• Animals

Congress Urges Biden to Declare Extinction Crisis a National Emergency

• 30 by 30
• biodiversity
• climate change
• extinction crisis

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer On Friday, nine Representatives introduced a bill that would direct the President to declare the global extinction crisis a national emergency. The Extinction Crisis Emergency Act would designate resources and agencies to evaluate and protect threatened species across the country and crack down on international endangered animal trade. Advocates say that […]

• Animals

The U.S. has Rejoined the Paris Agreement, but Why Not the CBD?

• #30x30
• biodiversity
• conservation
• Convention on Biological Diversity
• extinction crisis

Despite playing a significant role in drafting the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), an international agreement to conserve biodiversity, the U.S. is the only member of the United Nations yet to ratify it. The next Conference of the Parties (COP) of the CBD is scheduled to take place in China later this year.

Why This Matters: More than one million species are now considered endangered, and extinction rates have reached an all-time high.

• Animals

Meet the “Pizzly Bear,” a Polar/Grizzly Hybrid Moving in Next Door

• adaptation
• climate change
• endangered species
• extinction
• extinction crisis
• grizzly bear
• polar bear

As the earth grows warmer, some of its cold-weather creatures are struggling to survive, and in response, nature is showing us what it does best: adapting. The “pizzly bear,” which won out over the name “grolar bear,” is a polar bear/grizzly bear hybrid becoming more and more common in Canada. 

Why This Matters: The polar bear may be the next victim of the ongoing biodiversity crisis.

• Animals

Trump Rolls Back Endangered Species Protections (Again)

• #30x30
• cllmate crisis
• critical habitat
• endangered species
• extinction
• extinction crisis
• rollback

This week, the Trump administration adopted a new rule that narrows the definition of what qualifies as a habitat under the Endangered Species Act. The new definition only allows “critical habitat” for plants and animals at risk to be protected under the Act.

Why This Matters: By slicing away at the places that the Endangered Species Act applies, more activities that further degrade the habitat will likely be able to proceed.

• Animals

Renewed Hope as Tasmanian Devils Return to Mainland Australia

• 30 by 30
• Australia
• biodiversity
• extinction
• extinction crisis
• Tasmania

by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer  The Tasmanian Devil, the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial, has set foot on mainland Australia for the first time in 3,000 years. Conservationists led by Liz Gabriel, the director of Aussie Ark, released 11 Tasmanian Devils into Barrington Tops wildlife refuge north of Sydney in the state of New South […]

• Animals

When Extinction is Simply Not an Option

• 30 by 30
• biodiversity
• extinction crisis
• IFAW
• North Atlantic Right Whale

by CT Harry, Marine Campaigner, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)   North Atlantic right whales once numbered tens of thousands in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean from the Labrador Sea to the coast of Florida. They were nearly driven extinct by whaling at the turn of the century and, tragically, once again, are […]