12 Steps To Become An Environmentalist

End Captive Hunts

Don't Blame Deer For Lyme Disease

Help Save Bears

Ban Mountain Lion Trophy Hunting
In the forests of Colorado, a mountain lion runs as fast as he can, away from the deadly snarling of a pack of hunting hounds. It is dawn, and he has been running all night. He is exhausted, limping on a bloody leg that was caught in a trap, but the sound of the hounds spurs him on. He staggers further - and is confronted with an enormous cliff. The snarling grows louder. He looks desperately for an escape, but is cornered, too tired to fight back. The last thing he sees is the band of hounds bounding toward him, their teeth at the ready, before bang! The bullet hits him, and he feels no more.
This was the tragic fate of over 29,000 U.S. mountain lions in the past decade. They were forced to undergo unbearable pain, torture, and terror before meeting a gruesome death - all so that their body parts can hang from a trophy hunter's wall.
Mountain lion trophy hunts are justified by hunters as protecting humans, by controlling mountain lion numbers and decreasing the risk of human-animal conflict. However, such hunts can actually increase the likelihood of being attacked. This was demonstrated last February, when a Colorado jogger was attacked and managed to strangle the animal. Trophy hunters used this instance, and others, to advocate for the right to hunt mountain lions freely. However, the reason the jogger was able to strangle the lion was that he weighed only 40 pounds - in other words, he was a kitten, three or four months old. There were no other mountain lions found in the area, indicating that the attacker was an orphan, and much too young to survive on his own. Without a mother, who was likely killed by humans, the starving kitten had no choice but to attack the jogger in his desperation for food.
Mountain lions do not naturally attack humans. Since 1890, there have only been 25 fatal attacks; it is far more likely to be struck by lightning or stung to death by bees. They will, for the most part, only attack if they are in desperate circumstances - for example, in the case of the Colorado jogger, if they have lost important family members. The killing of mountain lions does not prevent attacks, only upsets their delicate social structures and forces the poor animals to lash out at humans in starving desperation.
Since mountain lion trophy hunting does not prevent attacks, why do we do it? Why do we subject these majestic animals to torture, pain, and death, for no reason except to give trophy hunters a deranged sense of satisfaction? Why do we orphan kittens, slaughter mates, and shoot young, full adults, with their whole lives ahead of them? Help end this horrific practice in the United States to save thousands and lives and create a kinder, more humane planet.
Tell The Military To Stop Testing On Animals

Go Veg!

How To Recycle

Save The Earth With Your Car

- Recycle motor oil and batteries
- Call your local transit system for bus schedules
- Call your local carpool program or start one in your town
- Carpool the kids to their school events
- Carpool to the ski slopes
- Carpool to go shopping
- Eat lunch at the office instead of going out
- Call stores first to see if they have what you want
- Combine several small trips into one
- Shop by mail and catalogs
- Plan an evening at home with your kids
- Do errands on the way home from work
- Encourage your teens to walk or ride their bikes rather than taking the car, and do the same yourself
- Shop for a neighbor when going to the grocery store or form a neighborhood co-op
- Have your car's emissions tested regularly
- Tune-up your car, especially before winter
- Check for proper tire inflation when gassing up
- Don't repair your car's air conditioning yourself, have it serviced at a station that recycles CFC's
- Don't buy a car with air conditioning
- When buying a new car, let dealers know that fuel efficiency is important
- Park and go inside instead of idling at a drive-up window
- Remove unnecessary articles from your car; each 100 lbs. of weight decreases fuel efficiency by 1%
- Enjoy sports and activities that don't require gas or electricity
- Avoid accelerated starts to save gas
Choose The Right Light Bulbs

Ethical Choices

- The planet and its plants and animals are worthy of our ethical concern.
- Plants, animals and the environment have intrinsic value; moral value because they exist, not only because they meet human needs.
- We should consider whole ecosystems, including other forms of life, in our daily decisions.
- Industrialization has created pollution and ecological imbalance. It is not only the duty of that industry to make changes to protect the environment, but all of us must make daily decisions that help to restore the environment and make it sustainable.
Recycling Basics

Leafleting & Tabling

- Do I need a permit? Permits are usually easy to apply for, although they may take two or three weeks to process.
- How often can I use this spot?
- Are there restrictions on the type of equipment that can be set up?
- Are there any regulations on selling items such as buttons and bumper stickers at a table? If so, you can ask for donations instead of charging for the merchandise.
- Ask for several copies of the application form to save for future use.
- one or two card tables or a folding display table
- folding chair
- pamphlets
- posters
- a plain table cloth to cover the table, long enough to reach the ground
- a donation can
- signup sheets (so you can contact activists for future events)
- paperweights - small but heavy
Become An Earth & Animal Activist

