From turning out the lights to letting leaves rot, these small steps can create big changes at home or in the wild
Insects are in trouble. Around the world, scientists are reporting catastrophic declines in their numbers, even in nature reserves that are largely protected from human touch. We are also beginning to see huge drops in the populations of other animals – such as birds – that depend on insects as food.
Many of the drivers of those declines are structural, and require strong action by governments to turn around. But there are clear, easy steps that anyone can take to support the insect world. For species under such pressure, any respite is important, and we can create refuges for insects in a world increasingly hostile to their survival. In creating better habitats for insects, you can also reap the benefits: thriving gardens, more songbirds, and a healthier web of life.
Here are 25 small, achievable, science-backed actions you can take today – at home, in the garden, or out in the city.
Turn out the lights
Everyone has seen moths circle a bulb at night. But if that light stays on, researchers estimate one-third of insects trapped in its orbit will die before morning. Light pollution is a huge driver of insect declines: it changes insect behaviour and can even make leaves too tough for them to eat. It is also a relatively easy one to solve, says Brett Seymoure, a behavioural ecologist at Washington University in St Louis. “Once you turn off a light, it is gone. You don’t have to go and clean up, like you do with most pollutants. I am not saying we need to get rid of light at night, I think we just need to use it wisely.” You can help by switching off your outdoor lights or putting them on a sensor, and shading windows so they’re not shining out into the night. You can also ask your local council to consider switching off some street lights for at least part of the night, particularly in parks and nature reserves – a move that studies have shown benefits insects and saves councils money.
So I’ve compiled a list of 15 different kinds of songs that I listen to in order to chill my anxiety, especially for when I’m out and about or home alone ❤️😁
You know they say that if you have high anxiety or stress that your should stay away from: 1. Alcohol 2. Caffeine 3. Sweets And here I am doing ALL of these things.
Simple steps to help with the writing process: I found it helpful.
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1. Prewriting
Have you ever sat staring at a blank piece of paper or a blank document on your computer screen? You might have skipped the vital first stage of the writing process: prewriting. This covers everything you do before starting your rough draft. As a minimum, pre-writing means coming up with an idea!
Ideas and Inspiration
Ideas are all around you. If you want to write but you don’t have any ideas, try:
Using a writing prompt to get you started.
Writing about incidents from your daily life, or childhood.
Keeping a notebook of ideas – jotting down those thoughts that occur throughout the day.
Creating a vivid character, and then writing about him/her.
Tip: Once you have an idea, you need to expand on it. Don’t make the mistake of jumping straight into your writing – you’ll end up with a badly structured piece.
Building on Your Idea
These are a couple of popular methods you can use to add flesh to the bones of your idea:
Free writing: Open a new document or start a new page, and write everything that comes into your head about your chosen topic. Don’t stop to edit, even if you make mistakes.
Brainstorming: Write the idea or topic in the center of your page. Jot down ideas that arise from it – sub-topics or directions you could take with the article.
Once you’ve done one or both of these, you need to select what’s going into your first draft.
Planning and Structure
Some pieces of writing will require more planning than others. Typically, longer pieces and academic papers need a lot of thought at this stage.
First, decide which ideas you’ll use. During your free writing and brainstorming, you’ll have come up with lots of thoughts. Some belong in this piece of writing: others can be kept for another time.
Then, decide how to order those ideas. Try to have a logical progression. Sometimes, your topic will make this easy: in this article, for instance, it made sense to take each step of the writing process in order.
2. Writing
Sit down with your plan beside you, and start your first draft (also known as the rough draft or rough copy). At this stage, don’t think about word-count, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Don’t worry if you’ve gone off-topic, or if some sections of your plan don’t fit too well. Just keep writing!
If you’re a new writer, you might be surprised that professional authors go through multiple drafts before they’re happy with their work. This is a normal part of the writing process – no-one gets it right first time.
Some things that many writers find helpful when working on the first draft include:
Setting aside at least thirty minutes to concentrate: it’s hard to establish a writing flow if you’re just snatching a few minutes here and there.
Going somewhere without interruptions: a library or coffee shop can work well, if you don’t have anywhere quiet to write at home.
Switching off distracting programs: if you write your first draft onto a computer, you might find that turning off your Internet connection does wonders for your concentration levels! When I’m writing fiction, I like to use the free program Dark Room (you can find more about it on our collection of writing software).
You might write several drafts, especially if you’re working on fiction. Your subsequent drafts will probably merge elements of the writing stage and the revising stage.
Tip: Writing requires concentration and energy. If you’re a new writer, don’t try to write for hours without stopping. Instead, give yourself a time limit (like thirty minutes) to really focus – without checking your email!
3. Revising
Revising your work is about making “big picture” changes. You might remove whole sections, rewrite entire paragraphs, and add in information which you’ve realized the reader will need. Everyone needs to revise –even talented writers.
The revision stage is sometimes summed up with the A.R.R.R. (Adding, Rearranging, Removing, Replacing) approach:
Adding
What else does the reader need to know? If you haven’t met the required word-count, what areas could you expand on? This is a good point to go back to your prewriting notes – look for ideas which you didn’t use.
Rearranging
Even when you’ve planned your piece, sections may need rearranging. Perhaps as you wrote your essay, you found that the argument would flow better if you reordered your paragraphs. Maybe you’ve written a short story that drags in the middle but packs in too much at the end.
Removing
Sometimes, one of your ideas doesn’t work out. Perhaps you’ve gone over the word count, and you need to take out a few paragraphs. Maybe that funny story doesn’t really fit with the rest of your article.
Replacing
Would more vivid details help bring your piece to life? Do you need to look for stronger examples and quotations to support your argument? If a particular paragraph isn’t working, try rewriting it.
Tip: If you’re not sure what’s working and what isn’t, show your writing to someone else. This might be a writers’ circle, or just a friend who’s good with words. Ask them for feedback. It’s best if you can show your work to several people, so that you can get more than one opinion.
4. Editing
The editing stage is distinct from revision, and needs to be done after revising. Editing involves the close-up view of individual sentences and words. It needs to be done after you’ve made revisions on a big scale: or else you could agonize over a perfect sentence, only to end up cutting that whole paragraph from your piece.
When editing, go through your piece line by line, and make sure that each sentence, phrase and word is as strong as possible. Some things to check for are:
Have you used the same word too many times in one sentence or paragraph? Use a thesaurus to find alternatives.
Are any of your sentences hard to understand? Rewrite them to make your thoughts clear.
Which words could you cut to make a sentence stronger? Words like “just” “quite”, “very”, “really” and “generally” can often be removed.
Are your sentences grammatically correct? Keep a careful look out for problems like subject-verb agreement and staying consistent in your use of the past, present or future tense.
Is everything spelt correctly? Don’t trust your spell-checker – it won’t pick up every mistake. Proofread as many times as necessary.
Have you used punctuation marks correctly? Commas often cause difficulties. You might want to check out the Daily Writing Tips articles on punctuation.
Tip: Print out your work and edit on paper. Many writers find it easier to spot mistakes this way.
