Wanted to mention that Black Diamond is donating 100% of all Headlamp and Lantern sales between now and April 5th to the American Red Cross for the disaster relief effort in Japan.

Check it out!

www.blackdiamondequipment.com

I have the headlamps for both my wife and I but looking at the lanterns?

The orbit is a cool little thing if youre looking for a lantern. Its freaking bright.

picking up a couple Orbit's

Look, I'm not trying to be a jerk but I don't think Japan is in financial crisis. They're the 3rd wealthiest country...IN THE WORLD. I realize that the disaster they're going through is HUGE. I realize that. I just don't understand why America is going crazy with their donations. I believe they're actually going to be inundated with donations and they're not going to know where to spend it all. Can I be so petty as to wonder who is donating to Japan during this crisis and didn't donate to the U.S. during the Katrina disaster? I don't remember Sandra Bullock donating 1,000,000 large after Katrina.

I think that's really cool of BD to do that. Just awesome.

As far as "Can I be so petty as to wonder who is donating to Japan during this crisis and didn't donate to the U.S. during the Katrina disaster?"

I understand your point, and I'm not sure I have a real answer. Maybe it has to do with the mentality of "my donation will be worth more because its a far-off foreign location." Maybe its because people in the US assume that we have a wealthy enough government and country that can take care of itself, so no personal donation is necessary. Maybe people feel better helping those in need because "they don't live here so they are probably underprivileged and my charity is more appreciated there."

*My quotes above are to be considered frames of mind and are not actual quotes.*

I just don't know.

That's what they say it will cost so far socYes thanks Black Diamond!

" Can I be so petty as to wonder who is donating to Japan during this crisis and didn't donate to the U.S. during the Katrina disaster?"

Christopher - Two thoughts to your question:

1. I remember reading in the news back then that more than 100 countries responded with aid to the US in the aftermath of Katrina. Click here for a list of countries and amounts given/pledged. Which brings to my second point below:

2. It's more a blessing to give than to receive. How true that is!! As a nation, we are truly blessed with unprecedented wealth! The problem with Katrina wasn't the lack of resources -- but the lack of means to get resources to locations fast enough. My understanding is that the US thanked -- but did not access -- the vast majority of money and materiel pledged.

But still pretty heart warming when the whole world responds with help, no?

I'll buy an Orbit and a spot.

Japan owns A LOT of US treasury bonds (up there with China and Saudi). they sell them, US goes into more debt. Also Japan is one of the most indebted nations in the world because of them if, the sell there bonds it hurts a lot of economies. They'll need a lot of oil and gas to rebuild, driving up the cost of gas for everyone else. and keeping Japan in a state of crisis hurts the whole world with the technological innovations that come out of there.


I don't want to turn this into a Cuben or REI thread.

I understand where your questions come from, I really do, but I absolutely agree with Ben on "It's more a blessing to give than to receive."

My brother is currently serving on the USS Ronald Reagan which is currently sitting off the coast of northeast Japan assisting with search and rescue and transporting supplies. Every day I have seen pictures of this and the smiles on the Japanese faces when they receive something as simple as a box of Kellogg's or a case of water is... well I can't even think a word. It's fulfilling more than anything to know that my brother and my country are doing every thing they can to help someone in need. I think what BD is doing is amazing, no matter how small or large the impact they make is. The point is that they are sacrificing for others.

It's not like they are just handing the money over to Japan. It's going to the Red Cross who has already sheltered about 264,000 people in approximately 1,800 shelters run by the Japanese Red Cross. And I'm sure they have also given enormous amount of supplies and helped with medical aid as well.

I know you meant no harm by your post and weren't saying not to support it but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the situation.

You cannot eat wealth. A good part of wealth is tied up in tangible things like buildings, infrastructure, etc. A lot of Japan's businesses cannot operate to produce what they need right now. One of their largest companies, Toyota, may have to stop building cars in the US and other countries, because Toyota cannot supply some of the components that are made in Japan. They DO have a fiancial crisis, and more importantly, a humanity crisis.

We do not really know the true extent of the disaster yet. The disaster is larger than the ability of the people (government) to handle. It is mind boggling. There are thousands of people without food, safe water, shelter, adequate health care, etc. Japan needs help and many Americans (and other countries too) want to provide help. Also, many Americans (and other countries) work with or for Japanese companies.

During Katrina many Americans donated. Much more than any other natural disaster than I can remember.

I read a story that the donations to Japan were 1/10th of the donations given to Haiti in the first 4 days of the disaster. Japan is a wealthy country but, this is not about money, it is about helping people. The help they need is the basics, clean water and food. Katrina had telethon's and huge donations given and help from other country's so I don't think its fair to compare the two.

cool of them. wonder how much they donated to the katrina disaster or to the recent gulf spill.

sad to see people sending money overseas when there are people here in the US that are homeless and starving to death.

bill gates gave a speech about being successful (and i consider him an expert at that) to a middle school and he said that before you run off and save the rainforest try cleaning your room... i liked hearing that princicple then and like hearing it now.

I give a homeless man money and then watch him walk into a liquor store or gas station to buy booze or cigarettes. I don't think the Red Cross is taking the Japanese to the bar with the money we give them. Also, many times people find themselves homeless because of their own faults. While yes sometimes people are unlucky, I don't think the Japanese did anything to deserve an 8.9 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami. I think you're misunderstanding Gates on his principle.

"Can I be so petty as to wonder who is donating to Japan during this crisis and didn't donate to the U.S. during the Katrina disaster? I don't remember Sandra Bullock donating 1,000,000 large after Katrina."

Fwiw, like many who donated to Katrina and are now donating towards relief efforts in Japan, the money was not given to the government, but a relief organization. In Bullock's case, it was Doctors without Borders.

You don't need to remember what Bullock did during Katrina, you're on the net, do a search. She spent time distributing food and clothing at the Austin Convention Center and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a local high school. She also donated $1 million to the American Red Cross following after Katrina, matching the $1 million she'd donated to them following 9/11 and the $1 million she donated to them following the Indonisian Tsunami.

Just sayin'

Edited by roguenode on 03/24/2011 19:04:00 MDT.

"I don't want to turn this into a Cuben or REI thread."

+1. But some people just can't help it.

n/m

Edited by zencarver on 03/24/2011 19:24:27 MDT.

"Sad to see people sending money overseas when there are people here in the US that are homeless and starving to death."

Must it be "ether / or"? Can those who have a surplus not lend a helping hand to fellow human beings on both sides of our national border?

"Sad to see people sending money overseas when there are people here in the US that are homeless and starving to death."

It makes me sad to read something like that.

Recently Tenkara USA auctioned a one of a kind tenkara fishing net on ebay with the proceeds going to the Japan relief fund.

I contacted Daniel regarding a 2nd auction and he and I are working to have this in place in the coming days. We will be auctioning a tenkara fishing gear package including an Ebira rod quiver, a Iwana Series II rod, tenkara line, line holder, tippet, flies and other misc items. I will post the link to the auction when active and will hope for some BPL interest and support.

If a BPL member has a worthy USA specific cause I would be more then happy to work to provide a like effort to help shed light on the issue.

Thom
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