6 Ideas for Becoming An Eco-Volunteer [Week 27]
Amanda Drews, 8 minute read
There are so many different ways you can become an eco-volunteer and make the Earth a better place. Whether you’re younger or older, crazy busy or have loads of time on your hands to commit to volunteering, here are some ideas to get you started.
Volunteering for a cause you care about can give you a sense of purpose and make you feel like an important part of your community. Many non-profits can only function with the help of volunteers and even though that organization may be a small part or your life, it could make all the difference to the ones benefiting from your help. It may be a bit different when talking about volunteering to make the environment better but really when the Earth is healthier, so are we. Don’t forget to include your kids whenever possible or at least let them see what you’re doing.
So here’s some thoughts on going out there and lending a helping hand.
What do you care about?
Are you a birder with a passion for wildlife? A parent concerned about how your kids will experience nature? Someone who loves exercising along nature trails? Think about what’s important to you. If you’re volunteering because you care about a particular issue, the happier you’ll be spending your time volunteering and the longer you’ll stay committed for.
What is the need?
Depending on where you live, there will be different ecological needs. You may have a trash issue in your community, water pollution, a lack of accessible greenspace, a divide in who has access to nature, invasive species, or a need for endangered species protection. The needs will be as unique as the communities that have them.
If you can’t think of something off the top of your head, ask around. Talk to neighbors, city council members, the local forester, heads of parks and local schools. Ask them what issues your community faces and what opportunities there are to help. Many cities will have websites with links for volunteering or even dedicated groups or clubs.
Got mad skills?
Who are you? What skills do you have that can help you contribute to making this world better? Everyone has something. Think about what your strengths are and what type of role you may be beneficial in.
- Technical skills– Are you able to build something physical with wood or metal? Coding skills that could contribute to a group’s website? Graphic design skills that would be helpful for flyers or pamphlets? Photography, writing, video editing, welding, gardening?
- Physical skills-maybe you just like working hard and have the capacity to be on your feet, navigating rough terrain, lifting heavy items or standing for long periods of time.
- Knowledge-You might know a whole lot about a particular subject and can use that knowledge or help pass it on to others.
- Communication skills– Are you comfortable speaking to strangers or in front of a crowd? Maybe you have the commanding voice that gets people’s attention that I lack. Maybe you are just a real nice person, easy to talk to and can greet people at events.
How much time do you want to contribute to being an eco volunteer?
I would like to think of myself as a fair weather volunteer. I have no desire to go trudging through the mud on a cold or rainy day. For outdoor volunteer events, I often sign up the day of (sorry coordinators! I know that’s probably annoying). Or I’ll keep an eye on the weather and sign up a few days before. I also don’t like full commitments and being tied down to something every week. I keep an eye out for pop-up opportunities and random events or look for options where I have to get something done but I can do it on my own time.
You might be a very busy person that will only be able to sneak in volunteering for a short amount of time every once in a while or maybe you’re retired and want to basically make volunteering your new full time gig. Either way, by doing what you can, you are helping out and making a difference.
Grab yourself some gloves
If you’re doing some work outdoors, your main tool will be a good pair of working gloves. Below are two of my favorite types of gloves to use and two that are made of some more eco-friendly materials.
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I may earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link or picture and finalize a purchase. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I will always tell you my true opinion of the products I’ve used. Thanks for supporting the site.
6 Ideas For Eco-volunteering
1. Trash Pick-Up
Picking up trash keeps our lands cleaner looking and reduces risk to animals ingesting bits of trash. This is a great do-it-yourself project! You don’t have to wait for some event, just grab a bag, some work gloves and start looking around for litter. Keep safety in mind and don’t pick-up anything without proper protection if it could be a hazard. This could be a group project or done individually. You may not have created the trash but if you don’t clean it up, who will?
If you need a date to go by to get you motivated, try National Clean Up Day on the third Saturday in September or National Public Lands Day on the fourth Saturday in September. International Coastal Clean Up Day on September 19th. Ok, just plan on picking up trash all September! Keep the rules for recycling in mind when considering if something is trash or could be recycled.
2. Invasive Species Removal
National Invasive Species Week starts the last Monday of February. Check with your city to find out info on what invasive species are a problem to your community and what can be done about it. Invasive species can be harmful because native plants and animals may not have a natural defense against the invading species. Some invasive animals will decimate native animal populations and some invasive plants send out chemical signals that prevent native plants from growing.
When covid hit and then the protests for George Floyd were happening here in Minnesota, I was just fed up with about everything. I took my frustration out into the woods and ended up pulling around 5,000 little buckthorn plants. We did end up cutting and treating a few hundred of the larger plants and WOW! The difference between our forest then and now is incredible!
Make sure you know exactly which species needs to be removed and how. Some invasive plants are fine just pulled and left on the forest floor like Japanese hedge weed but others, like garlic mustard, need to be bagged and disposed of. You would hate to be thinking you are helping out when you might actually be making the problem worse.
3. Adopt A Drain
In our city, residents can adopt a storm drain in the neighborhood. Cleaning the storm drain help ensures a clean flow of water after it rains. This is one of my low time commitment volunteering gigs. Since I often walk by my drain while walking our dog, I can make sure it’s not blocked by leaves or other debris. Sometimes if I notice a lot of leaves are building up, I’ll do an hour walk around the block and pick up all the storm drains. Check out Adopt-a-Drain.org to see if your state has an official program.
4. Water Quality Monitoring
If you live near a body of water, there may be organizations looking for volunteers to collect some data on it. I try to bring the kids with when I check my stream because they love to play in the water and enjoy taking the measurements with the secchi disk. Check out the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency if you live in Minnesota to learn how to become a water quality monitor.
5. Citizen Science
If you are limited in what you can physically do to volunteer or maybe you don’t feel comfortable participating in-person, online citizen science organizations might be a good choice for you. Citizen science uses data from people all over the world to get work done faster
This is one of my kid’s favorite activities. He mostly likes to do trail cams and look for animals but we’ve done everything from helping program the new Mars rover for terrain recognition, identify health issues with eyeball veins, and transcribe old letters and lists.
Look through the projects on SciStarter or Zooniverse, or upload photos of cool plants and animals you see to iNaturalist. Just by taking pictures of different species and uploading them, you are helping researchers! There are also some specific times researchers need help with identifying species in your area such a butterfly migration and firefly activity in the summer.
5. Habitat Restoration
Trees won’t plant themselves. Oh wait, yes they do…but they will get a good head start on life with the help of volunteers. You might be planting trees, collecting seeds, re-seeding prairies with flowers and grasses or reinforcing stream banks. Look to your city or county to find habitat restoration volunteer opportunities.
6. Become a master naturalist
Like being outside and knowing stuff about nature? Check out this list of states that have master naturalist programs here. Just by being a master naturalist, you’ll be open to many more opportunities to volunteer. It’s easy to spot a master naturalist group! Just look for the hats, backpack, long sleeves, and pants tucked into socks look.
Becoming a master naturalist can also lead to more than just tangible results of planting a certain number of trees. It can help you learn how to introduce others in your community to nature and advocate for those who may not have equal access to safe natural spaces.
- Decide what you are passionate about, what needs are in your community, what your skills are and how much time you are willing to commit to volunteering.
- Look at city, county, school, state and national sites to search for volunteer opportunities. Contact any local eco groups to ask if they need help with anything.
- Week 28 talks about if it’s a bad idea to feed wild birds.
