The Nature Conservancy is a charity that has gotten among the highest ratings from CharityNavigator.

 Since 1951, their mission has been to protect land and water around the world in scientific, non-confrontational, and pragmatic ways. They’ve preserved land in all 50 states and over 30 countries.

 A great gift you can give from their site to the nature lover in your life is their Rescue The Reef package. Coral reefs are among the world’s most beautiful natural wonders, and home to countless species of plants and animals, but through a combination of natural and man-made influences, they are quickly dying. Some say that up to 70% of the world’s reefs may be dead in the next 40 years. Your donation will go to an important project designing and creating protected networks in the Asia-Pacific region, known as the Coral Triangle.

Your recipient will get a gift card, certificate, colorful factsheet, and a year subscription to the Nature Conservancy magazine.

The photos you see to the left were taken by J. Oliver Lewis, an incredible nature and adventure photographer. His story is at the same time heartbreaking and inspiring.

Oliver died in 1998 at age 26, while kayaking and working in Ecuador. But even at such a young age, he had already produced an incredible collection of nature photography that shows his artistry and his love of the natural world. He was taken from the world at much too young an age.

Lewis’s family took the last 18 months of his photographs and compiled them into this book
as a celebration of his life and his vision. The images are a beautiful collection of seascapes, forests, close-up photography of nature, mountain grandeur, deserts, sunsets, and adventure photography.

All the profits from the book will go to charity, including The Nature Conservancy and DreamYard/DreamYard LA, an innovative arts-in-education organization.