If you want to “live greener”, spend as much time in nature as you can and don’t underestimate the importance of doing so. That’s what Bob tells people who ask him how they can help protect the environment.
The personal connection to the earth that you nurture, Bob says, creates the kind of passion that will translate naturally into protecting what you love. Then the “to-do list” of ways to live green will feel like heart-felt, empowered action rather than guilt-inducing chores hanging over your head.
To live greener, make sure you get out in nature. Photo: Seeman, Morguefile.com
If you never drank in the scents and muted sounds of a soft forest floor covered in pine needles, you won’t miss it when it is gone. So treasure and enjoy what we have. Your relationship with nature will change you and help you take action to protect these things.
If you love swimming in the ocean you can look into efforts to protect the shoreline. Photo: Sias van Scalkwyk, Sxc.hu
Bob advises that you notice what it is that you are drawn to most.
- Is it the rush of cold ocean water on sunburned skin…
- the colors and crispness of fall air that energize you after a lazy summer…
- laying on the ground at night and suddenly grasping, if only for a fleeting second, the vastness of the universe as you gaze at the stars…
- a sudden, unexpected face-to-face with a fox or other wild animal?
Whatever inspires you, do what you love, says Bob. These are your stars, your waters, your wildlife, your woods. Yours and mine. They can’t speak up for themselves. Love them, lest they wither away unnoticed.
Your feeling of connection to nature is a perfectly legitimate reason for asking decision-makers to protect natural resources when planning their communities. You might not be the only one who feels passionately about that small patch of woods with the little trickle of a stream you “ran away” to when you were a teenager, or the view from the top of a particular hill that makes you feel at peace.
Unexpected encounters with wildlife help you connect with nature. Photo: Jade, Morguefile.com
These things that we collectively treasure are worthy of preserving, and communities find ways to do this all the time. But it starts with me and you. Bob has worked with hundreds of citizens and dozens of civic groups in his career, and their successes are many because people cared enough to take action. Sometimes it was only passion and tenacity that carried the victory.
I’m paraphrasing Bob in all this, but I think I captured his message:-)
Star-gazing is threatened by light pollution. Google “dark skies” to find out how you can help. Photo: Patricia E. Green, Morguefile.com
Please leave a comment and tell us about a moment in nature that changed you.
©Lisa C. DeLuca, all rights reserved. It is a violation of copyright law to reproduce this work on the web or for business use without permission from the author. This article was originally published on the web in 2008 and revised on 5/19/2013. Please contact the author with your reprint request.