Demand that President Trump & his anti-wildlife officials reverse course & act to save endangered species and their habitats

The shocking U.N. report on the severe decline of imperiled wildlife and their habitats isn’t stopping Trump from gutting critical safeguards for endangered species.

Up to one million species face extinction because of human influence — many within decades. That's the stark and urgent warning delivered in a shocking report released earlier this week by the United Nations.

If that wasn't startling enough, the U.N.'s findings also expose the scope and severity of the Trump administration's disregard for the protection of our environment and threatened species.

We must act now: Demand that President Trump and his anti-wildlife officials reverse course and act to save endangered species and their habitats — before they're gone forever.

The U.N.'s groundbreaking report draws from over 450 experts in more than 50 countries, and describes the detrimental impact of climate change, shrinking habitats, pollution, and other factors on rapidly declining animal and plant populations.

It warns of the disappearance of species we care about and rely on, like pollinators and freshwater fish ... decline in agricultural yields due to severely damaged soil ... eradication of forest ecosystems, along with all the carbon storage and wildlife home benefits they bring ... and elimination of freshwater streams that provide drinking water for our survival.

A big little science lesson

The research also shows that ecosystem collapse is a direct symptom of human activity. Yet President Trump and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt continue to push forward with plans to roll back vital protections for threatened and endangered species, including gray wolves, North Atlantic right whales, rusty patched bumble bees, and many others.

And Trump's reckless fossil fuels first policies and climate change denial are pushing so much of our wildlife even closer to the brink.

But NRDC is fighting back on multiple fronts, including going up against the Trump administration in federal court to stop these dangerous rollbacks.

And while we're battling in court, we need as many people as possible to raise their voices and generate an outcry too big for the Trump administration to ignore.

Tell Trump, Bernhardt, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: We demand you take IMMEDIATE action to stop the decline of our planet's biodiversity, and avert the extinction of endangered species.

We can still turn things around — but our window of opportunity to act is narrowing every day.

So if you, like me, cannot stand by and watch this administration go unchallenged as our biodiversity plummets ... and if you want to leave your children and grandchildren a planet that looks anything like the one we're on now ... please speak out.

We need to protect nature — or nature is going to stop protecting us. Thank you for taking action when it matters most. Over the next two weeks, we'll be in touch with more opportunities to help save wildlife before it's too late.

- Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, NRDC

IPBES global report: Species extinction rate is accelerating

More Information:

One million species face extinction, U.N. report says. And humans will suffer as a result - The Washington Post

UN Report Says More Species Threatened With Extinction Than Any Other Time in Human History - The Nature Conservatory 

Endangered Species Act saves vast majority of species under its protection  - The Hill

The cost of Trump's Endangered Species Act proposal - BBC

Endangered Species Act stripped of key provisions in Trump administration proposal - The Washington Post

Tell Congress: Pass the Scientific Integrity Act

The petition to Congress reads: "Pass the Scientific Integrity Act." Add your name:

As climate change grows increasingly dangerous, the last thing the government should be doing is censoring its own scientists. But the Trump administration is firing and reassigning scientists, preventing the release of key reports, altering findings, and stacking agencies with industry shills. The systematic attack on science threatens us all. Congress must act now to protect science. Tell Congress: Pass the Scientific Integrity Act. Click here to sign the petition. Since Trump’s election, the federal government has mounted over 200 documented acts of interference or suppression of science and scientists.1 Over three-quarters of the instances targeted climate scientists, whom Trump has said he doesn’t “believe.”2 And these are only the events reported in the news. Scientists face pressure daily to conform their activities to Trump's ignorant world view. In a survey of federal scientists, 631 scientists reported that under the Trump administration, they were told to omit the phrase “climate change” from their work.3 Another 703 federal scientists said they self-censored by avoiding working on climate change or using the term.4 The Scientific Integrity Act would prohibit political appointees from altering or suppressing scientific findings and give scientists final review over how agencies use their work.5 It aims to prevent lobbying groups and politicians from "intimidating, coercing or retaliating" against federal scientists. The bill would require agencies that fund science to institute scientific integrity policies to prevent political intervention in practicing science, sharing results and making personnel decisions.6 Government scientists monitor our water and air quality, food safety, and drug risks. They sound the alarm on environmental and health risks before a crisis hits. And in the case of climate change, they are racing to understand an ongoing crisis and develop solutions. When they cannot do their work free of political interference, our world becomes less safe. Congress has the power to force the Trump administration to leave scientists alone and let them do their research – and communicate about it – without fear of losing their jobs. We need it to act to protect scientists and the future of our planet. Tell Congress: Pass the Scientific Integrity Act. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/scientific-integrity-act?t=9&akid=32516%2E3130208%2EPbvKkH - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, "Silencing Science Tracker," Columbia Law School, accessed May 8, 2019. Romany Webb and Lauren Kurtz, "Congress can stop the war on science," The Hill, Jan. 16, 2019. Michael Halpern, "The Scientific Integrity Act is Good for Science and Good for Government," Union of Concerned Scientists, March 13, 2019. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid.

