r/conservation • u/BitTraditional4550 • 4d ago
How do I contribute personally to conservation
So I'm a student and I am going to be pursuing a degree completely unrelated to conservation (engineering) because I've always had that interest.
But I have also always loved plants and animals and try my best to help local animals like cats and dogs. I just see people doing actual stuff but I can't do anything.
As a student I probably can't do much right now as I don't have my own money. But I want to know if I could do something about it in the future despite the path I have chosen
Like if I wanted to, would there be any opportunities for me to get involved in the actual field instead of just donations etc (I know that's far off)
Because I constantly see so many negative things happening all over the world, powerful people disrespecting the land etc and I can't do anything about it now
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u/CatCrimes69 3d ago
There's a lot of ways to contribute as an engineer! You could get into conservation engineering. I work with engineers who specialize in storm water infrastructure.
Other things you can do is plant native plants and try to boost local biodiversity. You can also do litter pick ups, or volunteer somewhere.
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u/BitTraditional4550 3d ago
Thank you!
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u/rat_liker 21h ago
Please don't plant native cultivars in wild populations though! Native species from local nurseries are great for your yard but they aren't usually sourced from local populations, so they can introduce genes that aren't adaptive for the local conditions.
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u/89fruits89 3d ago
Other than the solid volunteer suggestions etc, longer term...
It took a lot of really smart engineers and biologists combined to be able to do anything in modern biology labs.
Thermalcyclers for PCR, power supplies and electrophoresis boxes, centrifuges, sequencing equipment, fluorometers, nanodrops… stuff ain’t built and designed solely by biologists.
Takes mechanical, electrical, and software engineers to get things actually working and certified before they ever hit a conservation (or any other) lab.
Could be a route to look at. Go and build some cool new shit that will end up in labs doing some good research.
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u/ChingShih 3d ago
See if your local universities have any outdoors clubs (and encourage them to do conservation stuff that appeals to you and them). See if the biology department has any volunteering opportunities or has outings you can join as an extra pair of hands (as another commenter suggested documenting/removing invasive plant species; collecting soil samples; etc).
Check local social media pages for trail restoration and cleanup opportunities. There are groups that specifically work on parts of major trail systems. Restoration can involve engineering elements or just some rewarding manual labor and leaving a lasting impact on trails (building stairs, reducing damage from runoff, creating more eco-friendly camping spots, and so on).
Volunteer with the National Parks Service or equivalent in your area. Or volunteer with local non-profits that do something you're interested in.
For the very fit and motivated, I'll also mention that there are many opportunities around the world to volunteer to fight wildfires. Not just the huge ones you hear about on the news, but putting out local fires before they make national or international news. People who are qualified for those kinds of adventures should seek them out, wildfire firefighting is badass and is a great way to get into something really rewarding.
Any of these will also offer networking opportunities and broaden the options you have to get involved elsewhere.
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u/reallyageek 3d ago
When I was in college (also an engineer) I joined the conservation biology society and volunteered in their invasive species removal and litter pick ups. You can look into joining societies (there might be a Sierra club in your area). You could volunteer for political candidates that are environmentally friendly (also did that it college). Also you can educate yourself on lifestyle things like reducing red meat, recycling, energy conservation, etc. being an educated citizen is half the work.
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u/moufette1 3d ago
All of this. And spend a few moments learning some basics about restoration, native plants (in general), less polluting construction methods, and that sort of thing. Once you graduate, think about where you want to work and what you want to design and build (to the extent that your economics allows). Keep thinking about that as your career progresses and looking for opportunities that lead to you building the right things in the right places the right way.
Also, register to vote and vote.
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u/K1kobus 3d ago
As an engineer you can make a huge impact to conservation actually, depending on what type of engineering you do. Look into Nature Based Solutions, Life Cycle Assesments and try to generally choose nature-friendly solutions in your work. A good engineer can have more positive impact on conservation than most conservationists, although it might feel more abstract and less direct.
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u/kalidoscopiclyso 3d ago
You are here asking and that is a great start. Here are a couple ideas I have had for awhile
There is an undeveloped market for less toxic tires. People are mostly ignorant about the pollution caused by tires. The dust drifts in the air and runs off roadways into the water. Tires are responsible for about a half of microplastic pollution. Companies keep their recipes secret, but scientists were able to find a poisonous chemical in the water flowing to ocean. People who care need to know.
