Day 356 of #LiveWell2017

We’re just 10 days away from 2018. It’s hard to believe it’s nearly time to turn the page on another calendar year. But, that means you still have 10 days to give that much needed end-of-year gift to a nonprofit charity of your choice. Today, I want to encourage you to consider a gift for the environment. The current administration is hell-bent on dismantling federal regulations that help to keep our water and air clean, our rivers flowing, our wilderness lands safe from development and abuse, and our health intact. So, now is a good time to support agencies and organizations that are working to conserve and protect our natural resources (things we all depend on for our own survival and well-being, by the way).

You can give by donating money to nonprofits like

• The CREW Land & Water Trust
• The Nature Conservancy
• The National Audubon Society
• The Natural Resources Defense Council
• Friends of the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Friends of the Florida Panther Refuge
• The NC Botanical Garden
• The Triangle Land Conservancy

or any nonprofit conservation group in your local area.

If you don’t have the means or desire to donate money, you can also give a hoot by volunteering your time or talents to a conservation organization, by writing and calling your Congressional representatives and asking them to support legislation, regulations, and agencies that work to conserve and protect our environment, and by practicing conservation in your own life. Every purchase we make, every lifestyle choice we embrace, every thing we do impacts our environment. We can be conscious consumers and live lighter on the planet with each choice that we make.

There are lots of ways to give a hoot about the environment. What are your ideas?