Endangered Species Condoms Turn 15

From Stephanie Feldstein, Population and Sustainability Program Director

It’s National Condom Week, and we’re celebrating 15 years of giving away wildlife-themed condoms to get people talking about the connections between endless growth and the decline of species. Our Endangered Species Condoms are more than just free contraception. They’re the perfect icebreaker to talk about solutions that advance gender empowerment, improve wellbeing, and protect biodiversity. They’re also an effective way to highlight a few of the million species at risk of extinction in the coming decades if the current trends of human population growth and consumption continue.

Since the first Endangered Species Condom exchanged hands in 2009, the Center for Biological Diversity has distributed more than 1.5 million free condoms, relying on thousands of volunteers in all 50 states. And we aren’t slowing down. Join our Endangered Species Condoms volunteer network to pass out free condoms in your community. Read on to learn more about how we’re bringing sustainability to college campuses, how healthy diets fight air pollution, and more.

Yelp reviewers have fallen in love with plant-based food, voting Tumerico — a vegetarian restaurant in Tucson — the number-one place to eat in the country . “Yelpers have always loved the bold flavors of Latin food,” notes Yelp. “But now they’re beating a path to places serving plant-based versions of Mexican classics.”

McDonald’s Expansion Will Grill the Planet

McDonald’s recently announced its intent to add 9,000 new stores and attract 100 million more loyalty members by 2027 — with the goal of ultimately expanding to a whopping 50,000 locations. Climate experts have long said that reducing beef consumption in the Global North is essential to solving the climate crisis, and yet McDonald’s sells 6.5 million burgers a day.

As Jennifer Molidor, the Center’s senior food campaigner, points out in an op-ed in Crain’s Chicago Business, instead of focusing on exponential growth at the expense of the planet, McDonald’s should invest in menu innovation and reinvent fast food that creates a healthier future.

“The golden arches are out of touch with our climate reality,” says Molidor. “Either the company adapts now, or it will find it is forced to do so by climate change.”

Here’s one thing you can do: Learn more about why people need to eat less beef — not just change the way it’s produced — at the Center’s Grazing Facts website.

Advancing Sustainability in Higher Ed

College students have an opportunity to shape the world they want to live in by using their voice to advocate for change today and as the future generation of policymakers, activists, and community leaders. The Center’s Population and Sustainability Organizer Malia Becker recently joined the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s advisory council, where she’ll provide strategic guidance to help advance sustainability on campuses across the country. It’s just one of the many ways the Center engages with students, staff and faculty on campuses to draw attention to the intersection of public health, gender equity, sustainability and biodiversity. Center campaigner Kelley Dennings recently wrote an op-ed in NC State’s student newspaper about our ranking of reproductive health resources and education on college campuses.

Here’s one thing you can do: Reach out to Malia if you’d like to learn more about how your college campus can advance public health and sustainability.

Study: Dietary Changes Can Reduce Air Pollution

A new study published in the journal Nature looked at the global and regional air quality impacts of shifting to more plant-based flexitarian, vegetarian, and vegan diets. The production of food — especially animal products — is a major source of methane and ammonia, which contribute to air pollution.

The study found that incentivizing plant-based dietary changes could meaningfully reduce air pollution, leading to health and economic benefits, especially in regions with intensive agriculture and high population density. That adds to research that shows shifting toward plant-based diets is also essential for fighting climate change, reducing water pollution and pesticide use, and protecting habitat.

Here’s one thing you can do: Learn more about Earth-friendly diets at Take Extinction Off Your Plate.

Building a Sharing Economy

Endless growth, pollution and unsustainable consumption are fueling the extinction crisis. But people can fight the culture of consumerism and still meet our needs. One simple way to do that is to pool, share and borrow the things we use in our everyday lives.

That’s why the Center is excited to partner with Shareable’s Library of Things Co-Lab to fund two Library of Things fellows who are working to set up sharing libraries in their own communities. Libraries of Things are community spaces to share and borrow everything from sports equipment to musical instruments, fighting consumerism and strengthening communities in the process.

Here’s one thing you can do: Watch the Center’s webinar on building an economy that’s better for people and the planet.

Connecting Environmental and Reproductive Health

The exploitation of people, animals and nature drives the environmental crises we face today and damages the health of the most marginalized people. Reproductive health, specifically, is affected by poor environmental quality that makes it difficult for parents to bear and raise children in safe and healthy communities.

Center campaigner Kelley Dennings recently joined the Environmental Directions radio show to talk about how these invisible environmental threats impede reproductive justice and harm reproductive health, pregnant people and their babies. “Our health and the environment are deeply interconnected,” said Dennings. “There’s no environmental justice without reproductive justice.”

Here’s one thing you can do: Check out the Center’s report on how environmental toxicity, inequity, and capitalism harm reproductive health.

Wildlife Spotlight: Wonder Caddisfly

The wonder caddisfly is one of the rarest of the Columbia River Gorge’s caddisfly species. Caddisflies begin their lives as river-dwelling larvae, constructing a portable protective case out of stream sediments like fine sand and plant material, and emerge from the water as winged, moth-like adults. Due to prolonged drought, the wonder caddisfly now survives in a single 110-yard stretch of river in Wonder Creek, below Lancaster Falls in Oregon.

Unfortunately a trail crossing the creek and a clear-cut powerline corridor prevent the species’ population from expanding downstream. In an effort to protect the wonder caddisfly, last month the Center filed a legal petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the tiny underwater builder under the Endangered Species Act.

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Photo credits: Lizard with a package of Endangered Species Condoms by Cheyenne Stice; food from Tumerico courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; McDonald’s restaurant by Dirk Tussing/Wikimedia; Sather Gate at UC Berkeley by trey78/Flickr; cow butts by Jason Ross Williams/Flickr; Oakland Tool Lending Library by Mx. Granger/Wikimedia; birth control pills by Mg39913201/Wikimedia; caddisfly by Andrew C/Wikimedia.

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