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New Meat Campaign -- Take Extinction Off Your Plate

EarthMeat production comes at a steep price to endangered species and the environment, whether it's through deforestation, climate change, habitat destruction, drought or the direct killing of keystone carnivores like wolves.

So this week the Center for Biological Diversity launched a groundbreaking new campaign urging Americans to "take extinction off their plates." Eating less meat is one of the best ways you can reduce your environmental footprint. Cutting just one-third of the meat from your diet can save as much as 340,667 gallons of water, more than 4,000 square feet of land, and the greenhouse gas equivalent of driving 2,700 fewer miles a year.

"Many people don't realize the devastating toll meat production has on wildlife and the planet," said Stephanie Feldstein, our population and sustainability director.

Learn more at our brand-new website, share this awesome infographic ("Meatstinction!"), and take our pledge to eat less meat.


Thousands Protest Fracking in California

Fracking protestFrom one end of the state to the other, Gov. Jerry Brown and other politicians in California are getting an earful from the public about the scourge of fracking. Some 4,000 people descended on the state capitol in Sacramento on Saturday to call on Brown to halt fracking and protect the state's air, water, climate, wildlife and public health. Just days before, protesters in Long Beach rallied outside the California Coastal Commission's meeting against offshore fracking in state waters.

"We're out here to deliver a message loud and clear to Governor Brown and the legislature that fracking is a dirty and destructive form of fossil fuel extraction that has no place in California," the Center's Kassie Siegel said at the Sacramento event.

We helped organize these two key rallies, successfully mobilizing thousands to turn the political tide against fracking in the Golden State. Thank you to all who turned out; momentum against fracking is building, in California and around the country. Take action now to help keep it going, and watch this story from FOX 40.


Big Anti-Keystone Rally in D.C. in April -- Join Us

Keystone XL protestWe're at a critical moment in the fight to stop Keystone XL. Thousands of people will march in Washington, D.C., next month to tell President Obama to reject this disastrous pipeline. We need you there.

On Earth Day, April 22, tribal communities, farmers and ranchers from along the pipeline route will ride into Washington on horseback for a five-day encampment. The Center for Biological Diversity and allies will join the rally April 27 and march to the White House. We'll be speaking out against Keystone to save wildlife, the climate, people and wild places.

This could be the last show of mass public opposition to Keystone before President Obama makes his decision. Will you join us on the 27th? We're looking both for people to march, as well as to help organize community members to attend.

Learn more and sign up now.


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Settlement Will Help Marbled Murrelets in Santa Cruz Mountains

Marbled murreletMarbled murrelets, some of California's most unusual seabirds, fly from the ocean to nest in ancient coastal redwoods, where they lay a single egg and rear a single baby bird. The Center just reached a settlement agreement with the California Department of Parks and Recreation that will help these birds survive in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Our agreement requires action by the state agency to reduce trash left by visitors, which hurts murrelets by unnaturally increasing the number of predators -- especially ravens and Steller's jays -- that gobble up their eggs and chicks.

"This settlement is great news for murrelets in the Santa Cruz Mountains," said Shaye Wolf, a Center biologist. "These remarkable seabirds are dangerously close to extinction, and many park visitors would be shocked to learn that their trash adds to this decline. The new protections will help make sure murrelets have a safe place to nest in our state parks again."

Read more in The Sacramento Bee.


California Rejects Destructive Power-line Project

Lyon's pentachaetaLast Thursday state authorities rejected a controversial power-line project proposed for Southern California, instead embracing a plan to upgrade existing substations that will do less damage to habitat for endangered species and open space between the cities of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley. Reduced energy demand and fierce opposition from community members and environmental groups, including the Center, helped secure the win.

"California's regulators took a stand for the environment and for ratepayers, finding a better alternative for this bloated power-line proposal," said Center lawyer Jonathan Evans. "This decision is a great roadmap for energy solutions that protect wildlife and save money, starting with reducing demand through energy-efficiency measures."

Conservation groups protested the original project because of its impacts on an agricultural and open-space area that includes critical habitat for endangered species such as the California gnatcatcher, Riverside fairy shrimp and yellow-flowering Lyon's pentachaeta.

Read more in the Ventura County Star.


