Welcome to Day 6 of On the Plus Side!
On the Plus Side is a series of short stories about real life positive or happy observations that I see every day. The purpose of these stories is to show the community that positive and happy events occur every day and to bring a smile to your face.
All SBD from this series will be donated to The Smith Family who support underprivileged children in their education. So upvote and resteem away!
Leaving Your Mark
What do you want your legacy to be? Most people want to change the world in a little or big (thanks Elon Musk) way. Some people make it their mission to contribute towards ending world hunger, poverty, or combatting climate change.
I follow a group on Facebook who have made it their mission to end duck hunting in Victoria, and they are making real and noticeable progress. They've managed to put an end to duck hunting at a number of wetlands around Victoria and have made some fantastic progress towards making this a key issue with our State Government.
I have a couple of causes that I like to contribute to. Firstly, I want to see third world conditions stamped out in Australia, which is why the SBD proceeds of these posts are donated to The Smith Family. My second, and main, passion is caring for our natural environment.
I am making it my mission to re-plant as much disused agricultural land in Australia as possible. Doing this will bring back our native flora and fauna that has been severely degraded across our country side.
Bush Heritage, an amazing non-profit organisation who buy up large amounts of land to create new habitat for wildlife, report that:
European settlement has significantly altered Australia's natural landscape, and with it, Australia's biodiversity. About 90% of native vegetation in the eastern temperate zone [of Australia] has been removed for agriculture, industry, transport and human habitation. About 50% of Australia's rainforests have been cleared and the proportion of Australia covered by forest or woodland has been reduced by more than one third.
This land clearing has had a shocking impact on our native wildlife:
Australia has lost more plants and mammals to extinction than any other country and has more threatened animals than 98% of the world's countries.
So, with the help of Steemit, I will be purchasing land for re-planting with native vegetation. Which, in turn, will promote the return of our native wildlife. But to do this, I need funds. So, in the coming days I will be setting up a second fundraiser for this purpose. Naturally, I'll be contributing a large amount of my personal earnings to this cause, however I hope that Steemit will be a fantastic source of funds raised for this cause as well. I'll keep you posted on what the Steemit fundraiser will look like.
- Variegated Fairy WrenWhile I generate enough funds to get this project off the ground I am working with one of my local environmental non-profits. I have just accepted a position to re-plant a large area of land near a local wetland with the help of Melbourne Water. This will be a great opportunity to get some practice at managing groups of volunteers and conducting large scale planting. This coming year is going to be exciting!
How do you want to leave your mark? I'd love to hear your stories in the comments.
I’ve created the tag #plusside so if you want to read all positive and fun stories I write for this series simply check this tag. And don't forget, all SBD from these posts is donated to a fantastic Australian charity - The Smith Family - so don't be shy with your up votes! Every bit helps!
