or register yourself for a good cause >>
Many reasons to donate
I consider myself grateful for my life. And I suspect that this is also true for many readers. We have a stable political system, social security and peace, even if wars are raging around us. Most of us were very lucky to have been born in a rich country, which is not a given. And probably most readers have financial stability and prosperity.
Ten years ago, it was not unusual for companies to send greeting cards and small gifts at Christmas time. But many cards - and gifts! - often ended up in the bin. I'm pleased to see that more and more companies are switching to donation campaigns. Incidentally, one of the first was my former employer HOOD Groupwho have been working regularly for many years for Doctors without borders donate.
The Ocean Cleanup Project
There are countless organizations for which it makes sense to donate. The framework conditions should of course be right. The organization should be non-profit and demonstrably use the majority of the donations for a clearly defined purpose.
But beyond that, I see it as a personal decision: People in times of crisis cannot be compared to fighting the immense damage we humans have caused. One problem is not more or less important, it is different. There is no order, we have to tackle these problems simultaneously. This is possible if each of us makes an effort.
The Ocean Cleanup Project aims to remove plastic waste from the oceans. Last year I had already donated to this charitable organization via SE-Trends.
Over five trillion pieces of plastic have now accumulated in five major locations in the world's oceans (see image), posing an enormous threat to our environment.
A project for systems engineers
I like the Foundation for many reasons. For one thing, Boyan Slat from the Netherlands founded the organization as a teenager. I think it's very important to support the next generation of people in environmental initiatives. After all, we are partly to blame for these problems. I became aware of this many years ago through the 2012 TED Talk by Boyan ten years ago.
The challenge of ridding the oceans of plastic waste is a systems engineering problem. After all, this planet is the largest system over which we as humans have an influence (and which is essential for our survival). Incidentally, this is precisely why the project has been criticized in the past: "Cleaning up the garbage is useless, as new garbage is constantly being added". This is true, but we have to start somewhere.
That's why the Foundation doesn't stop there. The second initiative, which is already underway, is intercepting plastic waste in rivers to tackle the root of the problem while cleaning up the oceans.
80% of plastic waste from rivers comes from 1000 rivers.
theoceancleanup.com
The world is a complex system. An important research topic of the Foundation is to understand this system and to systematically eliminate plastic waste in water in the most cost-effective way.
For every new SE-Trends registration I donate 85 cents to Ocean Cleanup
Instead of sending Christmas cards, I prefer to donate the postage to The Ocean Cleanup Project. If you, dear reader, are not yet receiving my SE-Trends notifications by e-mail, I would like to ask you to sign up here. There are weekly and monthly newsletters.
And if you also mobilize friends and acquaintances who are interested in systems engineering, then everyone will benefit from this campaign in the end.
Pictures: theoceancleanup.com
