We often talk about the environment in abstract terms, using phrases like "good for the environment", "bad for the environment", "environmental problems", and so on. Obviously there is a place for this, but I think it also serves to abstract what is a very immediate and concrete thing that we interact with each day — our local environment.

So I wanted to ask, how familiar are you all with your local environment?

• Do you recognize (or even identify) different plant and animal species in your area? Do you know which are native and which might be invasive?

• Do you notice changes in your environment throughout the year? Do you know why these changes happen?

• Thinking longer term, if you have lived in one location long enough, have you noticed changes over the years? If so, what?

• Do you know what the most pressing local environmental issues are?

I'm hoping this can be a thread for people to talk about their local environments, but also to share tips on how to be more tuned in to your local nature.

I myself would not say I am very familiar with the flora and fauna of where I live, but I have been trying to get better. I use the app Seek (which is similar to iNaturalist for those who might be familiar, but with better recognition capabilities in my experience) to identify plants around where I live, and I'm slowly trying to get better at recognizing them. The process of stopping to take a photo has really helped me slow down and pay attention to things around me — I notice a lot more garbage, roadkill near the big crossings, etc. In addition, seeing pictures of some of these plants online have made me realize just how water deprived a lot of the ones around me are, which is no doubt an effect of the drought my area has been experiencing. This has lead me to be more intentional with seeking out news regarding water laws and rights and trying to be more tuned in to these issues.

Edit

Some great additional questions from this comment of @skybrian's:

• Do you know where your water comes from?
• Do you know where sewage goes?
• Where is the landfill that your garbage goes to?
• How is recycling done?

Hi! I'm Micycle_the_Bichael! I'm a pretty passionate local environmental activist. Short summary: I think climate change is bad, but even if climate change wasn't happening the way we interact with nature is still gross and leaves a lot to be desired (ex: over fishing, whaling, landfills). While there definitely needs to be governmental action on corporations on climate change, there are still changes that can be made in your daily life to help make the world a better place! Enter the year of the planet. This is a community group for making one small change a month to help the environment. Some may be things you're already doing, some may be new. For example: the January goal is to start using a reusable coffee cup when ordering coffee at a cafe since most paper coffee cups are lined with polyethylene and thus not recyclable. The biggest difference for me between this and many other (very great and valid) projects like it is that it heavily emphasizes building a sense of community.

The group who organized this is The Good Empire, who describe themselves as:

"Year of the Planet is an initiative of Good Empire. We’re makers of startups and projects for good.
Inspired by and aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, we bring ideas to life that are good for the world. We help change the things that need to change.
And most importantly, we’re a tribe. A global community of good people, united in purpose, to help create a better and more sustainable future for all.
Good Empire is not a registered charity, but we partner with registered charities in everything we do.
We will take no management fees from Year of the Planet, nor will any of the funds raised come through us. All donations will go directly to our charity partners."

Some of those partners being Wildlife Emergecy Fund and the seabin project which is a project close to my heart along with the ocean cleanup project

This post has been what feels like a really long rant on a couple of groups and causes that I'm very passionate about. I'll probably DM one of the other Tildes members who does scheduled posts and see about making a bi-weekly environmentalism thread to discuss what people are doing to make a positive change not only in the local environment, but in their community (a lot of good environmental initiatives also make your neighborhood/local community nicer and happier places :) ), struggles people are having, questions, products they have found, etc. and we'll see if it sticks or if it is just me shouting into the void.