Natural Environment Blog

TripAdvisor has announced the results of the $1 million dollar giveaway to charity that I mentioned a few weeks ago. 

As you might recall, the travel company was getting its website visitors to vote how the $1 million was going to be split between five charity organizations.

Now, voting has closed, the results have been released, and TripAdvisor say that they received more than 1 million votes!

Result

Here’s the result: 

• Doctors Without Borders: $392,000
• Save the Children: $347,000
• The Nature Conservancy: $137,000
• Conservation International: $70,000
• National Geographic Society: $54,000

It’s great to see companies spending their advertising dollars in these kinds of promotions rather than traditional advertising. Hotels Combined is another company donating to charity based on its website visitors’ votes.

Source: TripAdvisor ‘Causes’ page

The shorlist has been announced for the 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year. 

Shortlisted photographs (as displayed on the New Scientist website) include:

• Bat house, by Christian Ziegle - a photo of a bat in mid flight
• Starling genie, by Baris Koca - an unusual shot of a flock of starlings in mid flight
• Colourful business, by Noam Kortler - a photo of a small cleaner fish picking the parasites off a colorful reef fish
• Sandpiper congregation, by Arthur Morris - a close up of a flock of sandpipers snuggled together sleeping
• Bottle in the wind, by Koos van der Lende - an interesting shot of a lone bottle tree on a vast plain 

The competition is owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in October.