Stop Greenwashing Consumerism |
From Stephanie Feldstein, Population and Sustainability Program Director
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The first Earth Day, in 1970, was a call to action against rampant air and water pollution, with demonstrations across the United States. The movement led to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency and some of our country’s strongest environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act.
But as I argue in an op-ed for Sierra magazine, Earth Day has been watered down from a revolutionary moment that recognized shared values and the common threat of environmental harm to a day that’s little more than a social media hashtag. What’s worse, it’s also become an excuse for so-called sustainable companies to hold special sales, urging people to buy more.
Everything we purchase has a hidden price tag for the planet and wildlife. Eco-conscious companies need to stop peddling green consumerism and instead show their customers how to care for their purchases so they last longer. We can’t buy our way of our environmental crises, but we can revive the spirit of Earth Day with meaningful action. |
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New research suggests that many urban areas have levels of pollution so high that wildlife are struggling to locate night-blooming flowers. If pollinators become unable to sniff out these flowers, it may have detrimental effects on global pollination. |
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Meat Reduction Missing From UN Roadmap |
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s roadmap, published at the COP28 climate summit in December, lays out a vision for a climate-friendly food system. Although this roadmap mentions changing diets, it fails to recommend meat and dairy reduction despite the fact that animal agriculture is responsible for more than half of food system emissions.
New commentary published in Nature Food by a team of international researchers criticizes the gaps in the roadmap, calling its omission of reduced meat consumption “bewildering.” They also found that the roadmap fails to show how its recommendations can meet climate goals and contradicts its own commitment to protecting the health of people, animals and nature.
Here’s one thing you can do: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also left sustainable diets off the table in its climate strategy. Tell the USDA to prioritize the reduction of meat and dairy consumption across the United States. |
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Webinar: Reproductive Rights in Higher Education |
College is a time when youth learn more about themselves and the world around them —including how to make decisions about their reproductive futures. Colleges and universities have an obligation to teach students about reproductive health, especially those who may have lacked the opportunity to receive comprehensive sex education in their K-12 schools. And this education should be happening in a science-based, sex-positive and healthy way. Join Population and Sustainability Organizer Malia Becker in a free webinar on April 24
from 2 to 3 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. to noon PT, where she’ll talk about how reproductive rights are climate rights. She’ll discuss the reproductive health efforts of 20 college campuses across the country and share stories of students, staff and faculty working to improve health and wellbeing on their own campuses.
Register now.
Here’s another thing you can do: Check out our campus health clinic scorecard ranking sexual health resources at U.S. colleges and universities. |
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Research Shows Cows Are Water Hogs |
New research shows that an astounding 26% of the water in the Colorado River is used to grow alfalfa to feed beef and dairy cows. That’s more water than is used by all the cities and industries in the Colorado River Basin. Growing one acre-foot of alfalfa requires the equivalent of water used in two or three households.
Water use from the overstressed Colorado River needs to drop by 22% to 29% to stabilize historically low reservoirs, the researchers found. “If there’s a cutback, alfalfa and hay and pasture — those are the ones to go first,” said Mehdi Nemati, assistant professor of environmental economics policy at the University of California, Riverside. Here’s one thing you can do: Reduce your beef and dairy consumption with these Earth-friendly recipes. |
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Great Salt Lake Collapse Threatens Rare Bird |
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Ban Imports of Avocados Tied to Deforestation |
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Wildlife Spotlight: California Grizzly Bears
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Grizzly bears are massive mammals with a powerful impact on their environment. As foragers and hunters, they help disperse seeds, keep prey populations in balance and keep soils healthy. Following widespread persecution by European colonizers, it’s estimated there are only about 2,000 of these bears left in the lower 48 states. And although they captured the imaginations of Californians — and a spot on the state flag — the last reliable sighting of a wild grizzly bear in California was in the spring of 1924 in Sequoia National Park.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the extirpation of California’s official state animal, the California state senate recently passed a resolution to declare 2024 the “Year of the California Grizzly Bear.” While the resolution does not call for reintroduction of the bear to California, it raises public awareness of the cost of losing grizzly bears and other elements of California’s unique biodiversity, which can help open up conversations about bringing back the bears.
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States |
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