The current economic crisis has slowly but surely spread its wrath across the world, leaving very few unaffected. Unemployment, salary reductions, debt, and home forclosures have forced everyone to save, struggle, and cut back. Normal citizens who only go about their business have been crushed by the weight of greed by a select few. There are millions of victims across the world. From all the bleak headlines you see in the newspaper everyday, you would think there would be little reason for hope. Such dark times would breed dark moods and dark outlooks from the general population.
I would think that people would close off and fend for themselves. That the newly unemployed would focus on themselves, and spend their time looking for new jobs. But, I came across an interesting article
Eryka Teisch volunteering (NY Times Photo)
in The New York Times, on March 15th, that made me pause. Instead of isolating themselves and playing “every man for himself”, these people have turned to volunteering. Volunteering has seen a huge increase in the past couple of months, mostly from people who have lost their jobs.
Among a few of the examples are Lisa Traina, who was recently organizing private parties at a sleek art gallery. She lost her job and is now volunteering 10 hours a week trying to guide homeless men and women to shelter.
Nina Duh is a volunteer at an elementary school and a finance workshop….she worked for Lehman Brothers in September before its collapse.
Eryka Teisch worked for a financial technology firm but she was layed off. Now she volunteers for a company that delivers food to the homes of the ill.
The flow of volunteers has been so sudden and so large that many of the small companies can’t handle them. Decreased funding to the volunteer organizations themselves have prompted cutbacks on projects, forcing them to turn away many of these new volunteers.
That’s an interesting problem to have though - too many volunteers. These people would have all the reason in the world to have a gloomy outlook. Bitterness and anger would be understandable feelings after having been kicked to the curb. But they are using their newly discovered free time to lend a helping hand. And they are really enjoying their time at their new volunteer gigs. For many of them, losing their job was the perfect opportunity to try something new; to see how much they enjoyed service. They wish that their volunteer positions could be full time jobs. And when the economy recovers and these volunteer organizations and non-profits are able to build and expand again, some of these volunteers might still be around to be hired.
By picking up the newspaper everyday and looking at the headlines, it would be enough to make anyone a cynic. But with news stories such as this one, it makes me optimistic. Think about it…an economic downturn leads to an increase in volunteering. The newly unemployed, who now need jobs, want to help other people. The saying goes, “a crisis is a horrible thing to waste.” And that rings true in this case. After spending a lifetime at an office job they might not like, these people are trying their hands at something new. So, while the economic crisis may continue to wreak havoc on the world’s economies, there’s reason for optimism. It’s forcing us to reorganize our lives and our societies for a better future.
Wal-Mart now has solar panels on a few of its locations, they sell fair-trade coffee, they are buying wind energy to supply hundreds of its locations in Texas, and has donated $5.7 million to supporting green job creation in the US. There has been no shortage of public pressure and outrage directed at Wal-Mart for all of its sins. But if Wal-Mart can alter its carbon footprint, clean up their operations, huge progress can be made. 
They are some of the tallest and oldest trees on Earth, often over 5,000 years old. Historically, in Chile these trees were chopped down and used for wood, and because the wood was of high quality, it was often used to build houses. But, the Chilean government outlawed the cutting down the Alerces. Ulaa is located near these trees and it provides a unique opportunity to visit them. For volunteers on the farm (read the post about volunteering in 
