The following organizations have provided funding for this Into the Outdoors television series.

Let me tell you a little story about my journey in sustainability.

Hello, class.

For this week's assignment, you'll need to spend one hour outside observing your surroundings.

Then you'll investigate what you saw and communicate those findings to the class.

What started out as just a normal school day turned into an opportunity for adventure.

As soon as I got home, I packed my backpack with everything I needed to start my journey.

And then I was off to my neighborhood park to begin my observations.

I got set up and started writing down every little detail I saw, but I didn't see anything really exciting until a fox.

That's when I knew I had to find out more about what it was doing there and why.

To find my answers, I needed to go further into the outdoors.

(music) “Grab your gear and” “Lets explore.” “As we discover” “The wild outdoors.” “Science.

Discovery.” “Is what we do.” “You can make our Earth.” “A bright and better planet.” “By joining us.” “In this wide open space.” “Into the Outdoors.” I wanted to investigate why I saw a fox at the park.

So I got in touch with my local wildlife professionals.

Good morning, Zach.

Welcome to the Pine View Wildlife Rehabilitation Education Center.

I understand through your phone call there is an issue with wildlife in your area.

Yeah.

So I was in my neighborhood park and I saw a fox run through and I was wondering why it was there.

I mean, I thought that wildlife was supposed to belong in the wild, not in the city.

Years ago.

That's a very accurate assumption.

But as a result of human interference, we have created habitat loss.

It has affected wildlife throughout this country.

And as a result, you will find wildlife in a variety of urban areas.

In fact, to give you a better example and to explain a little more, I'll take you down and show you some fox right now.

That'll be great.

Jeannie brought me around back to show me some of the fox pups they have at the hospital.

Why you're seeing them hiding in the activity of bouncing around is we encourage them to develop their natural instincts, but also fear of humans.

They are here as a result of human intervention.

The days of having acres and acres and acres of woods are just about gone, not only in southeastern Wisconsin, but the country.

And as a result of loss of land, they're going to survive by adapting to urban areas.

So where do you release the animals?

Many times we can get them back to their point of origin, or we will look for a new location where they'll be safer, where they'll have larger areas to grow their own families and their lives.

It's so great that you're getting all of these animals back into the wild where they belong.

Do any of them have names?

Not our patients.

Our job is to keep all wildlife patients wild.

However, we do have educational ambassadors on our property a variety of birds, mammals and reptiles that we do name.

Is there any reason why you name the ambassadors but not the other residents?

Yes, because our ambassadors are permanent.

They're here as a result of not being able to be returned to the wild as a result of their injuries.

Do you have any ambassadors that I might be able to meet today?

Yes, we actually do.

One of them is out getting exercise right now.

Let's take a look.

Jeannie introduced me to a red tailed hawk, and why he is an ambassador at Pinedale.

18 years ago, he was shot at and there are BBs lodged behind of his brain.

He is blind in one eye.

As you can see, it's sunken in.

And on this eye he eyes right out.

He only sees shadows.

We are not anti-hunting, but as a result of someone's misuse of firearms in judgment, the bird can never go back to the wild.

He is a perfect example of how we negatively affect wildlife and the environment through our habits and our recreational activities.

It's important to realize that our actions have consequences whether we intend for them to happen or not.

Jeannie introduced me to another ambassador who is impacted by someone's lack of judgment and awareness.

This is a screech owl, second smallest owl that we have in Wisconsin.

Your larger hawks and owls such as Peter are usually pretty easy to pick out, to hear, to see in the sky.

Not so much with the smaller ones.

They inhabit small holes in trees, cavities, and it's more difficult to see and hear them.

As an example, two years ago, in an area not too far from here, we got an emergency call because individuals had not just felled the tree, they started cutting it up into sections.

And when they did, they cut off the wings on accident and the leg of the mom who had to be euthanized immediately.

The six young survived and we were able to release them.

It happened again this year near Madison.

This can be avoided if you know what's in your backyard.

Know who is coexisting.

Living in your branches.

Living under your trees, living in your shrubs.

You have a responsibility to know what's in your backyard and help to protect and coexist with wildlife in an attempt to reach a larger audience in more neighborhoods and schools.

We have teamed up with the Quad Corporation and will be doing a wildlife environmental sustainability presentation at a local school.

Would you care to join our other ambassadors?

Yea, that would be great.

That's when I finally understood that the fox in my neighborhood was coexisting in the same environment as me, although I had the answer to my original question.

My investigation led me to so many more.

Turns out my journey in sustainability wasn't over yet.

It was just getting started.

