Welcome to Jennie of the Jungle!

Standing on the grass in Clapham Common as the sun goes down, swaying to the heavy beats of Sasha and John Digweed, two of the greatest DJs in the world. My best friends are at my side, eyes rolled toward the twighlit heavens, along with the hundreds of colorful, face-painted individuals all riding the same musical waves of contentment and ecstasy. This is a picture of Southwest Four (SW4), a two-day festival that occurs annually in London, England. This is one of the easier festivals to attend, as it's just a hop skip and a jump on the tube to get to the Common, and there's no camping so you can amble home (or to the afterparty) after dark and come back in the morning, refreshed for a second round. If you can find the way home, that is. Getting home was quite the task for my friends and I after a full day of music, dancing, and red bull-vodkas. An hour after finally figuring out which direction to go, a two-hour colorful bus ride later filled by random conversation with a Braz...

What's better than hoppin' DJs, jumpin' beats, and a whole bunch of dancin' animals enjoying themselves? Doin' it all in the name of charity! I decided to bring my two loves together, wildlife and nightlife, in 2008 while I was living in London, because I knew I wasn't the only person who loved both. And believe me, there's nothing better than gettin' down for a good cause. It was simple: gather some charitable DJs, ask around for a venue (my first party was in one-half of a bar, rent-free) and use social networking to invite friends, friends of friends, and anyone else interested in the cause. In 2008 I was doing some volunteer work for Wildlife SOS UK , an organization dedicated to saving wildlife used for entertainment (particularly dancing bears), as well as wildlife rescue, in India. So 100 percent of the $5 entrance fee I charged at the door was sent to them, as well as donations we asked for from other bar patrons. Though the party was small and t...

After an 18 year struggle against the devastation brought on by Chevron in the Ecuadorian Amazon (see previous blog here ), Chevron has FINALLY been found guilty, and has been ordered to pay over 8 million dollars to take responsibility and clean up their mess. Of course, they are appealing this decision. Why they do not want to help these native people who are suffering and have been suffering for so long I will never understand. They have the means and it is their decisions that have turned the drinking water a tarry black, polluted the land and made it unfit for necessary farm animals to live on, given the village kids cancer, and poisoned the babies. Here's what you can do to help in this case. Send an email to the CEO of Chevron by clicking here . The email is pre-filled and all you have to do is enter your name at the bottom. You can also adopt a Chevron employee to get your voice heard by clicking here . It's a small victory for Ecuador and the native peoples of Amazonia...

My friend Jonny represents the indigenous arctic Inupiat people of Alaska in their struggle against oil companies who want to drill on their land and disrupt their habitat and lifestyle, and has spent some time there visiting and learning their culture, as well as taking part in some of their daily rituals. I'm going to post my favorite of Jonny's blogs from his trip to the arctic in November of 2008, called "The less selfish life." You can read Jonny's blog at http://jonnyarctic.blogspot.com/ . The Less Selfish Life So, can we unlearn selfishness? I honestly don't know, but I think that's why living here is such a challenge. Quite simply, it is very difficult to live in this Arctic region if you are selfish. We thus have a choice: change or leave. And yet here we cling. Me, representing this Inupiat Eskimo community and my dedicated family. I am rightfully an outsider to the people here. This is not my place, as I am constantly reminded, but for some...

Oh hi! I just spent last Saturday with a giant golden eagle named Scout, a smaller and more skittish prairie falcon, and a lovely Harris's hawk. I was meeting with the founders of the Southwest Wildlife Foundation, Martin and Susan Tyner, to discuss joining the foundation as a volunteer fundraising events coordinator. Martin is known as "The Eagle Man" and is often seen with Scout in tow, as he is a master falconer and trained to hunt with eagles. Scout is very much a wild eagle, and flies freely, but has a special and mutually beneficial bond with Martin. In Martin's own words, "I flush out rabbits from the brush and Scout dives after them from high in the air; basically he's the hunter and I'm his dog, and I'm a good dog so he keeps me." Martin's stories can be heard as he travels around Utah and other western states showing off his birds as part of educational programs for children and adults alike. He has been through many an experience w...

If you prefer the gift of donation over material giving, then there are some choices for you this year. Many non-profits are upping their use of the internet to increase their presence in the donor-market. Here are some of the choices that I've riled up for you. After all, generosity is the greatest gift of all... www.kiva.org Kiva's mission is "to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty." Kiva is using the internet to create a global communities of people connected through lending. With Kiva, individuals can make microloans to entrepreneurs across the globe and those in need. Kiva was born of the following beliefs: People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way. The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity. By connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing su...

Mmmm...nothing like a warm cup of coffee to get you going in the morning. But does your coffee come at an enormous cost? We're not just talking pocketbook here, we're talking environment. The beginnings of coffee-growing were quaint and quite non-destructive. For over 150 years, coffee was grown under the shade of canopy trees in the rainforest. In the 1970's a new, high-output method of growing coffee was introduced, in which the shade trees and everything else around was cut and cleared so that coffee plants could be planted densely and doused with pesticides and other agrochemicals. This produced more product for the growers, but has sacrificed generations of wildlife that have suffered at the hands of habitat-loss. Sustainable methods of coffee-growing, in which canopy trees and original forest is kept intact and coffee is planted in their midst, is actually beneficial to the environment and to wildlife. Biodiversity is maintained and therefore so is the wildlife that i...