Enjoy, Learn, and Better the Environment
Environmental education and action are the keys to success. Below are some easy ways to start your conservation education. This section is not made to get into fine detail, just to give a starting point.
Citizen Scientists
Citizen scientists can be a great aid both to the environment and to the community. By learning about local flora and fauna you can better yourself and your community by teaching others more environmental friendly ways to live. There are many groups and apps that help you identify plants and animals which provide an easy start to learning. Some of these contribute data to help research projects and mapping of the located plant or animals. Inaturalist, eBird, and Merlin Bird ID are three that I found very easy to use with great communities that support each other.
Increase Flora and Habitats
Do you like food? How about clean water? Enjoy photographing wildlife or just watching it in your yard? If you are like me or any reasonable person then you do. Try planting a garden or even just some native or non-invasive (non-native) flowers or keystone species in some free space in your yard. It is generally reccomended that a 70/30 or so mix of native species and non-native (non-invasive) species are used.
Plants work all kinds of magic on keeping everything in balance. Certain plants (and fungi) can help remove various contaminates from the soil, stop or lessen erosion, feed all sorts of other creatures, and a whole lot more. Increasing plants numbers helps everyone and can be fun too. The most important thing we can do is increase the number of habitats for insects and animals as humans are decimating them. Even if you live in an apartment you can plant a small container or two of plants on your deck. If you want to be even more successful add a water source as it will draw more insects and other animals.
If you are interested and don't know where to start, begin by contacting your local cooperative extension and they can point you in the right direction. The local extensions have a huge benefit in knowing about your local area’s native species, other keystone species, diagnose plant diseases, provide training, and plenty of other things depending on where you live. As I live in North Carolina, I will provide a link to the NC State Extension and NC State's Extension Gardener Handbook.
Herbicides and Pesticides
A highly contested topic and very misunderstood and misused. Herbicides, when used appropriately, can be fine for the environment. Type of herbicide, reasons for using it, location used, time of use, ect. are all very important aspects to research prior to using them. We do not want water runoff containing herbicides to enter our water ways. We also do not want to be exposed to potentially dangerous chemicals. In some cases, herbicides are very great tools to deal with things like large quantities invasive species.
Pesticides (insecticides in this case) are also misunderstood and misused. A large majority of them are non-selective (basically most of them) and will kill both the intended “pest” and anything else that encounters it. As annoying as some species can be (talking to you mosquitos and deer flies) they do serve a very important purpose. Spraying insecticides on your own garden and plants is not the best for the environment because they can easily kill pollinators and sources of food for other animals. By using appropriate cultural practices and educating yourselves on the insect you want to get rid of, you can usually mitigate the damage or annoyance of these insects. Remember, insects are great for the environment as they are part of the food cycle. Flies are even considered major pollinators (thanks hoverflies!).
Regardless of your thoughts regarding either of the two, research the pros and cons and make your own intelligent decision.
Get Involved
Whether it is volunteer work picking up trash along side a river that you frequent or pushing for more modern environmental policies, we need to stay involved and help out the environment because it takes care of us. I despise going out to a local park and seeing the trash people left behind near a trash can or fishing line all around popular fishing spots. A main cause of environmental problems is due to anthropocentric reasons. Help reverse the damage and do your part.
Show Support
Contrary to what a lot of people think, hunters and fishers contribute greatly to the environment. A very brief example is the National Wild Turkey Federation being credited with the restoration of wild turkeys in the United States. Sure, it was not solely their contribution but they organized, educated, and helped fund a huge conservation success. The point of that is to say this: hunters and fishers contribute to state and federal conservation funds when they purchase their licenses, they promote better habitats for animals, and are very large contributors overall to wildlife conservation. I am not asking or telling you to go join or support any specific non-profit or to even support hunting/fishing, but they are really great for the conservation cause. Without some of these non-profits the environment would loose a lot of endangered species protection, wildlife and habitat restoration, and a lot of public education.
As people continue to quickly destroy natural wildlife habitats it creates a chain of negative environmental events. Predators (among a whole lot more flora and fauna) are nearly eradicated from urban areas. This allows other species to loose natural predation which causes other issuess. Disease, overpopulation (which results in animal starvation), acting as “nuisances”, habitat destruction and more. Hunters and fishers contribute as predators by harvesting their game which helps restore the natural balance.
Learn from Real Experts
Stop listening to social media about conservation (or really anything) and learn from real scientific research, universities, and sources like peer-reviewed journals. If you want to learn and better yourself don’t waste your own time by listening to someone pushing an agenda using every buzzword they can think of.
Scientific studies and books are often used out of context in order to either push agendas or because people misinterpret what the author was saying. As I recently learned (at a pollinator symposium) this is how the whole “native species only” idea began and has been in such limelight.
Attend symposiums, meet the real experts of their fields, volunteer at organizations with knowledgable people, take a college course, ect.