Do you want to actually conserve wildlife and not just read about it?
That’s great, because most people think conservation consists of writing a cheque and picking up trash on the weekends. Both of those are good things to do, of course.
But they really are just a start.
The statistics on wildlife declines are mind-blowing. The WWF Living Planet Report 2024 reports that overall global wildlife populations have declined by 73% since 1970. Yes, you read that correctly. We have nearly lost three-quarters of all vertebrate wildlife in just half a century.
Worse, the rate of decline is speeding up.
The problem is that neither donations nor weekend trash clean-up are solutions that scale to the size of the crisis. One-time money is good for a year or two of fieldwork, but not for long-term sustainability. Volunteers can pick up a beach or a park, but they are already covered in trash again the next day.
The work that really turns the tide? That’s what trained wildlife biologists do as their life’s work. A single conservation professional in the field or the lab for 20 or 30 years changes more than thousands of one-day volunteers.
For real impact? Consider the conservation career.
In this article, we will cover:
- Why donations and volunteering alone aren’t enough
- Conservation careers that make a difference
- The many things individuals can still do
- Transforming your yard or property into habitat
Why Donations and Volunteering Alone Aren’t Enough
Donations and volunteering are an excellent first step. However, both approaches have major problems most people never think about.
The issue is simple: one-time cash doesn’t last and weekend clean-ups don’t stick around to keep ecosystems healthy.
Short-term work is great if your goals are short-term. But wildlife populations across the planet are in free-fall and we need solutions that make a difference over the long haul.
The thing that actually gets the needle moving are the long-term efforts of dedicated professionals that have chosen careers that make a difference. A career conservation professional will be in the field or office for decades creating change.
In fact, consider that the impact a single professional makes over 30 years vastly outweighs the cumulative effort of thousands of one-day volunteers.
That’s where making the choice to pursue a wildlife conservation degree from a college like Unity Environmental University comes into play.
Obtaining a formal education that gives you the foundation of scientific knowledge, research skills, and professional certification that lets you contribute to meaningful change is some of the most direct action anyone can take.
Wildlife Careers That Make a Difference
If you go to college for conservation, you won’t be the first, and you won’t be the last. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, cites that there are about 1,400 job openings yearly for zoologists and wildlife biologists alone.
And that’s just one profession in the conservation arena.
The conservation sector has more employment options than you might think.
The main career paths worth checking out:
- Wildlife Biologist – Study animal populations, their health, species of concern, and management planning. Work in field and office settings to collect and analyse data.
- Conservation Officer – These jobs are a mix of law enforcement and wildlife advocacy. Protect natural resources and make sure regulations are being followed to keep ecosystems intact.
- Habitat Restoration Specialist – Restore damaged ecosystems, which directly improves the habitat wildlife needs to survive.
- Environmental Educator – Train the next generation, which multiplies the impact exponentially. One teacher will touch thousands of students in their career.
Training and career opportunities differ for each type of position. The big similarity? All of them offer ways to create systemic change rather than providing temporary fixes.
Actions Everyone Can Still Take
Want to help wildlife, but not in a professional capacity? Perfectly understandable.
In that case, there are still meaningful, impactful actions every person can take.
One of the best places to start is habitat development.
What does that mean? It’s a process of modifying your yard, balcony, or other spaces in ways that make them friendlier to wildlife. Planting native species will attract pollinators. Brush piles provide homes for small mammals. Bird feeders and water baths support different species of birds and amphibians.
Even in urban areas, it is still possible to create wildlife corridors through strategic design and planning.
Here are some initial steps to take:
- Replace lawn grass with native wildflowers and grasses
- Put up nest boxes appropriate to local species of birds
- Provide water sources, such as shallow dishes or ponds
- Stop using pesticides and herbicides
- Leave fallen leaves and dead wood as habitat
It might feel like a single wildlife-friendly garden makes little difference. But when entire neighbourhoods are transforming their spaces in this way, it creates habitat corridors that species require.
Citizen Science That Matters
Another underutilized conservation approach? Citizen science projects.
Citizen science is a term that describes scientific projects where professional scientists and amateurs work side-by-side. Ordinary people help gather valuable data that can then be used to inform wildlife management at regional and national scales.
You can find citizen science projects that are accessible in your area.
A few examples:
- Bird counts and migration tracking
- Amphibian monitoring projects
- Butterfly and pollinator surveys
- Wildlife camera trap networks
The data that you help to collect isn’t just busy work. The information you and others provide about the species in your area is used by scientists to monitor population levels, identify at-risk species, and help prioritise conservation resources.
But there’s an added bonus…
Citizen science projects are a great way to build a greater understanding of your local ecosystems. The more you learn, the more passionate and active you become about protecting wildlife into the future.
Conservation Starts With Lifestyle
A final area not to overlook? Lifestyle choices.
Everyday decisions and actions either harm or help wildlife. The secret is to figure out what those most-damaging behaviours are, and then change them first.
For most people, the biggest wildlife lifestyle changes centre around the following.
- Reduce consumption overall
- Buy sustainable products
- Eliminate light pollution
- Stop using single-use plastics
Changing your day-to-day lifestyle habits isn’t easy at first. But after a while they become habit, which builds up to have a cumulative effect over time.
Conservation Through Policy
The most powerful conservation work often happens through government regulations. Legislation and policies set the course for which species receive protection, which habitats get preserved, and how our natural resources are managed.
Getting involved is simple.
Attending public meetings, writing to local and state officials, and supporting conservation legislation all matter. Elected leaders respond to their constituents.
You don’t have to do this alone. Joining local conservation groups is a great way to contribute to coordinated advocacy work. Conservation groups coordinate those efforts and amplify the individual voices into unified action.
It is also where career conservationists and individual citizens overlap.
Professionals provide the data. Citizens provide political support. Both are necessary for successful conservation.
Wrapping Things Up
It’s not enough to write a check and clean up trash once in a while.
Conservation work that actually makes a difference requires that people are in the field and the office over the long term.
This means finding career opportunities that contribute to wildlife conservation as well as citizens still have plenty of impactful actions available to them.
Doing what you can is always better than nothing. But the more we can each address root causes rather than symptoms, the better off wildlife will be in the future.
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