astartears

[astartears]

Hey, US folks--if you haven't already heard, the federal government is taking public comments on whether to weaken the Endangered Species Act. In short, they want to redefine the definition of "harming" wildlife (not just animals but also plants and fungi, though no fungi have been listed yet) so that the destruction of wildlife habitat is no longer considered to be harm under the ESA.

As anyone who knows anything about ecology, wildlife biology, or just the way the natural world works knows, if you destroy a species' habitat, you harm that species. Period. The people who want this definition changed are corporations and other entities who want to use sensitive wildlife habitat for logging, mining, even golf courses. Meanwhile, endangered species that rely on these places as their last havens are much more likely to go extinct because they can't just "go somewhere else".

This isn't wishy-washy bleeding-heart stuff here. This is SCIENCE. Actual scientists who have dedicated their careers to studying wildlife and their habitats are the ones who have been pushing so hard for decades to protect and restore these lands, and to educate people on why habitat destruction is the single biggest cause of species endangerment and extinction.

Sunday, May 18, 2025, is the last day to leave a public comment. You can do so at https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/FWS-HQ-ES-2025-0034-0001. This doesn't have to be a long or involved comment; simply saying "I do not support changing the current definition of harm in the Endangered Species Act" is enough. It won't take long, but it will let those in charge know what we, the people, want. Thank you for taking the time for this.

(Please reblog, and thank you!)

[astartears]

[astartears]

collecting posts of this type

[astartears]

[astartears]

Just an extremely Normal thing to say

Reminder they want to increase the budget for ICE from 3.5 to 45 billion dollars.

Reminder the majority of that will be for building new detention centers.

Reminder ICE are *currently* detaining tourists who can pay for a plane ticket home and people with visa issues that were already resolved, because they have to make quota so Trump can brag about the numbers going up.

Reminder most of these people were already in the immigration system - that's why they were easy to detain.

Reminder this is all at taxpayer expense.

Reminder these are people.

[astartears]

Source

Source

[astartears]

[astartears]

[astartears]

[astartears]

I want you to remember:

The fascists hate you too and they just will pretend otherwise until after they've killed the rest of us, before they turn on you.

[astartears]

[astartears]

[astartears]

Apparently boomer Democrats are having meltdowns over a gen-z progressive who is primarying an 80 year old Democrat because she "went on trans podcasts" and wore a Charizard kigurumi

[astartears]

Daily fucking reminder that Luigi Mangione is innocent, completely and fully. He has been convicted of no crime. He has had no fair trial. He is a SUSPECT. Luigi Mangione is entirely innocent and everyone needs to stop parroting this insidious propaganda that he “committed” the crime he is only SUSPECTED of. He is not a murderer. He is not a criminal. He is an innocent man.

[astartears]

“My body, my choice” only makes sense when someone else’s life isn’t at stake.

[astartears]

What the media won't show