Join Amnesty's campaigns against acts of cruelty against people (usually known as human rights abuses) and against cruel policies in the world ... Protect the Human. Sign up to Amnesty International or AIUK and you can specify which topics and which parts of the world you want them to e-mail you about, so you will only be invited to write letters or e-mails about the things you care most about.
Global Justice Now - previously The World Development Movement - is campaigning to eliminate the short-sightedness, greed and and injustice which are increasing poverty. It also promotes positive alternatives.
You can find many more organisations working for good listed in the OneWorld Partner Directory.
What is your MP doing? You can find out about the work your elected representatives are doing (or not doing) at TheyWorkForYou.com. Enter your post-code to see who your MP is. Scroll down and you can see how they've voted in parliament, which committees they are on and so on; even their expenses. You can also follow a link to see which Early Day Motions (EDMs) they have signed and you can ask the system to e-mail you every time your MP speaks out in parliament.
The sister site, WriteToThem.com, lets you contact your local councillors, your MP or your MEP by e-mail, fax or letter - all you need is your post-code.
I live in the area of Brighton and Hove Council. Their web site has a special councillors search page. Yours might have something similar.
Many districts have a local community group, newsletter and online web site or blog. Were I live there are several local communities online:
Prestonville Association,
Preston Pages,
and the Fiveways Directory.
We have too many cars in Brighton. They don't just get in each other's way, but often block the pavement as well. That's why I support the Living Streets charity that represents all pavement users.
Practical Action - previously Intermediate Technology - works alongside communities to find practical, solutions to poverty, based upon technology. Technical information and ideas are available online.
Visit the Practical Action web site to see some of their their ingenious solutions. Apart from the clay zeer pot fridges, shown left, that keeps food cool without external power, there are - floating gardens that grow food on flooded land - efficient home-made clay stoves that save fuel and reduce smoke in people's homes and - small-scale electricity generators that serve whole villages - and are built and maintained by the villagers themselves, thus increasing their technological independence.
You can buy some of their novel and interesting items from Practical Presents; why not buy a floating garden that can survive floods in Bangladesh or donkey plough for families who can't afford to buy an ox.
Shared Interest is a co-operative lending society, investing in fairtrade businesses since 1990 (see also what the Fairtrade Towns co-op has to say about them). Invest your money with them and Shared Interest will be lend it to fairtrade producers and companies, to Mexican coffee co-operative Huatusco for example.
If you would like to invest your money in the UK co-operative and social enterprise sector, you should consider lending to ICOF (Co-operative and Community Finance). I particularly like the way they are helping communities buy their local shop or pub to save it closing down.
Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace (UK).
The Green party (Brighton and Hove web site). The Green party leader, Caroline Lucas, is MP for Brighton Pavilion since 2010.
The Magpie recycling co-operative, which collects and recycles more things, and more often, than the council do. When they collect your furniture (by arrangement) it is with a view to getting it re-used.
More green web sites are included on my own Shopping page.
Janet Elizabeth April 2016