Help save chimps: Pull the plug on electronics and chargers. Our everyday activities affect global climate change. In Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park, home to Africa’s richest community of mountain primates, including chimps and mangabeys, climate change has resulted in more and longer droughts. As a result, more than 10 percent of the rainforest has been lost to fires. To help save Nyungwe, pull the plug on electronics and chargers when they are not in use. In the average American home, 40 percent of all electricity is used to power appliances while they are turned off.
Help save tigers: Inventory your medicine chest. India’s Western Ghats are home to tigers and hundreds of other species found no place else. But the region’s wildlife faces increasing pressure due to agriculture expansion, road construction, and over-harvesting of forest products for medicines and more. For the good of the planet, only use medications when there is no other alternative. The process of manufacturing synthetic drugs emits more than 177 million pounds of untreated pollutants into air, water, and soil each year. And never flush unused prescription drugs down the toilet or drain: Pharmaceuticals in wastewater can damage plants and animals.
Help save gorillas: Recycle your old cell phones. Lowland gorillas, elephants, and other iconic African animals make their home in the vast, pristine forests of the Republic of Congo. These forests are increasingly threatened by illegal logging and natural resource extraction, such as mining for coltan, an element used to make cellphone batteries. When you deposit your old cell phones in the EcoCell bins located at the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, or New York Aquarium, the coltan contained in the batteries will be recycled, reducing the demand to mine in the Congo.
Help save Andean condors: Be a green gardener. Chile’s Karukinka landscape contains one of the greatest expanses of peat bogs in the world, an extremely valuable ecosystem in the battle to mitigate climate change. Peat is a non-renewable natural resource, however, and these bogs continue to be destroyed for gardening materials in developed nations. Rather than using peat to improve your soil, try making compost using kitchen waste, grass cuttings, and leaves. Regularly turned and kept warm and not too wet, all this waste will soon turn into a sweet smelling, soil-like substance that is a wonderful conditioner for your garden.
Help save coral reefs: Buy ocean-friendly seafood. Papua New Guinea’s Kavieng Seascape comprises some of the most diverse marine ecosystems on the planet and is known as the “coral triangle.” But pressure from a growing human population on land and commercial fishing on the sea threaten the spectacular reefs. Your consumer choices make a difference. Buy seafood that is abundant, well managed, and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
How you can help protect the Eider Duck- a species found in Arctic Alaska?
Less is more: reduce fuel consumption. Reduce consumption of oil and gas by driving less, driving fuel-efficient vehicles, lowering your thermostat in winter and raising it in summer, and making sure to turn off and unplug household appliances when you are out.
Make your voice heard: advocate for greater fuel economy and diversified energy production. No matter which of the 50 states you live in, your voice and vote make a difference. Contact your local, state and federal representatives and push for the development of renewable energy.
Put out the welcome mat for migrating birds Exhausted migratory birds may find food and shelter in yards and parks as they travel thousands of miles to and from their breeding grounds. If you have a garden, plant trees and shrubs that birds can use. Create a pesticide-free haven of native plants, hollow logs, or bird houses, provide supplemental food and fresh water, and you'll be a great host for travelers on the wing.
How you help save Glover’s Reef in Belize, a place that Charles Darwin called one of the most unique reefs in the Caribbean. The remote Glover's Reef seascape near Belize is a mecca for marine life big and small - whale sharks, sea turtles, rays, reef fish and a rainbow of coral species all call this habitat home.
One word: plastics. How much plastic do we use? Here's an example: we buy food that's wrapped or bagged in plastic, and we put it all into more plastic bags to carry home. We unpack everything - then throw all the plastic into another plastic garbage bag. Over a lifetime, just under 15 tons of plastic materials are tossed out by each and every one of us. And none of it is biodegradable.
Fish, turtles, and marine mammals suffer from consuming plastic debris, which they can often mistake for jellyfish or other favorite foods. "Filter feeders" like whale sharks suck in huge volumes of water to eat the tiny plankton it contains - but they can also suck in plastic refuse. Our garbage can be most damaging to fragile marine systems like Glover's Reef.
How Can You Keep MONDULKIRI'S ELEPHANTS in Cambodia?
Cambodia has recently experienced heavy illegal logging, with a significant part of the timber entering the international trade to produce common household items such as garden furniture.
Whether you are buying a chair or building a house - be informed and choose earth-friendly wood. Know your source.If you're buying any wood furniture, find out is type and its origin. Find out the origin of the lumber you buy for construction and repairs. Find out the origin of the lumber used by your contractors for construction and repairs. If you can't find out where something is from, don't buy it or use it!
Check the timber certificationDoes the lumber or wood furniture have Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification? This proves that the timber source company manages its forest concessions for the good of wildlife, people, and the planet. For more information, see the Paper and Wood Furniture Product Reports at National Geographic's thegreenguide.com.
