Rhea Suh, NRDC: Thirteen key federal agencies released a damning new scientific report on climate change impacts in the U.S., and it lays out the truth in stark terms: Climate change is a clear and present danger to the American people, it’s getting worse, and its impacts on our country will be more and more devastating—if we don’t take decisive action now. And what was President Trump’s response to this urgent call to action from his own administration’s scientists? “I don’t believe it.”
>>>Urge President Trump to take immediate action to address climate change.
Rainforest Rescue: The Indigenous Dayak Tomun people of Kinipan on Borneo have tried everything—peaceful protests, lawsuits, lodging formal complaints with the government—and still the sounds of chainsaws and heavy diesel engines are reverberating through their ancestral forest. For generations, the Dayak Tomun have been gentle stewards of the land, and now the ancient trees are disappearing before their eyes. In the loggers’ wake: endless rows of oil palm seedlings.
>>>Urge Indonesian President Joko Widodo to stop the destruction of Kinipan forest by PT Sawit Mandiri Lestari.
Corey Hill, Care2: Bees are dying. Colonies across the Western world have collapsed with, up until recently, few clear answers as to why. A new study suggests glyphosate may be one reason: The world’s most commonly used herbicide is harmful to insects like bees. This toxic chemical is found in household products like Roundup, which remains on the shelves of several hardware stores.
>>>Urge Home Depot to stop selling glyphosate.
Rick Stafford, Independent Media Institute: Many species targeted by shark fishing tournaments (including all thresher sharks, porbeagle and makos) are already classified as vulnerable or threatened by international conservation organizations, meaning they should be protected, not killed, especially for recreation or competition.
>>>Urge NOAA Fisheries to stop the killing of IUCN Red List threatened species at shark tournaments and rodeos.
Change.org: Two-thirds of all animal species are being wiped out. 100,000 elephants have been killed in the last three years. Too many species with once robust populations are now reduced to a few thousand, a few hundred or even less. Humans are rapidly destroying the natural world in a blood-soaked pursuit of greed, false-power, ego, ignorance and stupidity. Natural habitat destruction, climate-change and greed are big problems, but the most grotesque offenders are poachers and trophy hunters.
>>>Urge Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres to ban international travel for hunting.
Jason Baker, PETA: Earlier this year, an eyewitness worked on a sheep farm in Victoria, Australia, the world’s top wool exporter, and found the farm manager and workers mutilating terrified lambs in assembly line fashion—showing, yet again, that there’s no such thing as humanely produced wool. Workers punched holes in lambs’ ears and cut and burned off their tails with a hot knife, causing them to writhe in agony as flames shot up from their flesh. The manager slashed the throats of fully conscious sheep with a knife and then broke their necks. One sheep kicked for nearly a minute after the manager began cutting her throat.
>>>Urge Forever 21 to drop wool in favor of animal-friendly materials.
Parting thought…
“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” —Immanuel Kant
Earth | Food | Life (EFL) explores the critical and often interconnected issues facing the climate/environment, food/agriculture and animal/nature rights, and champions action; specifically, how responsible citizens, voters and consumers can help put society on an ethical path of sustainability that respects the rights of all species who call this planet home. EFL emphasizes the idea that everything is connected, so every decision matters.
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