Fostering Environmental Awareness at Any Age
The thought of trying to improve a community’s environmental awareness can be intimidating. There are so many different issues to address–it can be difficult to decide which problems to tackle and how to approach them. Furthermore, once you choose your issue and decide what actions are needed to raise awareness, it can be challenging to […]
5 Tips for Increasing Personal Environmental Motivation, from Visiting Botanical Gardens to Reading Sci-Fi
There are many ways to help the environment. For example, we’ve written extensively about reducing pollution and promoting community activities that will raise eco-awareness. From collecting money for Greenpeace to getting a compost bin, there are many options. Often, the only thing that stops people from getting out there and DOING something is lack of […]
4 Ways to Teach Kids How to Save the Environment
Kids playing soccer photographed by Susan Lloyd. Nowadays, children are kept busy with school and extracurricular activities. Between math class and ballet lessons, there may not be much time to teach them about environmental action. But we all know that kids are curious about everything, from what makes plants grow to what happens […]
Keep Tahoe Blue: Cleaner Water in California’s Favorite Ski Spot
Topics: Importance of watersheds Save Lake Tahoe & Take Action! Clean watersheds are vital to local ecology and human habitats. There are many ways to address our impact on them–through home improvement, for example. But how are local organizations creating ways to reduce pollution in our waters? In recent news, the League to Save […]
Paddle for the Environment: River City Eco Fest in Jacksonville, Florida
Many of us are committed to reducing our personal daily impact on the environment, but it takes the efforts of an entire neighborhood–or an entire city–to build a better, cleaner future. Community-scale projects that promote environmental awareness are a winning proposition. Why not educate the public while giving them a good time? Jacksonville, Florida is […]
Three Ways to Help the Environment with Your Morning Cup of Joe
Recently we discussed ecofriendly disposal of coffee grounds. Here are some more ways that your caffeine fix can have a conscience: 1. Get rid of the disposable paper cup! Although paper beats styrofoam, most mainstream disposable coffee cups are still no good. Nina Spitzer writes, “Most paper cups have a thin coating of polyethylene resin […]
Dredging, Sedimentation, and the Environment
Dredge Yaquina. Photo by Mike Baird. See also: ship diagram on Marine Traffic. Dredging is an excavation process by which silt, sediment, and debris are removed from from the bottom of a lake, river, harbor, or other waterway. For the most part, dredging is a routine procedure, necessary because normal sedimentation clogs navigable waterways. Sedimentation […]
How to Protect the Environment and Challenging The Governments Actions
Government agencies such as the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management are constantly making important decisions about the land under their jurisdiction. However, just because they have legal authority doesn’t mean that they get to arbitrarily approve or deny activities on their land. In fact, “arbitrary and capricious” agency actions are overturned […]
Watershed Stewardship to Protect Local Fish Populations
The land around a river or stream is just as important as the water itself. You can confirm that by talking to property owners who have dealt with erosion! One of the creatures most affected by degraded riverbanks is fish. You can’t ask them how, of course, but luckily scientists have worked to elucidate the […]
Watershed Road Signs: Vital to the Environmentalist’s Battle Against Obscurity
Scientific research is used every day to help the environment. Usually, it occurs through university labs and public interest foundations, but we’d like to encourage you to do some research of your own next time you visit your favorite creek. The experiment is easy: Politely stop some passersby and ask them two questions. One, if […]