Will there be trees left to hug?

Jadav Payeng in his forest.

For years, environmental activists have been referred to as "tree huggers" (which, for most of us, is fine), but the term is definitely intended as some sort of insult.

So when I read this story about a man named Jadav Payeng who has spent his life planting a forest..with his bare hands...an entire forest of over 1,300 acres, I think, "That's a real tree-hugger."

We all don't have time, resources, and space to plant forests with our bare hands, but what we can do is do our part to make changes in our lifestyles and to get involved in local environmental causes.

Here are ideas at home:
1) Reduce, reuse, recycle. Find out where your local recycling center is and use it. If your city has curbside pick-up, even better!
2) Conserve...water, electricity, paper, plastic..whatever you can possibly do to reduce, do it. Not only will your utility bills lower, your carbon footprint will shrink.
3) Bike, walk, go on horseback, whatever you can do to avoid driving. If you can walk there, do it.
4) Raise your children to be mindful conservationists and environmentalists. Children mimic what they see, so be a good example for them. One year, after a parade in Norfolk, my kids and I were horrified at the trash on the ground, so we stayed after the people left and cleaned off one city block. They were all wearing gloves, so I tossed the gloves in the wash when we got home to rid them of the germs, but it made an impact on them and they still talk about it to this day. BE the change you want to see in the world!

So if you're already doing this and more at home and are looking for ways to get involved on a larger scale, here's a list of national volunteering opportunities for environmental causes:
http://www.peacecorps.gov/learn/whatvol/env/
http://www.unitedplanet.org/environmental-volunteer-abroad
http://www.togethergreen.org/volunteer?timespan=current
http://www.nature.org/greenliving/volunteer/index.htm

And as always, look for local resources...here in the Charlotte area, there's the NC Wildlife Federation:
http://ncwf.org/localaction/index.php, and HandsOn Charlotte: http://www.handsoncharlotte.org/.

If you think one day of volunteering can't do much in the grand scheme of things, imagine if no one did.

No one.

Go. Make a difference.

~m