For Love of Nature: Resolving to help wildlife in 2020 – Lynchburg News and Advance

Happy 2020! This year, instead of hindsight being 2020, wouldnt it be nice if foresight were 2020?

Unless youve been hiding under a rock, you know the natural world is taking a huge hit from climate change, habitat destruction and pollution, resulting in mass extinction.

While the challenges sometimes seem insurmountable, there are ways all of us can help leave a better world for future generations.

Create wildlife habitat. Who doesnt like flowers? Native flowering plants help pollinators like bees and butterflies. Birds and other wildlife need bushes, brush piles and trees to raise young and avoid predators.

So do yourself a favor, too, and start reducing the size of your unproductive grass lawn. Stop using pesticides, herbicides and other poisons, which kill all life, not just pests.

Help preserve habitat. Eating less meat is the best way to keep forests and open spaces from being destroyed. Livestock, especially cattle, take up a lot of space. Rainforests are being burned to make way for food for cattle.

Drink only fair trade, organic coffee and tea for the same reasons, and avoid palm oil, which is responsible for the destruction of rainforests and the annihilation of many species, including orangutans.

Given a choice of a new house and an existing house, buy an existing house. Start a business in a vacant building. We need to protect open spaces and create wildlife corridors.

If you have a large tract of land, consider placing it in a conservation easement.

Use less plastic. Plastic, from microscopic pieces to large chunks, has now been found in virtually every waterway on the planet. Whales, other marine life and birds are starving from the amount of plastic they are ingesting, or dying from getting tangled in discarded fishing lines and nets.

Dont release balloons into the air. They often end up in the seas, where turtles mistake them for food.

Dont litter. All litter is problematic, as noted above, and not just because its unsightly. Litter along the roadways attracts animals to the sugar in soda bottles or the carbs in pizza crusts. Likewise, rodents are attracted to the roadside, which in turn attract owls and hawks. All are at risk of being struck by vehicles.

Driving slower, especially at night, can reduce roadkill. And if you see one deer, expect more close behind.

Keep cats indoors. Habitat destruction and cats are the biggest killers of birds, which have declined nearly 30% since 1970.

Turn off lights and noise. Light and noise pollution disrupt natural patterns for animals and people, too.

Vote for wildlife and a sustainable future. This is a big election year. We currently have a president who denies climate change and has rolled back 58 environmental regulations, including those that protect clean air and water, as well as endangered species and migratory birds. Another 37 rollbacks are pending.

Voting for candidates at all levels of government who care about a sustainable world is the most important thing you can do this year.

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For Love of Nature: Resolving to help wildlife in 2020 - Lynchburg News and Advance