Team up to heal the planet

By Bridget Mazzini, Green Change

Sometimes I wonder if my individual climate actions are futile.

Take the biodiversity crisis. A wild and diverse natural world is key to our wellbeing, but the accelerated rate of species extinction and biodiversity loss threatens our planet and our health.

Critters that are crucial to the global food web are dying off at an alarming rate.  

Can I really make a meaningful difference? There is a way.

By teaming up with one of the strategic organizations working to regenerate biodiversity and preserve wilderness spaces, I can be one building block in a greater scheme to keep our planet wild, diverse, and healthy.

Here’s one to get you started.

Homegrown National Park founder Doug Tallamy believes that you are nature’s best hope. The park is working to restore biodiversity one person at a time. Their science-based strategy relies on “small efforts by many people” to heal the planet. 

Their plan is simple: plant natives. Have fun doing it. The goal: to convert half of the privately owned land in the US, 20 million acres, to highly productive ecosystems starring native plants. You can watch your contribution make a difference by getting on their map, an interactive visual that displays each person’s contribution to planting native by state, county and Zip Code.

 Here are a few other groups that want your help:

• 3 Billion Birds: Learn more about the decline of breeding birds and what you can do to help bring them back.

• Nature Needs Half: Partners with the Wild Foundation pushing for the protection of 50% of wild areas by 2030.

• Mission Blue: If the ocean is your love, follow that passion. Mission Blue is working to build a global network of marine protected areas known as Hope Spots.  

Let your hope blossom by adopting a group that aligns with your affinity for the wild, whether that is on the land, in the air, or in the water! 

Photo credit: Tim Shore