It’s May and that means that it’s Biodiversity Month! Throughout this month, we celebrate the incredible plants, animals, fungi, and other living organisms that call this planet home alongside us. One way to help acknowledge the important roles that animals play, and how we can be helping keep their populations healthy, is to talk about them! While this may seem like a small, and maybe insignificant way to help animals, it does make a difference. When we share our passions with others, the excitement is contagious! Tell your friends and family all about the amazing world of animals and why YOU care about their well-being!

If you’re looking for some great conversation starters, look no further than my newly launched “Build Your Own Zoo” Sticker set! Select animals from my collection of dozens of scientific illustrations in sticker form, perfect for carrying around your own little zoo with your personal favorites. People will comment on them, and bam! This is a perfect opportunity to talk about why protecting them is important, and how little actions at home can make large overall impacts.

Need some helpful talking points? Use some of these as starters:

1. Why are these animals important to you? What do YOU love about them? Is it their appearance, behaviors, or ecological role?
2. Many of these animals are so important to the health of their habitats. When we remove one species from an ecosystem, it impacts many others in the same system. What role do your favorite animals play in their habitats?
3. Did you know that the biggest impacts to our marine ecosystems is overfishing, pollution, and climate change? Carefully selecting what seafood we eat to reduce overfishing, impacts from fishing methods, and farming methods can help. Reducing chemicals and pollution found in stormwater runoff at home can prevent polluted water from flowing into the ocean. By being aware of our carbon footprint, and the impact that we have on the environment personally can impact the rate of human-caused climate change. It may seem small to do these actions, but when we all work together the small actions can have big impacts!
4. Desertification due to habitat overdevelopment, climate change, and agriculture land use are severely impacting natural Savannah and scrub-land regions. The coffee and tea that we purchase can make an impact on the land use in these sensitive regions!
5. Harsh chemical pesticides and habitat reduction are negatively impacting our pollinator and insect populations. By planting natives, you can be allowing pollinators and insects to thrive, which in turn supports many predator and insectivore populations! Some of these insects even help manage soil health, ensuring that all of the plants in the area have access to quality nutrients and substrate.