Observe !

DOCUMENT LOCAL WILDLIFE/SEALIFE : Documenting local wildlife is important and helpful because, sadly, oftentimes no physical site study is peformed when the impact of a project is evaluated. This means the plant and animal life community in an area, as well as existing uses, can be all but ignored or altogether mischaracterized, resulting in poor estimation of environmental impact. In fact, this is often the case when there is heavy impetus for a project, either political or financial. Documenting animals and plants local to you helps because that record you make may demonstrate that an environmental review failed to take into account their presence or factors likely to cause environmental impact. A record you make can support an injunction, or stoppage, of an environmentally harmful undertaking after it has been approved but before it has started. Take photographs and as is customary, make dated logs of the amount of effort expended along with your findings. Documenting nature goes a long way to protecting it. Get to know all the special places around you and make a record of it.
CONNECT WITH A NATURALIST : If you do not know how to identify plants and animals, a naturalist can help. A naturalist is any person who studies the natural world. Naturalists make observations of the relationships between organisms and their environments, and also make note of changes. A naturalist has a breadth of knowledge and easily identifies species. By doing walks, wades, and dives with a naturalist and observing natural habitat, you will acquire knowledge that you can pass along to others in the future, while you help document the presence of living things and the relations between them to buffer against proposed uses of habiatat which impair or degrade it.
PAY ATTENTION : Read announcements of completed environmental assessments and environmental reviews, and ask for the records that support them. Learn and know where to look for these, who issues them, and in what publication. Participate in public hearing and comment opportunities. Ask your state Department of Environmental Conservation (in some states is called Department of Environmental Protection) where announcements will be published. Look out for the local town board meetings at which projects will come up for public comment and review. For projects that are required to be approved by a federal agency, find out which agency and when the comment windows close for any given proposed project or policy change. If you don't know, ask! Last, pay attention to the arrival of trucks, equipment, vehicles, surveymen and women, newly erected fences, and other signs that work might be under consideration or about to begin. Ask lots of questions.

Know the Law

This part will take time, and may not be for everyone. However, you won't know environmental law is broken if you don't know what the law is. Some environmental laws give ordinary citizens the right to information. If a public official declines to provide information, knowing what information you have a right to is very helpful. More importantly, knowing the law enables you to know how to challenge activities that damage the environment, degrade or impair natural habitats, or which cause harm to ecological communities or to populations of plants and animals serving important ecological roles. Plant and animal life is used for sustenance, forms the basis of economies, and otherwise benefits human health and well-being (anti-erosion, nutrition/medicine, and the renewing experience of immersion in nature). A citizenry that knows what kind of legal footing it may have is in a much better position to know what options are worth pursuing and is in a much better position to find suitable legal representation when public officials have approved allocation of natural resources in a way that impairs them or causes harm.

How to get started? Do internet research, ask for information from those who are familiar, attend symposia, read court case decisions, and think about auditing classes on environmental law. Twice a year, our organization receives help from others and brings together people who have new updates to share or who want to learn.

Find Help

> back to top <

What you can do

Stay Tuned, get news!

Use Your Edge

Donate

Give Word

Observe !

Know the Law

Contact Us