By Karina Cashman
Staff Writer
The whole of Australia is commonly known for its diverse population of animals and beautiful scenery, but has been dealing with a particularly brutal bushfire season since 2019, leaving the country in crisis.
Images of destroyed landscapes, burned animals and a country in deep crisis can make it feel like there’s little that you as an individual can do to help.
However, that isn’t the case. Here’s 5 fast ways you can help Australia right now:
- Donate to the International Fund for Animal Welfare at https://www.ifaw.org/ where your donation would help to rescue and rehabilitate impacted wildlife.
- Or donate to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) at https://lp.panda.org/bushfire-appeal in order to help save wildlife and restore forestry after the fires have been cleared.
- If you’re more concerned about the fires themselves, the WWF has a separate link that allows you to choose if you want your money to go towards animal rehabilitation or to combat the impact of climate change, which is causing increased bushfires and prolonged dry spells in Australia with the added option of donating once or monthly https://www.wwf.org.au/get-involved/bushfire-emergency#gs.rqxllm
- You can also donate directly to the Australian Red Cross at https://fundraise.redcross.org.au/drr which is currently working to not only respond to the bushfires but also reunite displaced people as well as provide grants and support to anyone who has lost a home to a bushfire since July 2019.
- If you’d rather get more actively involved, just because there aren’t any local events supporting Australia doesn’t mean you can’t create one! You can put on any event of your choosing and donate the proceeds to organizations that help Australia cope with their current bushfire season. Just be sure to donate to legitimate organizations to be certain of where your money is going.
It can be easy sometimes to dismiss other peoples’ problems if they don’t affect you, but as easy as it is to turn off your phone screen and focus on your new set of classes, climate change is everyone’s problem. Even a small donation can make a difference when a group of individuals decide to take action.