To learn more about the relationship between people and wildlife, I joined Jeanie, Megan and Paul as they presented their program to a classroom of second graders and a classroom of sixth graders.

Sustainability.

The environment.

Wildlife.

This Earth.

And you.

And that's why we're here today.

I'm going to be bringing out our ambassadors.

Jeannie introduced us to the Wildlife Ambassadors of Pine View.

Kota, Peta, Joey, Wahossie.

These are birds and reptiles that have been injured.

Some have been shot, some hit by cars, some poisoned.

And some fall into hole traps.

This bird is not my pet.

There is no such thing as a pet wild animal.

No turtle.

No bird.

No a possum.

No crows should ever be brought into your house.

They want to be out where the trees and the wilderness is because they are wild animals.

For those of you that are familiar with painted turtles, this is one.

He's deformed.

And that's because of humans.

He was brought in a two gallon aquarium with a light bulb and sticks, reptiles, sticks.

That's like you eating chips and having soda for a month and a half.

He will never have a normal shell.

He is our ambassador.

If you find turtles or frogs, it is okay to look.

But leave it.

Joey can never go back to the wild.

He's victim of someone not thinking.

You may think you are helping when you find a young, wild animal and bring it inside to take care of it.

But you are actually taking it away from its natural habitat and other animals of its species.

Koda is another example of what can happen when you try to keep wildlife as a pet.

A family of four found Koda took him into the house and kept him in a kennel.

Kept like that for four weeks.

For four weeks.

That poor, immature great Hado was fed hot dogs, beef, pork chop, ham.

She was taken to a rehabilitator.

Fellow mortals in Lake Geneva.

After three weeks of being in intensive care, she was placed out in a large flight cage with two other owls.

Could Hunt, kept to herself was released about a month later.

That bird was brought to our hospital because she was imprinted and was found following a farmer's tractor.

Looking for food.

Thinking that was a parent.

When animals are young, they imprint on their parents who teach them how to hunt or find food.

When you bring an animal inside, they start to imprint on you and rely on you for food.

That's what happened to Koda when she was brought inside as a young owl.

This is a red tailed hawk, so-called, because of that red tail.

Their populations are declining and it's because of us for the most part.

The habitat loss is huge and they need lots of land to raise their young.

Many red tailed hawks are found with nests on top of buildings or on billboards.

This is an example of a causal relationship, showing how our actions impact the environment and wildlife.

They've had to adapt because their natural surroundings are gone, but rodents and rats and mice are everywhere.

So we do all we can to encourage people to plant trees.

You already know and understand that where you live, whether it's on the farm in the heart of the city or in the suburbs, you are part of an environment.

We have to be careful with the neighborhood and the environment that we live in.

Do you know what a steward is?

A steward is someone who takes care of something.

So when we talk about stewardship, it means taking care of something that we love.

Right?

And that's important to us.

Can you think of something you are a steward of?

Maybe our planet.

We should be kind to the earth.

And there are a couple of things we can do to help.

And some of it has to do with trees.

Why do we need trees?

Young lady in the back.

Some animals live in trees and trees and trees give us when you give us oxygen.

I was very impressed with how much these younger kids knew about trees and the environment.

They were already on their way to being great stewards of planet Earth.

Each of the birds that you're seeing today rely on trees, and so do we.

It's getting worse instead of better in our environment, not only for us, but for wildlife as well.

We need your help.

So we're going to talk about trees and what you could do to to take action on this.

So Jeanie talked a lot about environments and environments where wildlife is being harmed.

We're playing a part in that.

So if you look at this straw, how many of you would just throw this on the ground?

I've done it.

I'm not judging you.

But then I learned.

That's not good.

Is that going to harm the environment?

Yes.

Do you want to see animals having to go to Jeannie's hospital because of something you contributed to?

No.

So we know littering is harmful to wildlife and the environment.

But even when we throw things in the trash, they end up in landfills.

So how can we avoid that?

This is made from fibers of trees.

When you're done with this, where does it go?

Go ahead.

In the recycle-that was great in the recycle bin.

But then think about this.

This film on the top is not recyclable.

So the more boxes and packaging we can recycle into new packaging, the less impact we have on our environment and wildlife.

The more things you use that can be reused.

So this is reusable, so it's not even having to go in the garbage.

The better we're going to be.

This is your world.

It's my world, too.

But as the next generation.

We're leaving you some things that probably aren't great.

There's things like climate change.

If you've ever heard of them.

There's things like waste.

