Protecting wildlife is a big reason why people convert to an eco-friendly way of living. Knowing that our actions are not just harming ourselves in our immediate surroundings, it makes us all think twice about what we do. We all saw what happened (although it took some time) when that viral video went around of the turtle suffering from a plastic straw in its nose. Plastic straws are now banned in the UK.
As humanity harms the Earth, millions of us can’t help but feel it’s our duty to protect the wildlife with which we share this planet with. But how can we save wildlife by saving water? How does it all correlate? Well, we can look at this from a few different angles.
Protecting the oceans water to protect wildlife
Possibly the most direct approach is cleaning up our oceans. By ‘saving’ the water from pollution, we save wildlife. If you live a couple of hours from any beach, don’t switch off! This applies to you more than anyone. You see, while many of us think that ‘cleaning our oceans’ involves more bins at the seaside, stricter laws on who dumps in the sea and fishermen being more cautious – it is also us who live inland that delivers destruction to the oceans.
How? Litter. It’s that simple! Litter, no matter where it is dropped, it has the ability to end up in oceans. So, while you see a plastic chocolate wrapper on your street today, you could find it in the ocean in 5 years. The UK is quite a windy place – and it’s getting windier – while it’s great for wind farms, it means that litter travels far and wide across the country. Being an island – it inevitably ends up in our oceans.
It seems that just about every popular area struggles with litter, especially during the summer. Mass crowds out for picnics. Never enough bins. Even when there is a bin it is often overflowing, and people just politely put their rubbish next to the bin. The only problem is, as soon as night-time comes around, or a bit of wind, that litter ends up all over the community. It takes more effort to bring your items that end up as litter to an open space – so always take it home with you or wait to find a bin that isn’t full. But if you want to go that little bit further, get involved in a local litter pick. It’s a great way to save oceans from pollution and save wildlife.
Reducing water consumption to save wildlife
This is the part where your actions of saving water at home can save wildlife. Knowing as much as we do about the process of water travelling to our homes, it’s clear there will be implications for wildlife. After all, there’s only so much fresh water on the planet. Not only are we drinking it, but millions of animals are also living in it.
So, how can reducing water consumption save wildlife? Well, all our water comes from lakes, reservoirs and rivers. In the warmer months, where natural resources deplete at a higher rate than usual, our wildlife takes a hit. Although we try to take sparingly from these resources, demand from the public screams louder than helping wildlife at a time where rainfall is minimal. Can you imagine the backlash from some of the public if a water company switched off water for a day to help wildlife living miles away? By reducing your demand on the water supply you can ensure that wildlife that uses these water sources stay comfortable. From the fish in the rivers to the deer that travel to drink from the lakes.
Reusing water to save wildlife
If you can’t use less… what do you do? Reuse where you can! It all comes back to the waste hierarchy – yes that even applies to water. If you’re struggling to spend even less time in the shower, clean dishes with less water or cook using less water; reusing it is the next best thing.
It’s why we’ve previously talked about how you can reuse water around the home after cooking. Reusing cooking water is an easy way to reuse it and there are multiple different benefits around your home for it too. Of course, there is always a place for reusing your mop bucket water to flush your toilet with, but we love practical solutions that truly repurpose the water.
When you put it all together, reducing your water intake, reusing what you do use and protecting the nation’s water supply and oceans – it’s a recipe for success. The only sticking point is that not enough of us are doing it! We don’t need a handful of people perfecting water preservation, we need millions taking that first step. As Greenredeem members, we know you take actions every week – we see it in your activity participation! But now is the time to spread the word. Share this blog with a friend, talk to your family about saving water, download the water-saving checklist in your Greenredeem activities area and challenge your workplace to take part. It’s an important journey that we must all get on board with if we’re going to save wildlife.