How can you help save Spectacled Bears in Colombia?
The Eje Cafetero-Cauca Valley Landscape is a haven for species found only in this part of the New World tropics, including spectacled bears, red howler monkeys, and more than 1,000 species of birds. Its rich soils and cool climate are ideal for coffee and sugar cane crops. As a result, the landscape is severely fragmented by agricultural enterprises.
Buy organic sugar.Organic sugar is a responsible environmental solution that also is produced with healthier working conditions and is a valuable market opportunity for farmers.
Buy fair trade and/or shade-grown coffee.Shade-grown coffee doesn't require clearing of trees and other wildlife habitats. Fair trade products, such as coffee, help promote self-sufficiency and sustainable development.
How Can YOU HELP LIONS in Central Africa?
The Greater Virunga Landscape is the single most bio-diverse region in Africa. Its mountains, volcanoes, lakes, forests, and savannahs span Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Virunga National Park, Africa's first protected area and home to more mammals and birds than any other park on the continent, is within this landscape. The Virunga Mountains supply water and other forest products for the people who live around the park; they are counted among the poorest people in the world. Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National park is threatened by heavy metal pollution from nearby cobalt mining.
Get into a detox program.Cobalt is used in superalloys for jet engines, chemicals - such as paint driers - and magnets. The average home contains more chemicals than a laboratory: aerosol cans, paints, paint driers, furniture polish, ammonia-based cleaners, nail polish remover, oils and battery acid. Try to avoid substances that contain cobalt. And for your own environment, remember that household chemicals are a proven toxic cocktail when disposed of in landfills or poured down the drain. Check locally about collection days for such chemical wastes. Municipal recycling centers usually accept oil, paints, paint thinners, and cleaners, as do some hardware stores.
How can you help Loango’s Hippos?
Loango National Park is home to wildlife as diverse as its natural features. Humpback whales, sea turtles and sharks swim the sea. Elephants, water buffalo and hippos roam the landscape. Diamond mining threatens Loango, as the chemicals used in mining operations leak into the lagoons and ponds that are the primary water homes of the park's hippos. Unsustainable commercial fishing along the coast jeopardizes the entire ecosystem.
Know that diamonds might be forever, but wild places are not. Protect the jewel that is Luango National Park by becoming an earth-friendly gem shopper. The international diamond industry assures consumers they can buy a diamond with a documented history through the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). However, that approach has its flaws. The better choice right now is to simply not purchase diamonds or purchase only antique stones. If you must have a new diamond, always buy from a reputable jeweler. Be sure to ask where the diamonds came from and ask to see the diamond's certificate of origin that details where it was mined, cut, and polished. Be suspicious about unusually low prices. Demanding proof about the origin of diamonds or any natural resource sends a strong message that consumers are increasingly basing their purchases on what's best for people and the planet.
Choose ocean-friendly seafood.Enjoy fish and other products of the ocean that are not threatened by over-fishing. Do a web search of "sustainable seafood choices" to find many sites with the latest information on what kinds of fish are ocean-friendly choices
How can you help Scarlet Macaws?
These magnificent members of the parrot family are endangered throughout most of their range. One major reason is the illegal wildlife trade - these macaws are among the many birds that are captured to be sold as pets. Most do not survive the trauma of capture and transport.
Don't support the trade in exotic pets, especially birds.Even if the animal is "legal," you are supporting the demand for illegally-taken birds from the wild. If you want a pet, please, adopt a dog or cat from your local shelter.
Really, just say no to drugs.The drug trade, especially that of cocaine, has been linked to the trade in wildlife. The United States remains the world's largest consumer of cocaine, shipped from Colombia via Mexico and the Caribbean. Save your nose, your future, and wildlife - don't get your kicks from cocaine.
Support "good wood".One hope for the Maya Forest Landscape may be found in the "multiple use zones," areas where the residents legally farm and log under strict guidelines that benefit the land. Look for wood that is certified through these programs.
How can you help Adirondack Loons?
These distinctive birds are called the "spirit of northern waters," and are a symbol of unspoiled wilderness. Loons are believed to mate for life - or close to it. Their famous call is an eerie, yodel-like sound that reverberates across northern lakes.
Switch to non-carbon emitting sources of energy. Buy electricity generated by renewable sources, such as solar, wind and hydropower, from your local utility. It does cost more but your money is used to support crucial investment in renewable energy. Buying renewable energy for your home can eliminate as much as 10 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. To find out about tax credits you may qualify for by using renewable energy, visit: www.dsireusa.org.
Promote buffer zones for birds. Shoreline development can negatively impact birds' ability to nest and reproduce. If you are building a home, or if there is a development project in your town that is near a shoreline, make sure that "buffer zones" for wildlife are incorporated into the planning.