You can start to learn now, today how to recycle differently, how to be a good steward so that your helper, if we see a sick bird of prey, a hawk, and we think we're not playing a part in it, we're wrong.

I love that you can take an action and that you can actually help.

And people will say, Well, it's a big problem.

We have to take it in these small pieces.

We have to each be doing it to be able to help.

There's a parable told by Wangari Maathai that goes like this A big fire was destroying the forest.

All the animals fled except for a lone hummingbird.

It flew to the river, picked up one drop of water, and poured that drop on the fire again and again.

She returned to the river, each time, scooping up a single drop and pointed on the fire.

The other animals watched from the far shore, laughing and mocking her.

The harder they laughed, the harder the little hummingbird worked.

Just what do you think you are doing?

The animals asked.

Without stopping her work, she answered calmly.

I'm doing what I can.

They are now able to stand on their own.

They can truly say they have improved their quality of life.

It all started with planting.

That's one tree.

I can be, a steward of the world I can see.

Thanks to the wildlife educators at Pine View, I learned the importance of keeping our environment healthy and even some ways to make my daily habits more sustainable.

But I wasn't stopping there.

I wanted to learn more about the ways my community is making a difference and how I can get involved.

I met up with Nou at Troy Community Gardens to see what kind of impact community gardens are making on wildlife, the environment and the people involved.

So I asked her about her own experience in the garden and why she thinks it's important.

So Community Gardens is a place that, you know, anybody can come.

Regardless of them living in an apartment or a house.

Right.

Having not having, I should say, a space in their backyard or their front yard to be able to grow at all.

Community gardens provides that land access for people to grow their own food and also sustainably as well.

That is really, really fulfilling to me.

Nou and her family are longtime members of Troy Community Gardens, and it has become a big part of their lives for many reasons.

Since my family grows here.

I love growing my culturally relevant food, the food that I grew up eating, so food that I won't be able to find at the grocery store.

And so in order for me to be able to have that at my dinner table, you know, that concern has of me growing it.

Practicing sustainability in your own life is only half the battle.

A large part of being an environmental steward is teaching others how to live sustainably as well.

So I have nieces and nephews now who are eight, six and five.

And so they compost, you know, they compost right in their backyard.

And interestingly, you know, they will go around to other people's house and they will eat a banana and they will walk around and go, but where's your compost?

I like, why do you not have a compost?

Like.

I need this to be composted.

And then they'll actually carry that banana peel back with some home so that they could compost at home.

It was pretty inspiring hearing Nou's story and about how her family's relationship with their community garden has benefited not only their health and cultural ties, but also strengthen their relationship with the environment as well.

So Troy Community Garden is actually a organic garden, which means that everything that is grown here has grown organically.

No pesticides can be used on any of these garden plots at all.

We encourage people to compost within their own garden plots that provides nutrient back to the soil.

Pesticides and other chemicals used to treat crops can poison wildlife and hurt the native environment.

So by gardening organically, we can protect our wildlife.

So you talked a lot about how this garden has benefited you personally.

Does it have any benefits to the local area wildlife at all?

Oh, yes, definitely.

Any community garden, any piece of land that you add vegetable to will definitely attract a lot of wildlife here.

At Troy has a lot of voles.

But like, for example.

Right.

So actually in your own backyard, the rabbits.

The chipmunks.

Right.

And then with that, it attracts hawks as well.

And so it's this whole cycle of, you know, this ecosystem that just keeps going.

Another benefit of growing your own produce is minimizing your single use plastic consumption by avoiding grocery store produce that is often wrapped in plastic or on Styrofoam trays.

You can ensure that your environmental impact is minimized from garden to table.

And there you have it.

Community gardens are a great resource for people, wildlife and the environment.

And the best part of it is anyone can start a community garden.

If you want to start a garden in your community.

Gather your friends and neighbors and reach out to your local representatives to help you get started.

By getting involved in different types of community volunteer work, you can help keep the environment healthy in a variety of different ways, whether it's through your community garden and minimizing plastic consumption, or maybe helping remove plastic from our environment through litter cleanups.

The opportunities are endless.

You just have to find the right one for your sustainability journey.

Getting to meet with Nou and hearing about her journey and sustainability really inspired me and my own journey.

It also helped me realize that not everyone's journey looks the same.

Getting involved in community sustainability efforts is a great way to bring people of all different journeys together in one space to share a similar goal.

Keeping Our Environment Healthy.

Once I learned how to practice sustainability in my personal life and within my community, I decided to check out what it looks like at the corporate level.

So I went to Quad Graphics to talk to the experts.

Hey, Paul.

