Overpopulation, habitat loss, and careless use of natural resources affect all life on Earth. Buying exotic pets and goods made with animal products threaten the survival of many species. Can we do something to help? You bet!
Even though some problems occur on other continents, there are things you can do to have a positive—or negative—impact very far away. Action at the individual and local level is the first step toward a global solution.
The decisions we make—as consumers, professionals, concerned citizens, and parents—will affect the planet we pass on to future generations.
"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children."
—Ancient proverb
Use fewer resources.
- Conserve water: turn the faucet off when you brush your
teeth, take shorter showers, water your lawn or garden in the morning or evening.
- Lower your thermostat in winter and raise it in the summer by three degrees—this will save you money and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
- Use energy-conserving compact fluorescent lightbulbs and turn off the lights when you leave a room.
- When you need new appliances, look for the Energy Star symbol, which means U.S. the Environment Protection Agency and Department of Energy have rated the product energy efficient.
Drive less, and more efficiently.
- Leave your car at home when you can. Instead of driving to the gym, walk or bike when you run errands.
- Walk, bike, or use public transportation.
- Car pool. By taking a passenger with you, you will double your car's passenger-miles per gallon. (If your car gets 25 miles per gallon, for example, you will get 50 passenger-miles per gallon each time you take a neighbor to the grocery store with you.)
- When you buy your next car, purchase a hybrid, which is powered by both gas
and electricity.
- If you don't purchase a hybrid, make sure that the car you choose is fuel efficient.
Reduce waste at home.
- Bring bags with you to the grocery store. Many grocery stores will even
subtract the cost of bags from your total.
- Recycle plastic and glass containers and newspapers, magazines, and other paper. Find out what your town recycling program accepts, where to recycle cell phones and hazardous household waste, how to donate computers, and more at
Earth 911's website.
- Buy post-consumer recycled goods like paper towels and
garbage bags.
- Get your name off of junk mail lists. Contact companies directly or write to the Direct Marketing Association: DMA Mail Preference Service, Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512.
When buying food and goods, choose carefully.
- Buy coffee grown in the shade. Faced with habitat loss in North and Latin America, migratory
birds have found a sanctuary in traditional coffee plantations, which have a variety of trees growing among the coffee shrubs.
Find
out who sells "Bird Friendly®" coffee in your
area.
- At grocery stores and restaurants, avoid threatened species. Many fish
species, for example, may be either over harvested or raised
in habitat destructing ways.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program lets consumers know what to avoid and why.
- Don't buy pets that have been captured from the wild. The trade in exotic species is one reason many species are endangered.
- Don't buy animal products that might threaten the survival of a species. Ivory, turtle shell, caiman or crocodile skin,
and bird feathers are often from threatened and endangered
species.
- Avoid buying products that are not being harvested responsibly and cause the damage or destruction of important habitats. A new dining room table may be from a forest that is being harvested unsustainably.
Progress toward the solution of these long-term global problems depends on you and the extended circle of family, friends, communities, groups, and institutions that you influence.
Visit the Zoo's Green
Team Tips page for more ways YOU
can make the world a cleaner, better, safer place.
