INTRODUCTIONThe previous essays should have made it clear that everything we do affects wildlife. We are the dominant creatures on this planet and we can choose to wipe out most of the species just by continuing on our present course of accelerating population growth and accelerating resource use. To save wildlife requires positive action; it requires changes in life style and changes in our general way of thinking (or not thinking). We must heed the maxim "Think Globally, Act Locally" and realize we are bound with all other forms of life in one gigantic ecosystem. The following are a few of my suggestions of things you can do to help wildlife (and eventually, help yourselves).
USING TIMEOne of the dominant features of our culture is our obsession with "saving time" as though time were something that could be stored in a deep freeze or bank vault. We consume enormous quantities of energy by using "time saving" gadgets from dishwashers to power lawn movers to garbage disposals. We drive powerful automobiles at speeds slightly faster than the law allows to travel to places as quickly as possible. We eat foods in which there is more energy tied up in the packaging than there is in the food itself. All too often the time "saved" is used for trivial amusement: to watch a TV program or play an extra inning of baseball. As individuals, we need to consider the environmental cost of all this collective time saving and act accordingly. Plan long trips for more leisurely driving. Be willing to take the extra time needed to use public transportation or car pools. Make chores into social activities. Take the few extra minutes needed to mow your lawn with a hand mower (and the good, quiet exercise it provides). I am not suggesting a return to living styles of 200 years ago, just some minor adjustments to our present life styles that might reduce such things as air pollution, which is causing atmospheric warming; the demand for dams that destroy streams; and the amount of habitat covered up by garbage.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE"Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" is a slogan that goes well with "Think Globally, Act Locally." I apologize for presenting these over-used slogans, but they do have a great element of truth to them. All three general activities can make your personal contribution to environmental degradation much less.
Reduce the amount of materials and energy you consume by buying fewer prepackaged goods, driving in an efficient manner (slower, no jack-rabbit starts, etc.), sharing magazines and books, minimizing the use of heating and air conditioning, etc.
Reuse items as much as you can. Many "disposable" items are reusable, especially containers. For example, if you make pomegranate wine (as I used to do) you can use old wine bottles year after year (this wine is drunk young). It is also possible to reuse corks, if they are removed from a bottle with an "ah-so" cork remover. Remember to shop using cloth bags or by bringing 'used' bags with you to carry your purchases home.
Recycling is one of the easiest ways to reduce your environmental impact, especially in communities like Davis with curbside recycling programs. Start doing it and it soon becomes a habit instead of a chore. Recycling paper, aluminum, and bottles is so easy, in fact, that it is your responsibility to recycle. If your apartment complex or work place does not have bins for recycling, demand that some be installed. If you have a choice, avoid using materials that cannot be recycled.
Recycling is just one of many things you can do in your daily life to improve the planet. Many other suggestions are provided in detail in dozens of accessible books on recycling and wholesome living available in most book stores. Lack of information is no longer an excuse for not taking positive action to reduce your impact on the global ecosystem.
USING TIMEOne of the dominant features of our culture is our obsession with "saving time" as though time were something that could be stored in a deep freeze or bank vault. We consume enormous quantities of energy by using "time saving" gadgets from dishwashers to power lawn movers to garbage disposals. We drive powerful automobiles at speeds slightly faster than the law allows to travel to places as quickly as possible. We eat foods in which there is more energy tied up in the packaging than there is in the food itself. All too often the time "saved" is used for trivial amusement: to watch a TV program or play an extra inning of baseball. As individuals, we need to consider the environmental cost of all this collective time saving and act accordingly. Plan long trips for more leisurely driving. Be willing to take the extra time needed to use public transportation or car pools. Make chores into social activities. Take the few extra minutes needed to mow your lawn with a hand mower (and the good, quiet exercise it provides). I am not suggesting a return to living styles of 200 years ago, just some minor adjustments to our present life styles that might reduce such things as air pollution, which is causing atmospheric warming; the demand for dams that destroy streams; and the amount of habitat covered up by garbage.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE"Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" is a slogan that goes well with "Think Globally, Act Locally." I apologize for presenting these over-used slogans, but they do have a great element of truth to them. All three general activities can make your personal contribution to environmental degradation much less.
Reduce the amount of materials and energy you consume by buying fewer prepackaged goods, driving in an efficient manner (slower, no jack-rabbit starts, etc.), sharing magazines and books, minimizing the use of heating and air conditioning, etc.