Help Emperor Penguins Avoid a March to Extinction -- Take Action

Emperor penguinsEmperor penguins may be one of the toughest species on the planet: From the day they're hatched all they ever know is snow and icy oceans. But these waddling birds of Antarctica are defenseless against climate change -- and, like polar bears, they have a grim future unless we act now to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

This week is the last time to weigh in with public comments to urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect these incredible birds under the Endangered Species Act.

In 2006 the Center filed a petition to protect 12 penguin species, including emperors, and the agency largely came through, protecting seven species -- but not emperors. So in 2011 we filed again, with new science pointing to dwindling emperor numbers and threats from ocean acidification, overfishing and ice melt.

Please take action now to help protect the emperors before their march comes to an early end.


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Celebrate 44th Earth Day With 44,000 Condoms

Endangered species condomsThis April 22 it'll be Earth Day for the 44th time. And here at the Center for Biological Diversity we want to bring the holiday's focus back to where it started, in the root causes of our most pressing environmental issues: runaway human population growth and rapacious overconsumption. Will you join us?

We're seeking volunteer Endangered Species Condoms distributors who will be attending Earth Day events around the country. Are you going to one? Want to help give away 44,000 free condoms? Then we want you. Sign up today to be a part of this anniversary -- share our message that humans need to leave room on the planet for wildlife.

"The choices we make today will decide what kind of Earth Day we'll have in another 44 years," said the Center's Taralynn Reynolds. "Help us make sure it's one that celebrates a planet where people, wildlife and wild lands flourish."

Learn more about Endangered Species Condoms and our Population and Sustainability program -- then sign up to become a condom distributor.


In Fight Over Oil Transport, N.Y. County Halts Plan for New Boilers

Green sea turtleMore news out of the Northeast, where the Center's fighting the transport of dangerous crude oils on trains and barges: New York's Albany County, concerned over public safety, has just stopped a company's plans to build boilers to process tar sands oil it wants to ship in by rail. The county felt that state and federal officials hadn't done enough to protect local residents from a dramatic increase in oil shipments in the region.

After several fiery accidents, including an oil train derailment in Quebec that killed 47 people, the Center called for a moratorium on crude-by-rail shipments in the Northeast and asked Congress to investigate the mounting threats to people and the environment. We've also filed legal papers to challenge outdated oil-spill response plans in the region that are meant to protect, among other things, wildlife like Atlantic sturgeon and sea turtles.

The big question now, the Center's Mollie Matteson told Al Jazeera America in a story about the Albany moratorium, is whether state and federal officials will finally begin taking this issue seriously.

Read more in Al Jazeera America and check out our new Oil Trains campaign page.


Wild & Weird: Flightless Parrot Saved With Glue

KakapoKakapos are chubby, flightless, endangered parrots that live in New Zealand -- and only 130 remain on Earth. While kakapos can reach the grand old age of 120, the species has one of the lowest reproduction rates of any bird. Conservationists are working hard to pull these birds back from the brink.

So when a kakapo mother named Lisa accidentally broke her egg last month at a hatching center, senior kakapo ranger Jo Ledington and her team at Kakapo Recovery had to act fast. They applied adhesive to the shell in a last-ditch effort to salvage the inner membrane and save the unborn chick.

And it worked! An ultra-rare, ultra-adorable bouncing baby kakapo emerged from the Humpty Dumpty shell Feb. 28, the first such birth of 2014.

See photos of the cracked and doctored egg; watch a video of the new baby kakapo a few days after hatching; and check out Kakapo Recovery on Facebook.


Kierán Suckling
Executive Director


Photo credits: Pika courtesy Flickr/Lukas Vermeer; fracking protest courtesy Flickr/janinsanfran; Keystone XL protest courtesy Flickr/Stephen Melkisethian; marbled murrelet by Rich MacIntosh, USFWS; Lyon's pentachaeta courtesy Flickr/John Marquis; emperor penguins courtesy Flickr/Christopher Michel; endangered species condoms with design by Lori Lieber and art by Roger Peet (c) 2012; green sea turtle courtesy Wikimedia Commons/Brocken Inaglory; kakapo courtesy Flickr/Chris Birmingham.

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Center for Biological Diversity

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Tucson, AZ 85702

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