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Several members of Defenders of Wildlife’s Field and Habitat Conservation teams contributed to this blog.
Watch as the sun breaks the horizon. The warm steam from your coffee or tea mug tickles your chin as the first bird songs flutter around you. Little yellow flowers still sprinkle the land, just as they had before the grass turned green. A lingering sign of warmer, better days ahead.
How are you, in the face of the biggest political and environmental threat to wildlife in recent history, building resiliency through nature? That is the question we posed to our conservation experts, who are working on the ground, in the courts and on Capitol Hill to keep our wildlife and wild places protected. Their responses are inspiring and hold a key to something everyone can do this Earth Day and every day.
Engage Your Senses to Find Peace
Step outside your home or open a window for just five minutes and engage each of your senses. What do you smell? Freshly cut grass, nearby flowers. What do you feel? A warm breeze rustling through your hair. A spring drizzle kissing your cheeks or hands.
What do you see? Distant mountains poke the blue sky or towering trees fill a sprawling forest. Even in the city, spring and fall bring all different types of birds flying — migrating — in the sky. Many birds stop in nearby shrubs and trees to rest, or perhaps this is their destination for the season. A hummingbird feeder with sugar cane solution may increase your chances of seeing these tiny, speedy birds.
What do you hear? Forests and fields come alive with birdsong starting at dawn. Bees busily buzz by as the breeze rustles the leaves. At dusk you may hear spring peepers, chorus frogs, cricket frogs and tree frogs gathering near vernal pools and water sources to continue their amazing life cycle.
Work Your Body to Find Happiness
Take things a step further. Several studies have shown exercise improves mental health by releasing endorphins, increasing dopamine and serotonin levels and reducing stress hormones. In other words, a fun physical activity outside will give you a happiness boost and get you away from the negative, doom-scrolling, news cycle.
An outdoor adventure can be as simple as a walk after work along a coastal trail or through still-snowy woods. Take a short hike with your family or dog. Go for a horseback ride on a scenic trail. Find a group of friends and create an informal hiking or biking club with regular meetups. Perhaps if you pick a different trail every time, you’ll find yourself immersed in nature in ways you never imagined.
If you live near the water, try canoeing or kayaking. If you’re lucky, you may find peace paddling among seals, seabirds or otters as they forage for food. Or, if you’re in a colder region and still have snow on the ground, hop on a snow bike or ski. As you glide through the snow keep an eye out for signs of spring like fresh rabbit tracks, migrating birds or budding trees.
Having a goal can be a strong motivator. Alaska Marine Representative, Ragen Davey, finds peace putting her rain and wind gear on and stepping onto a local mountain trail with her two energetic huskies. Her workouts get longer with the days as she prepares for a summit attempt of Mount Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, in June.
But a goal can be any size! Finding trails that lead you to explore new coffee shops or small businesses are excellent outings too.
Gain and Spread Knowledge
As you sit in your backyard or traverse a new trail, can you identify that bird call? What are those yellow flowers? Thankfully, there is an app for that. Just snap a photo or record a sound and voilà! You’ve just learned something new.
If you know of a cool animal spotting site, like a park where big horned sheep or migratory birds frequent, see what you can learn just from watching the animals. Rockies and Plains Representative, Kaitie Schneider, enjoys taking her camera down to her local prairie dog colony to watch the young kits learn the ropes of life on the prairie. The community, communication and trust of the colony is grounding for her to witness.
Beyond sharing photos and facts online, you can also bring your friends or community together for a fun trivia night! Connect on the species you all love or want to learn more about – and maybe you’ll even be inspired in a new way to conserve them.
Give Back to the Planet We Call Home
The best feeling is knowing you made a difference. Rally your community to clean up a local park or beach. In your own backyard, place water vessels for all critters to drink from or bathe in. Leave dead flowers over winter as seed sources for birds and dead tree trunks for denning and insect foraging. Plant native plants for pollinators. Build a bat house, install a bluebird house or plant a pollinator garden.
Reconnecting with nature doesn’t have to be complicated. Most often it’s the simple things that will ground you. Find your moment of quiet. See each migratory bird flying overhead and each flower bursting through the thawing ground as a reminder that time will keep moving forward and our planet must be protected so future generations can enjoy and reconnect with the beauty of our wild places too.