- Public Relations: This subcommittee does all of the canvassing, handles advertising, books tables, creates banners and posters, and serves as a press contact to drum up media attention.
- Outreach: This subcommittee liaises with other organizations, local businesses and anyone that might be able to support your cause through advertising, funding, in-kind donations of space or food, etc.
- Logistics: This subcommittee takes care of all practical matters such as scheduling, booking performers, finding needed equipment and services, getting necessary permits, arranging for parking, taking care of food, etc.
- Financial: This subcommittee keeps track of the budget and makes sure everything runs smoothly where money is concerned. Tasks include creating a budget, paying performers and service providers, setting any event prices, arranging for donations and identifying pre-event fundraising needs.
Save The Earth At Work

- Schedule deliveries together
- Subsidize and sell employee bus passes in the office
- Encourage employees to phone first rather than driving
- Use teleconferencing instead of driving to meetings
- Take the bus, walk or ride your bike to meetings
- Offer employees incentives for not driving
- Buy gas-efficient or alternatively fueled vehicles for your fleet
- Put a carpool matching map in the office
- Buy a bike rack for your employees
- Buy an office bike for employee use
- Buy recycled paper for office use
- Start a paper recycling program
- Make two-sided copies whenever possible
- Put an aluminum can recycling bin next to the pop machine
- Bus, carpool, walk or bike to work
Fundraise For The Earth & Animals

Cut Out Dissection

Plan A Campaign

- Try to communicate with your opponent. Write to the head of the company or organization, politely state your grievance and ask for action.
- Give them time to respond, but set a deadline so they don't keep you dangling forever. It's always possible that your opponent is unaware of abuses, and there may be room to negotiate a change. Regardless, if you don't go to the source first, your credibility will be impaired.
- Document your communications. Keep copies of letters and a written record of telephone calls.
- Before you go public, try to get some expert opinions to back you up. Such statements lend credibility to your campaign and make it easier to convince both the public and government officials. Approach scientists, veterinarians, doctors, or anyone else who has the experience and credentials to be considered an expert on the issue. Inform them of the situation and ask them to give you a written statement criticizing your target and recommending alternatives.
- Produce some basic campaign literature first: a fact sheet, a background/history sheet, an alternatives sheet, a page of expert opinions, and a short leaflet that lists your demands and tells people what they can do to help. These provide essential factual information for the public and the media.
- Arrange a meeting with the mayor's office and/or the specific regulatory office related to the issue. Clarify the facts about the issue and the changes you are proposing and try to get their support.
- Write letters to local government officials, congressional representatives, and the head of the organization you are targeting. State the problem, your demands or alternatives, and specify what you want the official to do.
- Arrange to meet personally with as many elected officials as possible. Try to enlist their support.
- Write to news editors of local papers and to related trade journals to try to interest them in doing a story on the issue.
- Educate your community. Setup tables and hand out leaflets to publicize the issue. Run an advertisement in the newspaper if your budget allows. Create a website and/or social media pages.
- Try to get support from other national and local groups. Contact civic associations, the League of Women Voters, Rotary Clubs, and political clubs and ask for their support.
- Give your opponent a second chance to negotiate with you. This may also be the time to issue an ultimatum if negotiations are unsuccessful.
- When you escalate to a new level, don't abandon your original activities. Public education should be a constant effort, complementing all your other tactics.
- Escalation means finding ways to exert more pressure, such as picketing, holding a candlelight vigil, organizing a march, encouraging a boycott or holding a rally.
Shop For Vegan & Eco-Friendly Clothes

Shop For The Planet

- Buy cereal in a large box instead of in individual serving sizes.
- Buy juice in concentrates and use reusable containers instead of single serving packages.
- Save money by buying bottled water in a large plastic jug instead of six packs of 16 ounce bottles.
- Reuse plastic water bottles.
- Buy large packages of sugar and flour.
- Avoid the small boxes of raisins and buy the same amount in the 24 ounce box.
- Use rechargeable batteries in toys, flashlights, radios. You can save $200 a year by using rechargeable batteries instead of disposables in one CD player used two hours a day.
- Use cloth diapers instead of disposables diapers. You'll save $600 per child by using a laundry diaper service instead of disposable diapers.
- Use a real camera instead of disposable ones. If you take 24 pictures each month you will save $144 each year.
- Many families spend over $260 each year on paper towels and napkins. Switch to cloth napkins, sponges, and cloth towels or wipes.
- Use washable plates, cups, and silverware for parties and picnics instead of disposable products.
- Use an electric razor or hand razor with replaceable blades instead of disposable razors.
- Buy high quality/long life tires. They cost less per mile traveled and reduce the problem of disposing of used tires.
- Use a washable commuter mug for your morning coffee and eliminate a Styrofoam or plastic cup every day.
- Bring bags to the market, either cloth ones or your old paper and plastic ones. Many markets will credit your bill for using your own bags. When buying only a few items, don't take a bag.
- Clean and service your appliances, computers, tools, and cars so that they will enjoy even longer lives. And, before you replace them, check to see if they are repairable.
- Consider sharing equipment that is used infrequently such as hedge clippers, pruners, fruit pickers, or chain saws.