What is a good way to get involved enviromentally...?
Answer:
This is a good question. I work in environmental policy and truly beleive that environmental work will become the most critical career field in the next 20 years.
As you said, there's always people willing to picket over environemntal issues, but there's lots of other non-conforntational ways to help mother earth.
Working in environemntal issues can range from public relations to law to science. As a environmental biologist you can help develop the science behind environmental protection. If you have a legal or political science background, try contacting an environmental organization that's active in Washington, DC or your state government. They're always looking for bright people who can help educate elected officials and thier staff on environmental issues. People with backgrounds in public relations and marketing should consider this too. If you dont have any training or background-- that's ok! I know people who came from a completely different background and are rock stars when it comes to issue advocacy and public outreach.
You can also do a lot of little things that dont invovle a career or lifestyle change, like write letters to the Editorial Board of your newspapers. Get a letter published on the need to expand the city's recycling program, or the need to clean up the drinking water quality. Read up on global warming and talk to your freinds, relatives and children about it.
There's also a lot of environemntaly groups on college campuses as well as associaitons of outdoor recreationists (like the Sierra Club) who are very active in environemntal protection issues. Wikkipedia has a good list of enviro organizations... worldwide! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_env...
Most of all, VOTE. Find out which political candidiates match your views on environmental preservation and VOTE FOR THEM!
Why dont you work at a zoo or something?
My compliments to you for wanting to avoid the temptation of merely being attention seekers. The truest environmental professionals out there are the ones that are actually preventing pollution on a daily basis. The ones that come to mind first are the ones that operate wastewater treatment plants. Can you imagine what Chicago would be like if those people weren't doing their jobs? Contact one, and I'm sure they can set you up with a free tour and there you can inquire about careers in the field. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you see and hear :-)
I am an environmental consultant and I work within the environmental bureacracy in Southern California. Sometimes its hard to not just become a part of the machine. I work at cleaning up sites in economical and technically feasible ways. There are many consulting companies that might need a hand. Most of them are involved with assessments and clean up. Hope that helped. Good luck
Well, what I did was I started small by making sure I turn off lights I'm not using and unplugging hair dryers and other "Energy Hogs". Then, I started to recycle and tell my family about recycling and being environmentally friendly. After that, I started picking up litter in our neighborhood and in other neighborhoods. While I started to do that with my family, we decided to get other people to start doing it with us as a hobby and a way to communicate with each other. Afterwards, we spend time at the park and teach the neighborhoods kids about the effects and what we can do. We have competitions to see who can pick up the most litter and recycle it to win prizes, we have t-shirts, newsletters, and some companies even donate to our non-profit organization.
Also, my uncle works as an Architect that uses recycled material to build buildings and he researches other ways to make our earth clean.
And you can try to start a Eco-Friendly foundation that can collect money and materials so scientists can use to invent new ways to stop Global Warming and your organization can also help teach children about what they should do to help the Earth.
its a huge concept
literaly hundeds of options and levels
check the first question
lots of ideas
and the seccond one discusses issues
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
Al Gore is asking to pass this message along about live Earth
http://liveearthpledge.org/algore.php...
The 7.7.07 Live Earth Pledge:
I PLEDGE:
1. To demand that my country join an international treaty within the next 2 years that cuts global warming pollution by 90% in developed countries and by more than half worldwide in time for the next generation to inherit a healthy earth;
2. To take personal action to help solve the climate crisis by reducing my own CO2 pollution as much as I can and offsetting the rest to become "carbon neutral;"
3. To fight for a moratorium on the construction of any new generating facility that burns coal without the capacity to safely trap and store the CO2;
4. To work for a dramatic increase in the energy efficiency of my home, workplace, school, place of worship, and means of transportation;
5. To fight for laws and policies that expand the use of renewable energy sources and reduce dependence on oil and coal;
6. To plant new trees and to join with others in preserving and protecting forests; and,
7. To buy from businesses and support leaders who share my commitment to solving the climate crisis and building a sustainable, just, and prosperous world for the 21st century.
Sign the Live Earth Pledge by visiting:
http://liveearthpledge.org/algore.php...
Together we were able to make March’s Congressional hearings a huge moment by collecting more than 500,000 messages and demonstrating the significant public support for solving the climate crisis to our elected leaders and the media. Our next opportunity to demonstrate this growing movement will come on 7.7.07
Live Earth will not just be a 24-hour concert – but the launch of a massive campaign to demonstrate that the political will exists to solve the climate crisis.
Sign the Live Earth Pledge by visiting:
http://liveearthpledge.org/algore.php...
As our movement grows larger we will shake loose the paralysis currently gripping our political system. Working together we can get it done.
Great Question. Being a fellow native of chicago (now a transplant in Miami) i feel your pain. I actually am in the process of starting a not for profit doing environmental education. I would search non-profits in the area as well as look at the local universities. Im sure U of C or Northwestern has environmental groups looking for volunteers or at least have some info they can give you. Good luck
You can recycle and or plant trees. Don't buy plastic products buy natural produts such as leather and fur. Plastics does more to harm the enviroment than using natural products.
The answers post by the user, for information only, FunQA.com does not guarantee the right.
More Questions and Answers: