Put your money where your values are. Support a fierce environmental nonprofit through automatic monthly drafts. An organization with access to scientific experts, legal teams and full-time advocates can do more good than the same number of individuals acting alone. A monthly draft, no matter how small, gives these organizations the ability to plan ahead and budget accordingly. A rating agency like Charity Navigator or CharityWatch can help you find the most effective ones to support. Be sure to investigate local and regional nonprofits in addition to the marquee national organizations you’ve already heard of.

Pay for your sins. Avoiding air travel is one easy way to lower your carbon footprint significantly, but you can also buy carbon offsets for the flights you can’t avoid. Carbon offsets counteract the greenhouse gas emissions you’re responsible for by supporting organizations that work to limit emissions. They’re amazingly affordable — I offset my entire book tour last year for less than $50 — and they’re not just for corporations. And not just for air travel either.

Lighten up on the plastic. It’s almost impossible to avoid single-use plastics altogether, but a one-time investment in reusable versions of your most frequent purchases can reduce your dependence on them. Add reusable produce bags to your stash of reusable grocery bags, keep a good water bottle in your purse or satchel, bring your own takeout containers to restaurants for leftovers, etc. When you can, purchase biodegradable versions of plastic, like dog-poop bags made from cornstarch, and reuse single-use items that can’t be avoided: If you save the bags that bread comes in, for example, you won’t ever need to buy zip-top bags.

Vote. The climate crisis is the one issue that matters most in this election, and not just because the survival of the human race depends on it. Virtually every other issue on the ballot is one that will be made worse if we don’t act now to limit the damage we’re doing to the planet. Immigration? Check. Race relations? Check. Income inequality? Affordable health care? Global political instability? Check, check, check. Vote for candidates who understand the life-threatening environmental challenges we’re facing, who have pledged to do the hard work of addressing them and, equally important, who have a realistic chance of winning.

Don’t hold yourself to an unrealistic standard of purity. Just as it’s O.K. to eat the birthday cake, it’s O.K. not to be a perfect steward of the earth. A standard of perfection makes it too easy to become overwhelmed. Just do your best. Trust that your best will keep getting better as you wake up to your own responsibilities to the earth.

Take out your earbuds. The best thing you can do to save the earth is to fall in love with your own world. When you love something, you want to nurture and protect it. It’s lovely to think of preserving the earth as a matter of protecting the oceans and the forests and the flood plains and the prairies. But preserving the earth is just as much about protecting the blue jays and the spiders and bats and the garter snakes and the box turtles and the toads. Pay attention to their courtship songs and their territorial cries of fury. Study their stirring in the leaves. Listen for the rush of wings.

Margaret Renkl is a contributing opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South. She is the author of the book “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.”

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