Want to do a mitzvah for Greta Christina?

Greta Christina, an atheist blogger, has been struggling with grief the last few weeks after the death of her father.  Unfortunately, she’s also just been diagnosed with endometrial cancer.  She transitioned to full time writing and speaking earlier this year, which means being slowed down by illness and treatment has a huge impact on her finances.

She’s asking for donations (and book recommendations), and I’m chipping in (and shipping Arcadia).  I know I’ve got a crossover audience, so I wanted to give people a heads up in case they’d like to contribute, too.

One reason I admire Greta is because she’s done a lot of work trying to translate feminist concerns to people who aren’t engaged and don’t understand why they should be.  I took inspiration for some of my restricted comment threads from times she reached out to answer specific questions or troubleshoot problems.  She fights sexism wherever she finds it, and she’s looking to convert people into allies, not just defeat enemies.

Whether you donate to Greta or not, I recommend you take this altruistic ask as a trigger to also engage in really efficient altruism.  I’m matching my donation to Greta with a donation to Against Malaria, a GiveWell-vetted charity.  (They’ve just published an updated evaluation of malaria nets on their blog).

I don’t expect that the frequency with which I encounter an opportunity to give correlates with the worthiness of that cause, so, whenever I want to give somewhere, I also give through GiveWell, since they’ve done a lot of research on where my money can do the most good.  That way, my convenience altruism fuels my optimized altruism.