Tell your members of Congress: Reject the White House’s request for another $4.5 billion to terrorize refugees

The White House is asking for an extra $4.5 billion to target, separate, detain, and deport immigrants and asylum seekers. They’re trying to claim that some of this money is for “humanitarian” purposes, but we’ve seen enough to know that’s not true.

The Trump administration is co-opting a refugee crisis to pay for more human suffering. Here are some toplines of what they’re requesting:

• $342 million to expand even further the deadly, abusive immigration detention system to be able to detain nearly 54,000 people every day.
• $377 million to further militarize the border, including an increase in funding for “Operation Guardian” which sends the National Guard to do Border Patrol’s bidding.
• $155 million for the Department of Justice US Marshals to criminalize people seeking to claim their legal right to asylum by prosecuting them for unauthorized entry or re-entry.
• And more to lock up immigrants and refugees, separate families, and deny asylees protection from harm. You can read more in our Defund Hate resource here.

Whether Congress says Yes or No to this budget request is up to us right now. Today, join thousands of people across the country, from Bend the Arc, Indivisible and other allies, to demand immigrant justice — call your members of Congress to tell them to reject Trump's request.

Call 

1-844-332-6361

1-844-909-0232

National call-in day: Thursday, May 9th

Sample Script:

“Hi, my name is [first and last name] and I'm a constituent of [member of Congress]. How our country treats immigrants is a very important issue for me, so I'm calling to ask [member of Congress] to reject the White House’s request for another $4.5 billion to further terrorize immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. I want [member of Congress] to urge their party’s leadership to reject the White House budget request.”

More Information:

TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO DEFUND HATE - Indivisible 

White House asks for $4.5 billion in emergency funds for border - CNN Newsource

White House Asks Congress for $4.5 Billion in Emergency Funds to Deal with Border Crisis -Yahoo Finance 

Tell legislators: Protect Citizen's Initiatives and Voting Advocates

Tomorrow both chambers are really amping up their wars on democracy. 

The Arizona Legislature is about to vote on a series of extreme measures that would make grassroots ballot initiatives almost impossible.   It's all expected to happen at 10 am tomorrow. 

These bills, SB1451 and SCR1023/HCR2005, would hugely increase the cost & difficulty of the initiative process, and would essentially give the residents of any legislative district in Arizona the ability to veto an initiative before it even got to the ballot.

Minimum wage initiatives? Gone. Pro-education initiatives? Gone. Anti-corruption initiatives? Gone.

Politicians may not always agree with voters. But that doesn't mean they should attack our constitutional right to participate in direct democracy and make our voices heard.

Protect your rights! Make a quick call to your state legislators now and tell them to vote NO on any bills that interfere with the ballot initiative process. 

SCR1023 and HCR2005, the bills requiring initiatives to get a certain number of signatures from EVERY legislative district, will be debated on the Senate & House floor tomorrow. These bills would be referred to the ballot for voter’s approval in 2020 – and would be the ballot measure to end all ballot measures. The requirements laid out in both bills represent the MOST EXTREME HURDLE of its kind anywhere in the country. By doing so, this would make it easier to get something on the ballot in Scottsdale than in Maryvale – rather than treating voters equally.

SB1451, stricter requirements for initiatives, is ALSO going to be debated on the House floor.

And as if that wasn’t enough – so is HB2616, the bill that would criminalize voter registration volunteers.

IF YOU CAN DRIVE CALLS TO YOUR LEGISLATORS, PLEASE DO and ask them to VOTE NO on ALL of the above bills. Find your legislator and a convenient call script HERE.

Script: 

My name is [your name] and I am a voter in your district. I am calling to ask you to vote NO on SB1451 and SCR1023/HCR2005, which would make grassroots ballot initiatives almost impossible.

