In previous the "The Power Is Yours" posts, I've touched on things you can do at home to help with water and air pollution. For this post I'll examine some things you can do to help the land.
A variety of human activities degrade the landscape or damage the soil, and here's how you can start to fight back.
- The next time you take a walk around the neighborhood or go to the park, bring an extra bag and perhaps a pair of gloves to pick up any litter or trash which might be about.
- Reduce the amount of waste which ends up in a landfill by composting at home and recycling paper, glass, and plastic goods.
- Consider using reusable bags when shopping.
- Try to find ways to prevent the erosion of your yard's soil. There are a lot of things you can do here: make sure soil surfaces are planted, roots help hold soil in place, the deeper the better. Slow run-off by having rain barrels to reduce run-off, plant a rain garden, or just having a good variety of plants including trees and shrubs, planted in your yard.
- Plant with plants that naturally grow in your yard's soil type. Many plants can improve soil conditions on their own; prairie plants have extensive root systems which do things like correct soil compaction. Plants native to your area are also unlikely to deplete the soil of nutrients, and consider planting a mixture of plants (especially some legumes) to help put things like nitrogen back into the soil.
- Planting native trees is also a way combat deforestation. Many homeowners live in areas where there were once forests, woods, or savannas which were probably comprised of oaks, maples, or pines depending on where you live exactly. So why not work on getting your neighborhood back to its natural state?
These are just some ideas to get you started. Remember these ideas start at home with you and can spread to others like your neighborhood association or take the ideas to city hall. The power is yours.