Hey Zach good to see you.

It's nice to see you again.

So I've learned a lot on how to be sustainable as an individual and within my community.

But I'm wondering what large corporate businesses are doing to be sustainable and how I can get involved.

Well, you came to the right place.

Let me show you around.

Thanks.

So what does Quad do as a company?

That's a great question.

We're a marketing experience company at this particular facility.

We focus on packaging.

So brand packaging that you would maybe see in a Target or a Wal-Mart.

What's also very important to our culture is sustainability.

We want to make sure we're taking responsibility for everything we put out into the world that is called circularity or circular economy.

We work with groups like Pine View Wildlife Rehabilitation to make sure we're taking the environment and the whole ecosystem into play when we create anything.

Can you tell me some more about what a circular economy is?

Of course, it's a really important concept.

If you think about a circle, it goes round and round.

So anything we create or that we purchase, we should make sure we understand where it came from and where it ends.

And actually, the idea of circularity is it never ends.

It goes back into the world and you can use it for different products.

So, for instance, if you're using a tree or you're using paper, we can make packaging from that same paper, then we can reuse.

So when you put something at home in one of your recycling bins, we make sure we're using it as many times as possible.

So we use our world's resources wisely.

Do you want to see circular economy in action?

That'd be great.

(Music) Ready to go.

So Paul brought me on to the manufacturing floor to show me how Quad incorporates sustainability.

We start with sustainably sourced paper and implement sustainability in each step of the process.

We cut the paper into the exact size we need to reduce waste and any waste we do produce gets recycled back into paper.

It was pretty cool getting to see how the packaging we use every day is made and recycled, but I still wasn't sure about one thing.

Why is corporate sustainability important?

Large corporations are mass producers of waste.

So it's important for them to practice circularity because the impact is much larger than it is for an individual.

Of course, every little bit makes a difference.

So we try to encourage everyone to recycle and practice circularity in their own homes.

A great way to start practicing circularity at home is to buy products that are packaged in cardboard instead of plastic so it can be recycled.

This looks a lot like the oatmeal I eat for breakfast in the morning.

Okay, that makes sense.

Big companies make big impacts, and I knew I wanted to make a big impact.

How can someone like me make a difference in corporate sustainability?

We had a group of students actually coming in from UW Milwaukee.

They helped us find ways to lower our water usage.

While may not look like it.

We actually use a lot of water.

We need water to run the printing press as well as to keep humidity in the plant to stabilize our paper so it doesn't warp.

It was a really cool way to get them involved in corporate sustainability.

So you might be asking yourself, what does corporate sustainability have to do with my sustainability journey?

You can make corporate sustainability part of your journey by working to influence businesses to take on more sustainable practices.

Here's one story of a young environmental steward and their journey in creating corporate change.

Through UW.

As a part of my course of study, I had to do a project with Quad working on improving the system efficiency and helping them achieve their sustainability goals.

I try to practice sustainability on a day to day within my own life, but this project required really helped me get involved with corporate sustainability.

One of the main goals for our project with Quad was to save 1% water, which accounted for 30,000 gallons.

And at the end of our project we accounted for about one 56,000 gallons, which was 5% of water savings in their Franklin facility.

That amount of water is not something small, and it can really impact communities and societies who do not have access to fresh water like we do.

It's important for companies like Quad to take lead in terms of sustainability as there are the mass users of energy and resources.

So it really impacts our total usage as a society in terms of sustainability.

I would definitely recommend the future generation to get involved with sustainability by starting small within your house, your community and your school, and growing that over time to a bigger scale and having a much bigger impact on our society.

I know it can sound overwhelming.

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

Through hard work and dedication, Mana was able to implement sustainable practices within a business and help the environment while doing so.

It doesn't matter if you're just one person.

Change can start with you.

I took a walk through my neighborhood and saw Fox running in the park.

That one moment sparked my journey into sustainability, and my journey probably looks a lot different than Jeannie's, Nou's Paul's, Mana's and even yours.

And that's because everyone's journey is different.

And no matter what someone else's journey may look like, we all have a hand in the health of the environment.

So get involved in any way you can and do the best you can.

Take it from me.

There's a lot more going on out there than you may realize.

So keep your eyes open.

Next time you head into the outdoors.

(music) “Grab your gear and” “Lets explore.” “As we discover” “The wild outdoors.” “Science.

Discovery.” “Is what we do.” “You can make our Earth.” “A bright and better planet.” “By joining us.” “In this wide open space.” “Into the Outdoors.” The following organizations have provided funding for this Into the Outdoors television series.