Little things to feel closer to your environment ♡

Im going back to school for biology and ecology in the hopes of getting a career in Environmental Sustainability, so I wanted to share some of the apps and books and things I use to learn more about the natural world around me. The first step to protecting the environment is to know and love it, and the best way to do that is to get closer to it wherever you can ^ ^

INaturalist is an incredible resource not just for connecting with your environment, but connecting with the people you share it with too! It allows you to post pictures of plants, animals, birds, insects, fish, anything and identify it, or share it with others to identify with it. It has a lot of connected apps as well, one of which I will talk about in a bit. One of the coolest things I've seen from the INaturalist community is the amount of people that have stumbled on a whole new species just from continuously taking pictures of the organisms around them!

ISeek is an app I use in conjunction with INaturalist. Lets say if INaturalist is the journal to record your findings, ISeek is the camera you use to take pictures for it. Its a camera app that identifies the organism as you take a picture of it, and connects to the INaturalist forum to inform you about the organism. These two apps are must haves in my opinion if you want to learn more about your local habitats.

Merlin is another incredible app that specifically works with birds. Have you ever heard a bird song and wondered what it looked like, up in the trees? Merlin allows you to record bird songs and will identify what it hears, and connect to a forum where others will upload pictures and recordings of birds. This way, when you leave your house, you can learn all the species of birds that live near you!

Alongside these apps, I use a lot of books to read about different animals and ecosystems, most of which are older and I got second hand. I have an old Boy Scouts Handbook thats very handy for respectfully interacting with the environment while camping (also because being a boy scout, even if only in spirit, is fun lol) and an older readers digest book on North American Wildlife. Its jam packed with full color pictures and informative blips talking about the range of the plants and animals, and their descriptions.

Another valuable and underrated resource is your local library! Most libraries have tons of books on regional wildlife and plantlife, and plenty of ecology books just waiting to be checked out!

♡ I wish you all happy observing, please be respectful of nature ♡