Kids love wildlife! Seeing wildlife out in nature can be very inspiring and exciting. We all want to make sure wildlife stays safe and healthy. But sometimes we endanger wildlife without even knowing it! Our garbage can get into the environment and wildlife will mistake it for food and eat it. Other times it can get caught on wildlife and end up choking or disfiguring them. We now know there are 2 large islands of floating garbage (90% plastic) in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. But there are some very simple things kids and families can do to help protect wildlife.
1. Make Sure You Don't Litter. Eighty percent of the garbage in the ocean comes from litter. Put garbage in the garbage can, recycling bin, or where ever else it belongs. When you litter that garbage can end up in the sewer and that goes into our rivers, lakes and oceans. Animals can mistake it for food, eat it, and get sick, or worse, even die.
2. Cut up Your Garbage. You can even rip it apart! Plastic rings (like soda pop six pack rings) can end up caught on animals and hurt them. When animals are little the garbage gets caught on them and stays on them while they grow. They don't have fingers and they can't take it off. Dolphins and turtles eat squid and plastic bags floating in the ocean look like squid, so make sure you cut up any plastic bags before they go in the garbage. Better yet, ask your parents to recycle it after you cut it up.
3. Reduce Your Use of Plastic Bags. When you go shopping bring your cloth bags. Even if you forget them at home you can now buy reusable shopping bags at most stores. Don't just bring your reusable bags to the grocery store. Take them with you anywhere you shop. This is one easy way to reduce plastic in our waste stream and keep animals safe.
4. Buy Reusable Sandwich, Snack, and Storage Bags. There are many reusable products on the market that reduce the need for disposable plastic products. Parents, you have to buy these so your kids have access to them. Snack Taxi's are great for lunches, and can be used for sandwiches and all kinds of snacks. Great news is they are washable. Abeego wraps can be used to store food in your frig, are made from natural fibers, and can be hand washed.
5. Just Say NO to Styrofoam. Styrofoam use is on the rise; mostly in restaurants; especially for fast food and coffee. Do you know why? It's the cheapest. But when you know that a lot of it ends up as litter, floating into our waterways and hurting our wildlife, the cost changes. You can reduce the amount of Styrofoam out there by bringing a reusable mug for your hot beverages. You can also reduce plastic bottle waste by bringing your reusable water bottle. Check out REI for different options. After eating out for dinner, request your "to go" food in foil or paper. Most places can accommodate you. You can also plan ahead and bring your own container. But if you forget you can just say no to the Styrofoam container and leave the food behind.
There are many ways to reduce our impact on Wildlife and help keep animals safe. I hope these ideas inspired you to make some changes and maybe made you think of some new ideas too.
Alexandra Gnoske is an Environmental Expert, Green Business Owner, and Author/Illustrator of Loui Saves the Earth.
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