For more than a year now, I’ve been a member of Kiva.org, a microloan web site. The idea is so simple, there’s no reason not to try it: Partnering with field credit organizations throughout the world, Kiva presents a variety of entrepreneurs and allows you to PayPal a small (or not-so-small) donation that goes directly to the entrepreneur so that they can fund expansion of their business. You can see their photo, their story, and a description of what they do, and sometimes even updates about how the business is expanding. And the great thing is that you can keep on giving–once the loan has been repaid, you can lend that same initial donation to someone else. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.

I gave $25 to a bicycle shop in Mexico, and then to a tailor in Azerbaijan, and now I’m loaning it to Savoeun Pork, a 22-year-old Cambodian weaver. He’s requesting $300 to buy more silk. (I can relate.)

Hand-looming is not just a time-honored craft passed down through families but also a very low-energy (as in low-CO2) way to produce textiles.