NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:

Counting today, there are only nine Thursdays left in 2008. One of them is Thanksgiving and the last one is Christmas. Nine weeks until the start of 2009. Vic and I thought about what good things all of us might still accomplish during the remainder of this year.

This idea started with a link to a book sent to me by my brother, “Every Monday Matters,” by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza. The book’s premise is that we should all do one good deed every Monday to change the world for the better.

It seems that Matthew stopped one day to pick up a piece of trash on the sidewalk and put it in the trash can. To Matthew, it seemed a natural thing to do, a small good deed. His friend thought he was weird to pick up “other people’s trash.” To the friend, that piece of debris belonged to the person who dropped it. To Matthew, it was unsightly litter that could be removed to improve his immediate environment. Out of that small act, the idea for the book was born.

The book opens with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. “Everyone has the power for greatness. Not for fame, but greatness. Because greatness depends on service.” That’s an appealing philosophy.

Some suggestions in the book are to feed the hungry, donate books, adopt a pet, support a global cause and choose reusable shopping bags at the grocery store. Some of the suggestions for good deeds are social and some are environmental. Hard to argue with either one.

In the remaining nine weeks of this year, let’s see what we might accomplish to make Huntington Beach — and our planet — a better place. Here are some ideas to make your Monday — or Sunday or Saturday or Tuesday or Thursday — matter.

Week 1: On the first Saturday of every month, you can take a tour of the Bolsa Chica with the Amigos de Bolsa Chica. Then sign up for their docent program.

After that, visit the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center to see how you can help. They provide veterinarian care for sick and injured wildlife and always need volunteers to help care for the many ducks, pelicans, raccoons, opossums and other assorted wildlife that come through their doors. They’re having an open house from 4 to 8 p. m. Saturday to celebrate construction of their new hospital. Call (714) 321-7516 to get tickets.

Then on Nov. 4, remember to vote!

Week 2: On the second Saturday of every month, you can volunteer at the Huntington Wetlands at 9 am. They always need volunteers to help pick up trash and keep the wetlands in that end of town healthy for wildlife.

Week 3: Donate food or money so a needy family can enjoy Thanksgiving. Write a letter of thanks to someone who means something in your life. Think about your elderly relatives, a former teacher or mentor, or a good friend. Think about how rare it is to receive a snail mail letter or card these days. If you really want to impress them, make your own paper out of junk mail, cotton scraps and plant material from your yard. If that’s too much for you, at least use recycled paper or take the even greener option of sending an e-mail.

Week 4: Volunteer with the Bolsa Chica Conservancy. They have workdays on the fourth Saturday of the month. They also have a marine aquarium plus live snakes, lizards and spiders that need regular maintenance, and tour groups that need leaders.

Week 5: Go to a local farmer’s market and buy organic produce. Take reusable shopping bags with you. Have a locavore Thanksgiving with only locally grown foods and local wines. If you want a naturally raised, free-range local turkey, you will need to order it immediately. Visit Rainbow Ranch at www.localharvest.org/ store/M9885. Save the turkey carcass from your Thanksgiving dinner and make soup with the skin scraps and bones.

Week 6: Take a tour of Shipley Nature Center, and see how you can help. They have restoration days on the first Saturday of every month where you can weed and seed. Or learn about composting or vermiculture and start composting your kitchen scraps.

Week 7: Give a Christmas gift of a donation to a charitable organization instead of buying stuff from China. Think about donating to Heifer International, the Humane Society, the National Cat Protection League or one of our local environmental groups when giving gifts. A donation made in someone’s name is better than giving them more plastic, more clothing, more material goods, more THINGS they don’t really need. But if you have to give a thing, make it a gift basket of organic fruit or a Brita water pitcher so the recipient can quit buying bottled water.

Week 8: Participate in the Bolsa Chica Stewards’ restoration workdays on the third Saturday of every month. They remove non-native plants and install native plants. They always need people to maintain the plantings that already are in the ground. Too often, people only want to plant, which is the fun part of restoration. Don’t forget that the maintenance tasks of watering and weeding are also necessary if the plants are to survive. Or take a Bolsa Chica Land Trust tour of the mesa and wetlands on the third Sunday.

Week 9: Have a Merry Christmas. Then recycle your Christmas cards either by using the fronts for gift tags next year, or putting them in the blue recycle bin instead of the brown trash bin.

Think how much better the world would be if we all pitched in and helped out.

VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They can be reached at [email protected].