Efforts to protect our wild plants and animals must focus primarily on the conservation of natural habitat and this is not as straight forward as it may sound. For any given class of habitat (e.g. woodlands) there are a vast diversity of subtypes (e.g. coniferous, boreal, deciduous, swamp, old growth, etc.) and most species are associated with a specific type of habitat. In other words, in order to sustain a broad diversity of species, we must protect a wide range of habitat.
To do so, we must ensure that our current wilderness areas remain intact, identify and protect threatened ecosystems across the globe and work to restore habitats that have succumbed to human impact (ranching, industrial pollution, residential sprawl and the introduction of non-native species, to name just a few). In addition, we must make an effort to keep our residential areas eco-friendly by protecting greenbelts, limiting unnatural vegetation, planting a diversity of native species and allowing open space to naturalize. Of course, our commitments to population control, clean and renewable energy and pollution mitigation are also vitally important.
While there are many conservation organizations that are devoted to these challenges (some are listed in the right column of this blog), I have long admired the work of the Nature Conservancy, which takes a practical, global approach to habitat protection and restoration. Though I have been a member for many years, I have no direct relationship with the Conservancy but hope that anyone who truly cares about the health of this planet will visit their website and support their efforts. Too many others are working against us.