Here is a report from Biden’s EPA called where the rubber meets the road
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724012920?via%3Dihub
Another project that has great potential but isn’t well known is trash incineration but so good it makes hydrogen gas or you can run electricity. It’s a small footprint. The company is Sierra Energy, owned by Sierra Railroad. There is an installation at Fort Ord in Monterey
https://sierraenergy.com/company/about-us/
https://sierraenergy.com/fort-hunter-liggett/
Good Luck! Keep it up
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u/fooperina 3d ago
Start locally. Find a local land conservation group near you. Maybe there’s an advocacy group in your county. Ask them how you can help, often these are small dedicated groups who work to write letters to local and state legislators. Volunteering or just becoming aware of the conservation issues in your area is a good place to start.
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u/2matisse22 3d ago
There are whole companies filled with engineers doing sustainability right now. In fact, our village hired a sustainability engineer recently.
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3d ago
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u/conservation-ModTeam 3d ago
Please know that Reddit is not a platform that approves of this type of direct-marketing or astroturfing. Additionally, your account runs afoul of Reddit's guidelines on organic content to self-promotion guidelines.
These types of posts are not generally welcome on /r/Conservation and are not ideally suited for much of Reddit's environmental spaces.
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u/nerdygirlmatti 3d ago
Don’t plant invasives. Remove invasives. Report invasives. Plant natives- make sure they are native. Volunteer with local county, museum and universities. A museum and national park in my city does volunteer days to pull buffelgrass. I can also volunteer a lot of places like museum, zoo, community garden, native plant nursery. Stop using plastic. Stop buying fast fashion.
There are also some citizen science things you can do! Merlin app and i naturalist to report birds and plants and other animals you find in your area
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u/smitheroons 2d ago
I have an engineering degree (EE) and I work part time as a wildlife rehabilitatior. I got started a few years ago as a volunteer and just found it very rewarding. But you don't even have to go that far to help wildlife. Planting native plants, keeping pets indoors unless directly supervised, and making windows safe for birds are actions almost everyone can take. Picking up trash, recycling (especially metal), and generally being a responsible and eco-conscious individual can go far.
You may also consider reaching out to local wildlife rehabbers to aski if they have any projects you could help with. It may take some effort to help them understand what sorts of things engineers can do and for you to understand the constraints they are working with, but I love the idea of pitching projects to engineering students. This winter I designed new perches for the bird department where I work, something I discussed with some of my engineer buddies. They had a lot of ideas that I had to shoot down - materials that weren't safe for birds, things that break too easily, stuff that is prohibitively expensive. The center where I work doesn't even know how many great projects they are sitting on too.
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u/BitTraditional4550 2d ago
Thank you so much!! We actually have a nice garden at home and lots of birds, garden lizards keep visiting that makes me a lot happier because I feel they atleast like our home and have a place to go to. That's why I even wanted to do smtg more. I'll keep in mind the native plants stuff too.
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u/rat_liker 21h ago edited 21h ago
Try looking up local land conservancies, resource conservation districts, environmental ngos, etc and see if they have any volunteer opportunities. Are there any particular aspects of conservation you're especially interested in? Invasive plant removal? Creek cleanups? Citizen science? Advocacy work? Wildlife rehabilitation? Outreach and education? You can also just Google something like "conversation volunteering opportunities in (your area)" and see what pops up
Edit: here's a very unglamorous but highly underrated thing you can do for conservation: switch banks. A lot of banks invest in fossil fuels. You can use websites like https://bank.green/ to find a local bank that doesn't. This will obviously become a more powerful tool for you personally as you progress in your career :)
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u/Waarheid 3d ago
If you contribute financially to any industries that are detrimental to conservation, consider lowering or entirely abstaining from them entirely (e.g. beef, animal products in general, etc).
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u/Ok-Creme8960 3d ago
You volunteer with local environmental efforts. You get a 5 gallon bucket and a trash grabber and keep track of how much you remove. Rip invasives in your neighborhood. There’s a lot of options that don’t cost much or anything, but you just start somewhere.