Sometimes something occurs in one’s every-day life that’s so completely out-of-kilter with what your usual experiences are - that it takes a while for it to sink in. Such an event is the currently popular phenomenon of the “swirling, swarming, starlings.”

I’m sure that you’ve all seen the TV commercial for Carling Lager that shows the dark mass of starlings swooping and swirling in the air and making fantastic swarming shapes in the sky in the process. And I’m also sure that many of you thought it a clever bit of computer-generated-trickery.  Well it isn’t - and I’m here, firstly, to give witness to the fact that it really happens and secondly to explain how it impacted on two of the loves of my life - the Northampton based Carling Brewery and Northampton Town Football Club (a.k.a. The Cobblers).

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A report on the MSN media network states that experts believe Orangutans could be extinct in the next 20 years.

It is noted that Indonesa in particular has a problem with the illegal trade of Orangutans, with “around 1000 monkeys killed there every year, so that their babies can be sold as pets or for entertainment”. This is inspite of the fact that Indonesia has strict laws banning their trade but the sad fact is that poachers are rarely prosecuted and the laws are barely paid lip service.

The article on MSN reported the astonishing figue that “just five years ago there were about 60,000 (Orangutans) left in the wild but that figure has now dropped by almost half.”

The Orangutan is said to be one of mankind’s closest relatives as the species shares a 97 per cent DNA match with humans. Animal charity WWF has a fantastic Adoption programme that enables you to sponsor an Orangutan from just £2.50 a month, that’s less than the price of a pint of beer in my local!

The figures are stark. It is horrifying to think that a species as well known as the Orangutan could be extinct within 20 years. For just £2.50 a month you can help the WWF to protect this much loved species.

>> Help save the Orangutan from just £2.50 a month!

CLIMATE CHANGE – Inaction costs more than action.

In early February 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report was released in Paris. The report reaffirmed that global warming is happening and it’s 90 percent likely that it’s being caused by human activity.

Whilst most national governments have signed the Kyoto Protocol aimed at combating global warming the political debate regarding what should be done is still ongoing without clear site of a cohesive and timely resolution. We at D4C believe that each individual can take responsibility to become ‘carbon neutral’ and that positive action should be taken now on a personal level. By making some simple adjustments to our everyday habits, supporting environmental charities and using companies with green policies we can all make a difference. (more…)

Plans have been announced by prominent environmental activists such as former US vice-president Al Gore for a worldwide rock concert this July called ‘Live Earth’. The aim of the concert is to bring the issues of each individuals personal carbon emissions to the forefront of people’s minds with a view to mobilising action to help stop global warming. Confirmed acts so far include Bon Jovi, The Black Eyed Peas, Sheryl Crow, Kelly Clarkson and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. (more…)

Welcome to the Donation4Charity blog. We will be bringing you all the latest charity news together with unique interviews and insights into the charity issues of the day.

 Visit our charity donation site to set up donations or buy gifts from organisations such as the WWF adoptions, the NSPCC and Oxfam to name but three.

We hope you find our blog interesting and informative and hope you check back to keep up to date with the charity issues that matter to you most!

Animal Rescue
There are now just a few thousand tigers left. Seven hundred mountain gorillas. A hundred Iberian lynx. Can we do anything to help them? Emine Saner of The Guardian looks at 10 animals we just have to save - and how you can get involved.

1. Tiger - there are twice as many privately owned tigers in America as there are in the wild across the world. Outside zoos and private collections, there are thought to be just 3,000 and 4,500 Bengal tigers, 1,500 Indo-Chinese tigers and 500 Sumatran tigers. There may possibly be 20-30 South China tigers left - if they aren’t extinct already.  In the past 150 years, 93% of tigers’ original habitat has been lost; in the past 100 years, the world’s tiger population has declined by 95%. Habitat loss results in a lack of prey for tigers and makes for fragmented populations; this in turn causes inbreeding and all the health and fertility problems that go with it.

Last month, the WWF warned that illegal coffee plantations in Indonesia were threatening wildlife, especially Sumatran tigers. The beans were being bought, unknowingly, by some of the world’s biggest coffee manufacturers, including Nestlé and Kraft. More generally, poaching is one of the biggest threats, especially to Bengal tigers. Everything from their bones to their organs have historically been key ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), although most practitioners no longer use them. “But some do,” says Mark Wright, science advisor for the WWF. “Even now, products containing ingredients from tigers are still sold in this country.” This is illegal, by the way. “It’s for us to say we don’t want this in our country. We need to take away the demand at this end of the supply chain.”

What can we do? Write to coffee manufacturers and ask them to show that their products come from sustainable sources. Insist they put in place rigorous chain-of-custody controls to ensure they don’t support illegal plantations. Keep an eye out for practitioners of TCM who are still selling products containing ingredients derived from tigers. Contact your local police wildlife crime officer, the National Wildlife Crime Unit www.nwcu.police.uk or Crimestoppers (0800 555111 ).

As well as WWF, there are several tiger conservation projects that are worth backing, including the Wildlife Trust of India and the Phoenix Fund in Russia www.phoenix.vl.ru which is working to protect the Amur tiger. (more…)