In a meeting last week, a colleague challenged me that not all academic research is related to sustainability.  "Not so!" I declared. "Sure, you can do very tightly, and narrowly focused research on a very specific topic, that clearly has nothing to do with sustainability. BUT, the minute that you broaden the focus, relate it to the real world and give it an applied aspect, some kind of sustainability facet will, undoubtedly, emerge."  Being me, I then challenged him to name ANY topic of science-based research, and I described the sustainability-aspect of the research.

So - what about SUSTAINABLE charities?  Well, yesterday, I attended the opening of Parkdale Collegiate Institute's 120th Anniversary celebrations.  Parkdale CI is the second oldest high school in Toronto.  After rushing back to Toronto from field work, measuring trees, to make hummus for the school's International Buffet, I checked out various classroom displays.  I was delighted to learn that the school fundraises for the charity, Sleeping Children Around the World.  I had heard about this charity, but did not know anything about them.  The first thing that caught my eye, is that they have zero overhead.  The first question that we have trained our kids to ask of charities, is: "what's your administrative overhead" (my husband works for a charity).  For $35, children are provided with a bed kit - pillow, blanket, malaria netting, if needed, some basic utensils and school supplies, all locally-sourced.  It's all volunteer-driven - no big corporate structure, and is my kind of low-tech, low-budget enterprise that has proven staying power - or sustainability!

That's not to say that the goals of some charities require what may amount to a relatively large and expensive infrastructure to meet their goals.  This is especially true if the goal of their charities is to call for change on a very large scale that requires them to engage with the top levels of well-funded government bureaucrats and international corporations.  It's really important for everyone to understand what kind of activities in this regard, the organizations that they might be supporting, are engaging in.

But, what SCAW mainly demonstrates is how much can be achieved with a little and just how sustainable an idea like this can be.

Dawn R. Bazely