NATURE (including Freshwater /Marine) - - Experience / conserve

NATURE (including Freshwater / Marine)
Simple actions that have huge impact.
"Tiny actions" X "millions of people" = "major system change"
Plus, understanding how nature works = better green decisions.

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PORTIONS FROM "NOT MUCH TIME?" SECTION, with added notes
#3) Network/Vote: Pop into a gathering of a local environmental group - even just for a short time.
Next steps:
- Go on a nature hike (see OURDOOR ACTIVITIES, below) and ask the leader about local environmental concerns, or volunteering for field work.
- Around voting time, Google "League of Conservation Voters" for sustainability scorecards for many politicians. (Also, truly green-minded politicians are usually best for World Peace issues, too).
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More actions:
- Consult experts (e.g., on nature hikes) to aid in promoting native plants and organisms.
- Do not purchase items that are “souvenirs from nature” such as sponges from coral reefs, painted driftwood.
- Do not release unwanted pets. Contact retailer for proper handling advice or returns.
- Spay and neuter cats
- Seal aquatic plants in plastic bags and dispose in trash
- Educate yourself about your hobby's (or project's) potential environmental consequences

Concepts:
- Living things evolved and adapted together in an intricate system, and depend on one another to perpetuate those systems. Just as a monarch butterfly migrating north depends on milkweed to be there for its young, and the milkweed depends on its pollinators.
- We are a part of that natural process, and depend on it as much as other living things do.
- We can never know all of the purposes served by one organism in an ecosystem.
- Introduced invasive or nonnative organisms have become increasingly common.
- With loss of forests, wetlands, and other habitats comes loss of species (biodiversity)



TRUSTED RESOURCES:
Native plants resources: COMING SOON

Native pollinators/habitat: www.xerxes.org, www.pollinators.org
Union of Concerned Scientists – www.ucsusa.org
Natural Resources Defense Council: www.nrdc.org
International Geosphere Biosphere Program: www.igbp.org
More coming... (many to sort out)


NATURE BY SEASON:
- Fall color Sept thru Nov: www.weather.com/outlook/driving/fallfoliage/statelist
- Eastern PA hawk migration - Aug 15-Dec 15: www.hawkmountain.org/science/hawk-mountain-raptorcount/hawk-count~default.aspx?id=518


OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES:

- December 14 2013 thru Jan 5, 2014: Christmas Bird Counts - find one near you, posted around November 2013: http://birds.audubon.org/get-involved-christmas-bird-count-find-count-near-you. There are several in the NE Ohio area, which will be posted here in November.

- Year-round: Adult Field Trips thru the Cleveland Museum of Natural History: www.cmnh.org/site/ClassesandPrograms/AdultFieldTrips.aspx

- Year-round: Field trips and outdoor activities thru the Cleveland Metroparks: www.clevelandmetroparks.com/Main/Home.aspx

- Year-round: Outdoor programs thru the Geauga Park District: reservations.geaugaparkdistrict.org/programs