Reuse items as much as you can. Many "disposable" items are reusable, especially containers. For example, if you make pomegranate wine (as I used to do) you can use old wine bottles year after year (this wine is drunk young). It is also possible to reuse corks, if they are removed from a bottle with an "ah-so" cork remover. Remember to shop using cloth bags or by bringing 'used' bags with you to carry your purchases home.
Recycling is one of the easiest ways to reduce your environmental impact, especially in communities like Davis with curbside recycling programs. Start doing it and it soon becomes a habit instead of a chore. Recycling paper, aluminum, and bottles is so easy, in fact, that it is your responsibility to recycle. If your apartment complex or work place does not have bins for recycling, demand that some be installed. If you have a choice, avoid using materials that cannot be recycled.
Recycling is just one of many things you can do in your daily life to improve the planet. Many other suggestions are provided in detail in dozens of accessible books on recycling and wholesome living available in most book stores. Lack of information is no longer an excuse for not taking positive action to reduce your impact on the global ecosystem.
WATERThere is an old saying in the American West that "Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting." As Marc Reisner eloquently describes in Cadillac Desert (1986, Penguin Books), battles over water make up much of the history of the West. Until recently, the battles have been mainly among human users of the water supplies, most dramatically between cities and farmers. Los Angeles grew, for example, partly at the expense of farms in the Owens Valley, when the Owens River was captured and sent west through an aqueduct. Unfortunately, the really big losers in the water waters have been fish and wildlife, largely innocent bystanders. Salmon runs have collapsed in the Central Valley of California from 1-2 million per year to a few thousand. Freshwater fish taxa in California are going extinct at a rate of about one every five years. A majority of endangered species of wildlife depend on riparian forests, which depend on flowing rivers. Increasingly it is being recognized that the problem in the West is not so much that there is not enough water but that so much of it is wasted. Urban areas have been forced to recognize this fact during the recent droughts and have found ways to reduce water use by astonishing amounts, up to 40% in some cases. Although agriculture uses 85% of California's water, it has been much less successful in conservation (with some significant exceptions); in fact most agriculture has little reason to be as water efficient as it could be because the water from subsidized water projects is extremely cheap. Agricultural economists have shown that relatively small changes in irrigation practices can yield large savings of water. Even bigger savings could be obtained if the acreage of some water intensive crops, such as alfalfa, pasture, and cotton, were reduced, especially acreage that is irrigated by flooding it with water. Presumably, much of the water resulting from improved agricultural practices could be used to restore aquatic environments and valuable fisheries, such as the salmon fishery.
Changes such as described above (in a greatly oversimplified fashion) will not come readily, no matter how much sense they seem to make. The reason, of course, that water reform could cost some entrenched interests a great deal of money and could force changes in traditional ways of doing business. The only way such change is going to take place is through the political process. Quite simply, this means that if you want to change things (or not change things!) it is important to be involved in politics through voting, support of lobbying groups, or other means. It means that you need to be aware of how your political representatives stand on water issues because if you understand that, chances are good you will understand how he/she looks at other social and environmental issues as well.
In the meantime, you can raise your own environmental awareness by being conservative in your personal use of water: use low flow showerheads, take shorter showers, install low-flush toilets, use drip irrigation in your garden, water trees with water first used for other purposes, don't wash your car as often, plant drought-resistant ornamental plants, etc. During the recent drought, urban users in California showed an astonishing ability to reduce their water use by 30-40%. We should live like we are always in a drought.
Changes such as described above (in a greatly oversimplified fashion) will not come readily, no matter how much sense they seem to make. The reason, of course, that water reform could cost some entrenched interests a great deal of money and could force changes in traditional ways of doing business. The only way such change is going to take place is through the political process. Quite simply, this means that if you want to change things (or not change things!) it is important to be involved in politics through voting, support of lobbying groups, or other means. It means that you need to be aware of how your political representatives stand on water issues because if you understand that, chances are good you will understand how he/she looks at other social and environmental issues as well.
In the meantime, you can raise your own environmental awareness by being conservative in your personal use of water: use low flow showerheads, take shorter showers, install low-flush toilets, use drip irrigation in your garden, water trees with water first used for other purposes, don't wash your car as often, plant drought-resistant ornamental plants, etc. During the recent drought, urban users in California showed an astonishing ability to reduce their water use by 30-40%. We should live like we are always in a drought.
