10 Ways to Help Birds: Number 9 — shop sustainably

Wood Thrushes. Photo by Gilles Carter.

We’ve made a list of 10 things you can do to help birds, and we’re counting them down one day at a time until Earth Day, April 22.

April 14, 2021 — Organic and local agriculture can be better for wildlife – no pesticides are involved and, in Connecticut, small farms are often diversified and compatible with wildlife.

But eat what you buy: 30 percent of our food is thrown away.

Cut down on the use of plastic, which relies on petroleum and chemicals. As writer and educator Erica Cirino pointed out when she spoke at our Birdcraft Sanctuary in 2019, it’s also critical to support legislation to eliminate plastics.

Buy shade-grown coffee, the production of which protects bird habitat. Ask your fish market to sell sustainably caught fish, which benefits the oceans.

Over the last 50 years, the population of birds in North America has falled by almost 30 percent. Shopping sustainably won’t solve the whole problem. But it’s one of a number of positive actions you can take. It’s a good Earth Day resolution.