Making A Difference: A note for this Keep It Wild ‘Impact Day’
Today’s the first summer Impact Day for Keep It Wild. Wild Keepers (basically ambassadors for the group) across the country and world are out and about cleaning trails and wildspaces, living the No Trace lifestyle, and supporting a mindset that we only have one world and we need to protect it. So, this post is going to focus on just that – protecting Mother Earth.
What you can do
- Register to Vote. While you might be able to clean up a local park on your own, you can’t clean up the ozone alone. That’s where our elected officials come in. You have a voice. Make it count. Millenials are now the largest voting bloc in the country and polls overwhelmingly show we care about how our planet is treated. If you show up. If you get your friends to show up. You will make a difference.
- Take an active role in your community. No, I don’t need you to run for office, but pick up the phone every few weeks and make a call to an elected official telling them you vote, what you care about, and what you believe they need to do to protect the planet. Furthermore, gather some friends, go hike, or pick a trail that you’ve noticed is constantly dirty and clean it up. Better yet, hold your friends to higher standards. (Ex: Bananas do not quickly decompose in AZ. You can’t just leave them on top of Camelback Mountain. Pack Out what you Pack in.
- Support organizations that share your common interests and are supporting #ActOnClimate. This can be monetary or through volunteerism. Orgs like the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, National Resources Defense Council, Conservation Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Working Group, National Wildlife Federation, just to name a few. You can go online, and see how these and countless more are rated for their usage of funds and what missions they support. I guarantee there’s one that will pique your interest.
You have a voice.
You have been given a great gift to live in one of the greatest democracies this world has ever seen and been given tools no generation has ever had. You have the power to reach people on every continent simply by clicking a button. Use it. Use this power for good.
Use this power to make a difference that maybe won’t be felt this week, or next year, but possibly a decade or a century down the road. Influencing the future is true power. Knowing you won’t be there to see the results of a better world is an even greater, selfless act. This is a long fight. One that won’t always be pretty but the tide is changing.
Young people are rising. And we will fight back against the special interests who only see dollar signs where we see beautiful trees, cacti, or mountains.
