What can I do to help birds and the environment

Fifteen things you can do every day to help birds and the environment

1. Get involved. Conservation organizations such as The Raptor Center and your local nature center rely on your support to further their important missions.
   
2. Get the lead out. Lead poisoning from fishing tackle and lead ammunition is a major cause of death among bald eagles and loons. Trade in your lead tackle and ammunition for non-toxic alternatives.
   
3. Slow the spread of West Nile virus. West Nile virus is transmitted to birds, animals, and people by mosquitoes. Remove standing water on your property. Clean birdfeeders and baths regularly.
   
4. Eliminate unnecessary pesticide use. Some pesticides kill birds - songbirds, game birds, raptors, sea and shorebirds, among others. An estimated 672 million birds are directly exposed each year by pesticides on farms alone. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, approximately 50 pesticides currently used in the United States have caused bird die-offs. Even the small amounts of pesticides individuals use on their lawns have a cumulative affect. Go natural and skip the pesticides.
   
5. Keep the cat indoors. Domestic cats, a non-native predator, account for millions of songbird deaths a year! Additionally, keeping your cat indoors is safer for your cat.
   
6. Use phosphorus-free dishwashing detergent. The phosphorus in fertilizers and detergents end up in our waterways. This causes increased algae and weed growth, which chokes the system and decreases the oxygen supply needed by native plants and animals.
   
7. Can your cans! Recycling one aluminum can saves the amount of energy used to power a television set for three hours.
   
8. Walk, bike, use mass transit, or ride-share. Fossil-fuel-burning power plants, industrial facilities, and motor vehicles are the primary sources of air pollution, acid rain, and smog that threatens the health and beauty of our natural spaces and the world we all share.
   
9. Conserve electricity. Almost all energy production and use involves some form of pollution of our environment. Each source of energy, from fossil fuels to nuclear, pollutes in a different way and to a different degree. Just how much pollution and what type of pollution is acceptable and which source of energy should be used has generated a lot of controversy. What we do know is that conserving electricity helps reduce pollution.
   
10. Properly dispose of toxic chemicals (i.e. latex paint) and items containing mercury. Mercury is a potent nerve toxin, which is increasingly found in our water, fish, and loons. The mercury content in wild fish makes it unsafe to eat fish caught in many lakes and oceans around the world.
    
11. Grow native. Exotic plants and animals are very harmful to many our native species, and are a major threat to many national parks and refuges. Plant native species in your own back yard.
    
12. Protect native prairie. The United States has only one percent of its tall grass prairie left. Prairies have the most threatened and endangered species. The sharpest decline in North American songbirds is in the grassland nesting species.
    
13. Stop junk mail. The junk mail that Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes. Visit the privacy rights clearinghouse at http://www.privacyrights.org or other Web sites to stop junk mail.
    
14. Recycle newspapers. It takes more than 500,000 trees to supply the United States with Sunday newspapers every week. Recycle, or get connected and read your Sunday paper online.
    
15. Share what you know. Share what you learn with others. Share your love of the natural world with a child to help insure that our wild spaces and the creatures that live there will be with us long into the future.