101 Easy Ways You Can Make The World A Better Place

1. Play, genuinely play, with a little kid.

2. Tell someone you love them.

3. Donate unused computer time to cancer research (and other types of research) with BOINC

4. Use your blinker when you turn.

5. Pick a stretch of highway. Walk along and pick up all the trash you can. (It gets you exercise, money from recycling, and it makes the world a better place!)

6. Smile at someone. Just smile. Saying “Hello” often brightens a day too.

7. Round up a few loose coins. Put them in the next charity box you see.

8. Do something unexpected and artistic that will inspire people and shake them out of the sad mentality of the daily grind.

9. Plant flowers.

10. Search through your cabinets for a few cans of food you’ll probably never use. Donate them.

11. Hold the door for someone.

12. Pay a random stranger a compliment.

13. If you have a car, give people rides.

14. Volunteer your time to a suicide hotline

15. ...or volunteer your time as a mentor!

16. Return your shopping cart to the corral or to the store instead of leaving it loose or propped on a planter in the lot.

17. Offer someone a mint or a piece of gum or candy.

18. Park your car further from the store and walk the short extra distance. This frees up spots closer for people who may need them more than you, and gives you additional exercise too!

19. Take a child to the park or pool.

20. Kiss someone you love.

21. Donate things you don’t use to your local thrift store.

22. Donate time or materials to Habitat for Humanity

23. Bake cookies for someone.

24. Bring donuts to work one morning. (It costs next to nothing and makes everyone happy)

25. Clean house for someone you know who is too busy to keep on top of it.

26. Babysit for couples or single parents who don’t get out much so they can have some time alone.

27. If you see a piece of trash on the ground, pick it up.

28. Take a risk and do something major instead, like adopting a child.

29. Knit, quilt or crochet a blanket and send it to Project Linus

30. Instead of buying new batteries, buy rechargeables.

31. Make breakfast in bed for someone you love.

32. Find something you’re good at and use it to help someone else.

33. Learn a new language, then volunteer as an interpreter.

34. Know someone who is sad and single? Find someone to hook them up with!

35. Bring coffee or baked goods to city workers who might appreciate it.

36. Help someone with a heavy load.

37. Adopt a pet from the humane society.

38. Boost the morale of someone close to you by telling them what you love about them.

39. Hug a teacher, let them know how important they are. (Without them, you wouldn’t be reading this... or anything else, for that matter.)

40. Look for ways to save a few extra bucks a month. Donate it.

41. Remember to splurge a little on yourself once in a while. You’ll feel better.

42. Shop at your local charity thrift store. The money you spend there helps others.

43. Send a gift or a thank you card to the troops in Iraq. Support them even if you don’t support the war.

44. Spend a few clicks of your time at Free Rice

45. Leave an encouraging or positive comment on a stranger’s webpage.

46. If someone is tailgating you, let them pass and wish them well, without the anger.

47. If there’s been an accident or a potentially hazardous situation presents itself on the road (i.e. you see a cow on the wrong side of the fence) dial 911 and tell them about it. Your phone call could save a life.

48. If someone you love really likes something (a meal, a favor, etc.) give it to them when they least expect it.

49. Learn a new skill, then teach it to someone else.

50. Wave to your neighbors.

51. Spend less time watching T.V.

52. Open car doors for your driver or passengers.

53. Give blood.

54. Become an organ donor.

55. Buy books for a library, daycare center or school.

56. Slip a $20 bill anonymously to someone you know who is having financial difficulty.

57. Dance with someone.

58. Organize volunteers to make a bigger difference.

59. Create a public art contest for children.

60. Put a jar full of rocks in your toilet tank to reduce the amount of water wasted with each flush.

61. Support activists and people on strike.

62. Share family recipes.

63. Help someone with their homework.

64. Grow your hair out, then donate it to Locks of Love

65. Put a quarter in someone else’s parking meter.

66. Click ads on blogs or articles published by relatively unknown authors. It costs nothing, and even one click will brighten their day. :)

67. Gather up your used batteries and electronics. Donate them.

68. Volunteer some time to cheering people up at your local retirement home.

69. Replace the bulbs in your home with energy saving bulbs. Invest in solar, if you can.

70. If the person ahead of you or behind you in line at the store has only a few items, buy them for him or her.

71. ...or, if you don’t have much money and the person behind you has only a few items, let them go before you.

72. Donate to a cause that helps families in third world countries (consider– the amount of money the average family spends on a birthday in a first world country could feed a family of six for a year in many third world countries)

73. Buy organic food from local farmers (Start by going to your local farmer’s market!)

74. Opt in for electronic billing, statements, etc. and save paper!

75. Drop off your old glasses at your local lenscrafters as a donation to the Gift of Sight program.

76. Don’t smoke near others.

77. Turn the other cheek.

78. Generate money for the charity of your choice by searching with Good Search

79. Make a list of birthdays for people you know. Surprise them with a happy birthday email, card, text, or anything else that lets them know you remembered. It might be the only one they get!

80. Be there for someone. Listen to their troubles.

81. Grow some of your own vegetables, even if only out of a pot indoors.

82. If you have land, invest in livestock. Chickens are a great place to start, and they make great pets, even if you don’t eat them.

83. Stop for a person waiting to cross the street or merge into traffic.

84. Pay the toll for someone behind you.

85. Encourage a friend to reach for their dreams and shoot for the farthest goal.

86. Tape coins to a payphone with a note saying they’re for whoever needs them.

87. Donate cereal box tops to your local school, even if you don’t have kids.

88. Support independent artists by purchasing books by unknown authors from publishers that aren’t in the mainstream.

89. ...and if you enjoyed the book, write the author a note telling them how much you loved it.

90. Cut up the plastic rings on six pack holders so animals don’t get caught in them.

91. Use a clothesline to dry clothes instead of using an electric or gas dryer.

92. Offer free hugs to complete strangers.

93. Forgive a debt

94. Adopt a soldier, inmate or someone who is down on their luck as a pen pal.

95. When you are waiting for service at a deli counter, swap call numbers with someone who is in a hurry.

96. Become a master of setting clocks on electronic devices. Set every one you pass to the correct time.

97. Write a poem, good or bad, and then read it at an open microphone event.

98. Write a nice note to or about your waiter or waitress on the back of your bill.

99. On a hot day, buy someone something cold to drink– on a cold day, get them something warm.

100. Recommend people to friends who might appreciate their services.

101. Look for new and better ways every day to make the world a better, happier, and more pleasant place to live for everyone. If we all did just one thing every day, we could really begin to make a positive difference worldwide.