Trump’s attacks on monarch butterflies affect you, too

 

Monarch butterflies are facing a perfect storm of threats, including pesticides, habitat loss, and climate change -- all of which are fueled by fossil fuel corporations and Big Ag. These factors affect all pollinators, but monarchs are at particular risk because of their reliance on a single plant: milkweed.

Milkweed is the only food young monarchs eat, but it is quickly being wiped out in much of the United States, thanks largely to Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup®. What’s worse, a recent study found every single sample of milkweed tested was contaminated -- scientists found 64 different pesticides in the plants, many at levels known to be deadly to monarchs.

Now, monarchs are disappearing faster than we ever thought possible.

Eastern monarch populations, which overwinter in Mexico, have fallen by 80% over 40 years. In the same time period, Western monarchs, which spend their winters on the California coast, have declined a staggering 99%. At their wintering grounds, only 2,000 individual Western monarchs were counted in 2020 — down from 30,000 last year, and millions in the 1980s.

Monarchs are facing extinction. We need your help to fight back.  

Monarch butterflies are facing extinction, but on its way out the door the Trump Administration denied them critical protections under the Endangered Species Act.  Last month, Trump’s Interior Secretary David Bernhardt pushed monarchs even closer to the brink of extinction. He opted to deny them protections, instead placing them on a “waiting list,” with zero additional safeguards. This cannot stand. Forty-seven “waiting list” species have gone extinct waiting for their protection to be finalized. We can’t let this happen to monarchs. Monarch butterflies are facing a perfect storm of threats, including pesticides, habitat loss, and climate change -- all of which are fueled by fossil fuel corporations and Big Ag. These factors affect all pollinators, but monarchs are at particular risk because of their reliance on a single plant: milkweed. Milkweed is the only food young monarchs eat, but it is quickly being wiped out in much of the United States, thanks largely to Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup®. What’s worse, a recent study found every single sample of milkweed tested was contaminated -- scientists found 64 different pesticides in the plants, many at levels known to be deadly to monarchs. Now, monarchs are disappearing faster than we ever thought possible. Eastern monarch populations, which overwinter in Mexico, have fallen by 80% over 40 years. In the same time period, Western monarchs, which spend their winters on the California coast, have declined a staggering 99%. At their wintering grounds, only 2,000 individual Western monarchs were counted in 2020 — down from 30,000 last year, and millions in the 1980s. Monarchs are facing extinction. We need your help to fight back.   At Friends of the Earth Action, we know how to beat Big Ag and save endangered species. Our strategy includes a nationwide ban on toxic pesticides that are wiping out bees and butterflies. At the same time, we will continue to push major grocery companies like Kroger to stop selling food grown with pollinator-killing chemicals. And make no mistake, we will be working directly with the Biden Administration to get these toxic pesticides out of our food system.

This is the kind of comprehensive, smart campaigning that can help save our pollinators, and move us from toxic, pesticide-intensive agriculture to a healthy, sustainable and just food system where organic is for all.

Our plan has the power to win game-changing protections for monarch butterflies, people and the planet over the next four years. But we don’t have much time, and we need your help to make it happen.

Thank you,
Lisa Archer,
Food and agriculture program director,
Friends of the Earth Action