Deadline midnight: stop Monsanto's monarch massacre

[Cassandra Lista]

Save Monarchs from Monsanto - Add Monarch Butterflies to the Endangered Species List

Make sure monarch butterflies don't go the way of the passenger pigeon and the dodo - Take Action Today!

Deadline March 2: Stop Monsanto’s Monarch Massacre - Add Monarchs to the Endangered Species List


Monarch butterflies are one of the most iconic and recognized insects in the world, but the overuse of weedkillers such as Monsanto’s Roundup on GMO crops has destroyed widespread portions of their breeding habitat in North America.

In the past 20 years, the population of monarch butterflies has been devastated - declining by an alarmingly 90% - and they need your help today.

With your help we can protect monarchs and help restore their declining numbers by getting these beloved butterflies protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Take Action: Send a letter to the protect monarch butterflies and help end Monsanto’s monarch massacre today! Every voice counts!

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_the_Monsanto_Monarch_Massacre_protect_Monarch_Butterflies_today/?t=7&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z

The deadline for comments is midnight March 2^nd.

Last month the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a shocking statistic that puts the critical loss of the monarchs in stark perspective. Since 1990, about 970 million monarch butterflies – or 90% of the total population has vanished across the United States.

The monarch butterfly population in North America has been shrinking at an alarming rate, largely due to the fact that a significant portion of their breeding habitat is being destroyed by weedkillers used on genetically engineered (GMO) crops. Milkweeds are critical to the monarch’s survival because they are the only plants monarch larvae will eat, but they are being decimated by the rampant use of Roundup (glyphosate) used in combination with Monsanto’s Roundup Ready GMO crops.

Monarchs need urgent and comprehensive protection, which is why the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Food Safety and the Xerces Society have filed a joint petition with the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the monarch butterfly on the Endangered Species Act. Join Food Democracy Now! in making sure that monarch butterflies survive for the next generation to enjoy their amazing migration, which has been devastated by the loss of milkweed due to widespread overuse of Monsanto's popular weedkiller Roundup on millions of acres of GMO corn and soybeans across the Midwest.

Deadline Midnight: Stop Monsanto’s Monarch Massacre - Add Monarchs to the Endangered Species List. Every voice counts!

The situation is so dire that recent monarch migrations, something witnessed and enjoyed by millions in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, have plummeted to near extinction levels.

According to Lincoln Brewer, a preeminent monarch researcher and conservationist, who has been studying monarchs since 1954:

“Monarchs are in a deadly free fall and the threats they face are now so large in scale that Endangered Species Act protection is needed sooner rather than later, while there is still time to reverse the severe decline in the heart of their range.”

With your help today, we can protect this beautiful and iconic monarch butterfly by getting it listed on the Endangered Species List. It’s a small step, but it will make a huge difference to make sure that monarch butterflies don’t go the way of the passenger pigeon and the dodo.

Take Action: Ask the Fish and Wildlife Service to Put the Monarch Butterfly on the Endangered Species List. Save the Monarch from Monsanto! Every voice counts!
Take Action: Ask the Fish & Wildlife Service to Put the Monarch Butterfly on the Endangered Species List. Save the Monarch from Monsanto! - See more at: http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/1370?t=11&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z
Take Action: Ask the Fish & Wildlife Service to Put the Monarch Butterfly on the Endangered Species List. Save the Monarch from Monsanto! - See more at: http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/1370?t=13&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z

http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_the_Monsanto_Monarch_Massacre_protect_Monarch_Butterflies_today/?t=15&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z

Thanks for participating in food democracy,

Dave, Lisa and the Food Democracy Now! team

Sources:

1. “Why Monarch Butterflies Need Endangered Species Act Protection”,  September, 23, 2014, Huffington Post
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/1371?t=17&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z

2. “The Monarch Massacre: Nearly a Billion Butterflies Have Vanished,” February 9, 2015, The Washington Post.
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/1372?t=19&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z

3. “Monsanto monarch massacre: 970 million butterflies killed since 1990”, February 10, 2015, RT.com
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/1373?t=21&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z

4. “Letters of Support for Monarch Butterfly Endangered Species Act Petition”, Xerces Society,
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/1374?t=23&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z

5. “Monarchs in Peril”, Center for Food Safety,
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/go/1375?t=25&akid=1502.86903.hOvd5Z