BIOREGIONALISMJoining local environmental organizations can be the first step towards living in a region as if you really belonged there. We are a highly transient culture and think little about uprooting ourselves and moving large distances in either physical or geographical space for a new job, to go to school, or other life events. The problem with this pattern is the loss of individual's identification with place. People who strongly identify with and know well the place in which they live are more likely to defend it against unfavorable changes. This is the basis of bioregionalism. This has been defined by our local bioregional guru, Robert Thayer, as "the widespread occurrence of grassroots on-the-ground action toward the resolution of environmental and social issues by voluntary non-profit groups that identify strongly with naturally bounded regions and local communities (Thayer 2003, p. 5)." This kind of action results in such things as the restoration of flows to Putah Creek, the establishment of the Vic Fazio Yolo Basin Wildlife Area, support (through purchase power) of local organic farmers, voting to increase taxes to buy farmland as open space, and creation of art and writing celebrating the local landscape. These actions all happened because of grassroots actions by people in Yolo County.
What is a bioregion? A bioregion is a geographically defined place in which there are "distinct communities of life, both human and nonhuman, where implicit conditions suggest particular adaptations (Thayer 2003, p 33)." This definition has three main points: (1) humans are part of the ecosystem, (2) we humans have strong interactions with our local environment, and (3) each area has its own distinct characteristics from climate to its plants and animals, so requires local knowledge to make it work in a sustainable fashion. The area around Davis has been arbitrarily defined by water: the watersheds of Putah and Cache Creeks, or the Putah-Cache Bioregion. These creeks not only flow through the flatlands that we see around Davis but they tie us to the Coast Range to the west. Farms in Yolo County, for example, draw much of their irrigation water from Clear Lake, a 200,000 year old natural lake that also is the main source of water for Cache Creek. If you buy fruit or vegetables at the Davis Farmer's Market from a Yolo County vendor, you have a direct personal connection therefore to Clear Lake (and the sources of its water). It is understanding connections like this that make bioregionalism so fascinating and can help you understand why a life style that reduces personal demand for resources can have a major impact locally.
20 Ways You Can Save Our Wildlife
- Do not buy bones, skulls, teeth, trophies or feathers of wild animals.
To obtain these product, animals have to be killed and you are encouraging the wildlife trade. - Do not think of our wild animals (such as wild boar and deer meat) as exotic food.
If we continue to eat these animals at the current rate, there will soon be none left. There is plenty of beef, chicken, fish and other meats available. - Don�t think of wild animal parts as having medicinal value.
For most of the times it is not true. A simple fact - the rhino horn is made of the same stuff (keratin) as your finger nail. Therefore, if you have a fever, would you cook and eat your finger nail? - Do not think of hunting for wild animals as a sport.
It may be a sport to you but it is certainly not a sport for the animal. - Do not hunt for sale or trade in wildlife.
Commercial sale of our animals reduces the tourism potential and regeneration potential of our forests, and is bringing some species close to extinction in Sarawak. - If you have no other sources of food and are allowed to hunt animals for subsistence, do not hunt any protected or totally protected species. These are so rare that if they are hunted, they might become extinct.
- Do not poison the rivers when you go fishing.
Poison kills almost everything in the rivers. Besides, it is illegal to do so. - If you are fishing using jala (cast nets) or jaring (drift nets), do not use nets with small mesh sizes. We encourage the use of bigger mesh sizes as this allows juvenile fish to escape capture.
- Do not fish near the shore, especially in the mangroves. The mangroves are critical breeding grounds for most fishes and prawns.
- Do not keep wild animals as pets. This includes birds like mynas, hornbills and parrots. By discouraging the pet trade, you are helping to eliminate the harvest of animals from the wild.
- Do inform the National Parks and Wildlife Service if you encounter illegal activities concerning wildlife. Examples of some illegal activities are : hunting inside national parks and hunting or keeping protected or totally protected species without a licence.
- Do learn about ways to conserve our animals. Subscribe to a wildlife magazine and watch nature programmes on TV.
- Make education your objective when you next visit a wildlife centre.
- You can contribute to wildlife conservation. Donate to a nature society or club. The contributions are often tax deductable. GIVE to SAVE!!!!
- Be a volunteer for a nature society or club. Your efforts are valuable.
- Encourage your school, club and friends to have talks and debates on the values of wildlife conservation.
- Do take photographs of our wonderful wildlife. Show them to your friends.
- Encourage your friends and family to respect Wildlife. The animals contribute to your well-being.
- If you have the option, think of wildlife conservation as a career. It is extremely rewarding.
- Finally, remember this saying, "In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught." Bring a friend to a Wildlife Centre and learn more about Wildlife conservation.