- Arizona Advocacy Network and Foundation
http://www.azadvocacy.org/

Tell the Senate: Pass Sen. Gillibrand's Safe School Meals for Kids Act to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos from school lunches

Ban brain-harming toxic pesticides in school lunches

The petition to the Senate reads: "Pass Sen. Gillibrand's Safe School Meals for Kids Act to ban the brain-harming toxic pesticide chlorpyrifos from school lunches." Add your name:

The pesticide, chlorpyrifos, is linked to a whole host of developmental disabilities and neurological disorders and is so dangerous that the EPA banned the toxin for home use nearly two decades ago. Yet Big Ag still sprays nearly 10 million pounds of the chemical on food crops, including fruits and vegetables that end up on school lunch tables across the country.Here's a scary and dangerous fact: Millions of school children in the United States could unknowingly be ingesting a brain-harming toxic pesticide just by eating seemingly safe school lunches. A new bill in the Senate could protect school kids from this dangerous neurotoxin. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand recently introduced the "Safe School Meals for Kids Act," which would restrict schools from purchasing food with any detectable amount of chlorpyrifos, effectively banning the chemical from school food.1 Let's build public support behind this bill to ensure children are no longer exposed to this harmful toxin. Tell the Senate: Ban brain-harming toxic pesticides in school lunches. Click here to sign the petition. Chlorpyrifos is the most widely used insecticide in the world and belongs to the same family as sarin nerve gas.2 This toxic chemical poses a massive risk for children, whose brains are nervous systems are still developing. People who have been exposed to the toxin have experienced permanent changes in brain structure, loss of IQ, increased likelihood of children developing ADHD or other developmental and behavioral disorders, reduced lung function, asthma, and cancer.3 The EPA found that children who eat fruits and vegetables sprayed with chlorpyrifos could be exposed to it at levels 140 times what the EPA considers safe.4 And it's not just school children who are affected: Rural children in agricultural areas are exposed to drifting pesticides, and farmworkers, many of whom are immigrants, who apply the toxins on crops are exposed to unsafe levels of chlorpyrifos even when they wear protective gear. Activism to ban this extremely dangerous pesticide is working. Thousands of CREDO activists in New York recently signed petitions to help our allies successfully convince the state legislature to pass ban all chlorpyrifos by 2021, and a similar ban in Hawaii goes into effect in 2022.5 A nationwide ban should have been enacted last year, however, the Trump administration continues to appeal court rulings compelling the EPA to ban the chemical. In the absence of a full ban on chlorpyrifos, Sen. Gillibrand's bill is a critical measure to provide safe food in schools and protect children from this neurotoxic pesticide. We must make sure that every senator who cares about the health and safety of America's children supports this legislation. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/chlorpyrifos-school-lunch?t=9&akid=32482%2E3130208%2EEU63Jo -Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, "Gillibrand Introduces New Legislation To Eliminate Pesticide From Food In School Meals," April 17, 2019. Zoë Schlanger, "The US government is ignoring its own scientists’ warning that a Dow pesticide causes brain damage in children," Quartz, March 30, 2017. Pesticide Action Network, "Chlorpyrifos," accessed May 3, 2019. Earthjustice, "Chlorpyrifos," accessed May 3, 2019. Dan Flynn, "New York steps ahead of Hawaii on agricultural pesticide chlorpyrifos," Food Safety News, May 3, 2019.

Tell Nestle: Solve your single-use plastic problem SOONER

Greenpeace divided up plastic trash on the beach by companies responsible

The petition to Nestle CEO Ulf Mark Schneider reads: "Stop choking our oceans with single-use plastics. Set a target and timeline to dramatically reduce single-use packaging and invest in large-scale alternatives focused on refill and reuse." Add your name:

