Save nature!
"Healing our planet and ourselves is through our days prime spiritual work. No matter skin colour, relligion, culture differences - the ecollogy connects us all together. The ecology is common and universal project of our time."
Prof. Henryk Skolimowski
Conserving Europe’s natural heritage is not only a duty of state or European
authorities but of every single individual. We are part of nature therefore we
cannot separate ourselves from nature and its problems in our everyday life.
This is what every one of us living and working in a city and lacking
specialised knowledge of nature can do:
1. Contact with nature – walking in a park, watching birds secretly in a garden,
organising Sunday trips outside the city - these are the simplest forms of
contact with nature. Remember to maintain a bond with nature – it is very
important for our mood and it is definitely a better form of relaxation than
constant sitting in front of television ;-)
2. Food – choose organic food products and restaurants. Organic households do
not use artificial fertilizers, which contaminate soil, water in rivers and
lakes, and genetically modified cultivated plants, which can disturb the natural
balance.
3. Furniture – buy wooden furniture and other elements of décor only from
certified wood giving you a guarantee that it does not originate from clearings
of any unique forest.
4. Clothes, adornments – be careful when buying clothing and adornments of animal origin such as handbags and shoes made of leather, furs, adornments made of feathers and horn bones – part of them come from animals threatened with extinction.
5. Garden – do you live in a house with a garden? If yes, make it more friendly
for birds, bats and other animals by installing shelters and brooding boxes. If
you own the large garden, you can stop doing nurturing operations in part of it
to create your own small nature reserve;
6. Tourism – do not bring any protected animal species or seeds of foreign plant
species from your journeys to other countries;
7. Nature tourism – when you visit national parks or other areas protecting
nature, familiarise with their regulations and observe them strictly. Very often
habitats of rare plants and animals are destroyed unintentionally. You are
advised to use services of guides who are engaged in nature conservation. If you
would like to participate in educational nature trips in Poland, please read the
TRIPS section;
8. Sport – if you are an enthusiast of motor or extreme sports such as
mountaineering, diving or cave exploration, you have to pay special attention to
what you do so your hobby will not cause the extermination of particular species
or even the whole area. Check whether a place where you practice your favourite
sport is not a protected area. If yes, please familiarise with its regulations
in detail and observe them strictly;
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9. Education - broaden your knowledge about nature and its threats as well as
protective actions. To do it, use internet websites, papers or books published
by non-governmental organisations. Very often you can read only in those
publications about current threats for areas, which are naturally valuable, and
campaigns conducted for their protection;
10. Lobbing - support campaigns conducted by social organisations by signing
petitions and sending supporting letters to institutions responsible for nature
conservation. Many areas and species have already been successfully protected
only owing to great social support.
11. Voluntary work – become a volunteer in an organisation which deals with
nature conservation. Each organization lacks people to do do field and office
work. Owing to your active participation you can better get to know nature and
its threats under specialists’guidance, and therefore help it constructively.
12. Donations – support financially the actions of organisations which deal with
nature conservation. It is not possible to gain funds from institutions and
companies to realize many campaigns, therefore the fate of naturally valuable
areas or species depend only on support from individuals. If you wish to support
the Wild Poland Foundation’s actions, please read the donations section;
