My original last name (Pasichnyk) means the beekeeper if translated literally to English. My extended grandfather had a few beehives and my childhood memories definitely included the smell of the fresh honey, stories about bees, and then large glass jars used to store honey for the whole year till the next season comes. There were dark brown jars with buckwheat honey, bright yellow with the mixture of the field blooms, and then very pale almost white jars made from acacia pollen. One thing I learned was that honey bees are crucial to our ecosystem. They make sure we have fruits each year, and that the plants flourish and are able to give us their rich harvests. That's why the initiative of the Pollinator Partnership is so important. As is buying your honey supply from the local sustainable producers. And moreover, the honey made from the bloom in the area where you reside is known to cure allergies as it introduces your body to the pollen gradually and consistently. 

This one is special. Just as they state on their front page: Your passion for the outdoors can help save it. This guy who is a professional snowboarder (Jeremy Jones) has always been an inspiration for me. He turned winter sports into art. His lines and routes were unheard-of and following his trips through the photos that he would post was always a huge tease. But most importantly he made his statement clear. We thrive in the snow and the great outdoors and the climate issues can drastically change that. So if you love your winter ski trips - Help to Protect Our Winters. They have currently a few initiatives and a clear 'game plan' with instructions for those interested to get involved. For this simplicity and a great spirit, I would love to support them! (And in case you wandered the name Couloir is actually a mountaineering term used a lot by 'free riders' which means a passage in the mountains or a corridor.Think of those Red Bull videos where a helicopter drops off the skier at the top of the mountain from which they then descend between the rocky 'corridor' producing a beautiful symmetrical curve.)

This one was a no-brainer. Half of our adventure photos include the two dogs: a lab and a husky. And while a lab was lucky to be born on a nice farm with a huge yard, a husky wasn't so much. He was found on the streets of Tucson wandering aimlessly. He then was adopted at the age of around two years. The sweetest dog ever (literally - he loooves everything baked and ones ate the whole pack of the Hawaiian rolls while we were away and left them on the table).However, thinking of him wandering the streets of the Southern city is heart-breaking. While coyotes have adapted to the striking heat of this state - other dogs haven't and heat can kill them very fast. I have personally known a few of the organization's representatives and I believe they are a highly professional team that helps the pets that were less lucky.

Now, this might sound a little weird... Since I was a kid, I was obsessed with the wolves. I remember watching the movie Balto and falling in love with wolves. That children's story about the brave wolf-dog who saved the town in Alaska melted my heart as well as many other kids'. 

But jokes aside - wolves are crucial to our environment. They help to control the population of herbivores and ensure that the latter have enough food for their families.

This one is pretty obvious. Most of the planet Earth is covered by oceans. I'm sure everyone has at least once googled those awful plastic trash islands. Ocean pollution is real. So this was the least 'romantic' choice for us to support. It is just something that really matters. Period.