This is such a heartbreaking topic, but I believe it needed to be shared. It makes me so devastated about what has happened to a vast number of wildlife in Australia, due to the recent brush fires. This article might not exactly be considered elevating in the way that we described at first, but in the end it did encourage and show reliable funds to donate money to help support the remaining wildlife. It does make me feel motivated I believe the article advocated for donating to one particular fund which raises money to plant trees for the wildlife to use after the firest have died down. This is because a lot of the animals, such as koalas use trees to climb to safety, and trees are their main shelter. Unfortunately most of the article is heartbreaking and isn’t meant to be uplifting, but to motivate us to give what we can. You can view the article down below.
There are many organizations looking to help the situation, but you must do your research to make sure you are donating to the right cause. I thought that reading about the plans for the aftermath and relief were uplifting as it showed the organizations intentions. For example, WWF plans to plant over 10,000 trees with your help between the areas of southwest Sydney, Gunnedah and Noosa. The prices are listed on the website. I think that the article has motivated me to donate, which I will this week towards the fund. It is a tragedy that is hard to ignore, but if we come together to help out the cause, it can turn into something better, hopefully.
Relating back to the Thomas and Siegel article, I think that one of the outcomes I experienced while reading this article was a motivational tendency, the desire to be a better person. They say that researcher found that those who have had an elevating experience had increased desire to be a better person. “Overall, there is self-reported evidence indicating that elevating experiences do enhance one’s desire to be a better person.” (Thomas & Siegel, 2017.)
I think that the article really does enforce the fact that we as humans need to give back, by showing videos like a person hugging and petting a kangaroo, and other posts that are more grim, it shows that people are trying to get others to care about the situation as much as they do, I just hope that lots of people decide to donate to help this crisis in Australia.
Citation:
: Andrew L. Thomson & Jason T. Siegel (2017) Elevation: A review of
scholarship on a moral and other-praising emotion, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12:6,
Madalyn's Positive Psychology Blog 