Plastic pollution is a global crisis. Companies like Nestle are driving that crisis. Nestle sells a billion products a day, with 98% of them wrapped in single-use packaging.2 Unless Nestle and its peers change course, our oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050.3  Eighty-eight pounds of plastic. That's what scientists discovered in the stomach of an emaciated young whale that died in March. With its stomach full of plastic waste and nothing else, the whale had starved to death.1 Tell Nestle: Solve your single-use plastic problem. Click here to sign the petition. Nestle used 1.7 million tons of plastic packaging last year.4 Much of that is single-use packaging – wrappers and bottles that provide momentary convenience and then exist in our world for lifetimes. One study that analyzed garbage in 42 countries found Nestle products to be the third most often recovered pieces of ocean trash.5 Thanks to pressure from our friends at Greenpeace and the Break Free from Plastic Coalition, Nestle is starting to make promises about cleaning up its act. Nestle even pledged to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025.6 The problem is that making plastic recyclable doesn't solve anything. Over 90% of plastics are not recycled.7 We need to actually reduce the amount of plastic waste we produce, period. But Nestle is hiding its failure to address single-use plastics by focusing on recycling instead. Last year CREDO members and other activists successfully pushed Starbucks to commit to eliminating plastic in its cups. We can do the same thing with Nestle. Nestle has the market power to shift the way people use plastic all over the world. It needs to take responsibility for driving the plastic pollution crisis and act now. Tell Nestle: Solve your single-use plastic problem. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/nestle-plastics?t=9&akid=32445%2E3130208%2EeHRBDC - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Alejandra Borunda, "This young whale died with 88 pounds of plastic in its stomach," National Geographic, March 18, 2019. Ivy Schlegel and Maddeleine Cobbying, "Nestle: A giant plastic problem," Greenpeace, April 2019. Sarah Kaplan, "By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans, study says," The Washington Post, Jan. 20, 2016. Schlegel and Cobbying, "Nestle: A giant plastic problem." Ibid. Ibid. Laura Parker, "A whopping 91% of plastic isn't recycled," National Geographic, Dec. 20, 2018.

Tell Chair of the House Appropriations Committee Nita Lowey: No Slush Fund for ICE and CBP

No slush fund for ICE and CBP

The petition to Chair of the House Appropriations Committee Rep. Nita Lowey reads: "Defund hate. Cut 302(b) discretionary funding for ICE and CBP." Add your name:

Every year at the start of the budget process, the House Committee on Appropriations allocates a pot of non-military discretionary funding to each of the committee's 12 subcommittees, including Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and CBP's budgets.1 Normally, the committee chair divides any increase in this slush fund money to each subcommittee equally. But nothing is normal right now.  As chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Democrat Rep. Nita Lowey has the power to cut funding for ICE and CBP. We need to make sure she uses it. As chair, Rep. Lowey is holding the purse strings. We must make clear to her that progressives are watching and demand that she cut funding for ICE and CBP now and at every step of the budget process. Tell Chair of the House Appropriations Committee Nita Lowey: No slush fund for ICE and CBP. Click here to sign the petition. Donald Trump is waging war on immigrants and refugees. Clear, decisive action from Democrats in the House of Representatives is one of our strongest lines of defense. Trump is going to extremes to fund his anti-immigrant agenda. He stole from FEMA to supercharge ICE.2 He declared a fake national emergency to steal billions of dollars for his border wall even after Congress approved $4 billion to build it.3 And just yesterday, Trump's pick to run DHS announced his plan to inflate the department's immigration enforcement budget before Congress even begins fiscal year 2020 budget negotiations.4 ICE tried to up its budget by manipulating the negotiations process last year, but CREDO members and our allies stopped it from happening. This year, we're in an even better position to fight back. Democrats took back the House of Representatives in November because progressive voters turned out en masse. They sent the youngest and most diverse group of representatives to Congress with a mandate to confront Trump's white supremacy head on and push for policies that put people before politics and corporate interests. Advocating that Democrats who now hold key leadership positions do everything they can to defund Trump's deportation force and racist agenda is an opportunity we cannot afford to squander. That's why we're mobilizing earlier in the budget process. Grassroots activism at this stage is very uncommon, which means that organizing now can have a big impact. Add your name to demand that Rep. Lowey stand with us and restrict discretionary funding for ICE and CBP. Tell Chair of the House Appropriations Committee Nita Lowey: No slush fund for ICE and CBP. Click the link below to sign the petition. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no-ice-slush-fund?t=9&akid=32440%2E3130208%2EK9dN2d - Nicole Regalado, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Detention Watch Network, "Tell Chairwoman Lowey to Cut Funding for ICE & CBP," accessed April 30, 2019. Camila Domonoske, "Trump Administration Transferred $9.8 Million From FEMA To ICE," NPR, Sept. 12, 2018. Peter Baker, "Trump Declares a National Emergency, and Provokes a Constitutional Clash," The New York Times, Feb. 15, 2019. Priscilla Alvarez, Geneva Sands and Phil Mattingly, "Acting homeland security secretary says administration will ask Congress for more border funds this year," CNN, April 30, 2019.