They are gentle, harmless creatures whose habitat is being overrun by, of all things, speedboats. I'll add more adoptable critters here as I come across more info. We are planning to turn a piece of our yard back into the prairie it probably once was. The EPA's site is full of tips on how you can regrow a plot of land, no matter what size. Recyling is probably one of the easiest ways nowadays to help the environment.
Most communities have curbside pick-up.
There's an elusive publication called the Recycling Yellow Pages that lists in detail what communities take what stuff to recycle. If I can find a copy, I intend to input this information for the Chicagoland area. Another important, and easy thing to recycle is used motor oil. They have taken in used oil for quite some time.