Bush Admin Changing Environmental Regulations, Urgent

i double checked my numbers, and 150 species a day would add up to about 56,000 a year. this is still within the most pessimistic estimates (which are as high as around 140,000 species a year).

http://www.alternet.org/story/98065/we%27ve_got_one_week_left_to_stop_one_of_...

INSTRUCTIONS:

Go to www.regulations.gov and use the search terms: "50 CFR Part 402 proposed rule."

The proposed changes are in Document # EB - 18938

To see the proposed changes, click on "View this document"

Click on "Send a comment or submission" to write your comment.

Note that plain e-mails will not be considered. This is another way public input is being limited.

Write your comments before September 15, 2008.

My message to the Feds:

We are in the middle of the largest extinction event since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65
million years ago, and it is a direct result of our human presence on this planet. Granted, more
than just the United States is responsible for this catastrophe, but that doesn't mean we cannot
play a significant role in trying to lesson our footprint within our own boarders, nor does it mean
that our example is not a significant influence upon the rest of the world. We ought to be taking
the lead on this issue, strengthening our ecological regulations. Our economy is important, but
the ecosystems that sustain our existence on this planet are more important. Economies cannot
grow indefinitely. We live on a single planet with finite resources. WE ARE IN NO POSITION TO
BE LOOSENING ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION TO BENEFIT PRIVATE CORPORATE
INTERESTS. And it is not important to protect wildlife (only) because we have some kind of
emotional attachment to various species, or because we find some animals aesthetically
pleasing, or because they will suffer as a result of our expansion, resource depletion, and
pollution; it is important because a loss of biodiversity has a direct effect on the quality of our
human lives. We depend on certain ecological relationships to grow and pollenate our crops, to
catch our fish, to produce the air that we breathe, etc (nature does all of this for free, mind you).
At the current rate of extinction (approx. 20,000 species a year, most of which have not even
been scientifically cataloged yet), our planet could face a drastic collapse of its life carrying
capacity within decades, and we humans could very well be among the species affected. We are
slowly pulling out the columns acting as foundations for a rather large building, and while on the
surface everything may look fine, below ground the whole structure is nearing the verge of
sudden and dramatic collapse. PLEASE RECONSIDER THESE CHANGES TO THE LEGAL
LANGUAGE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT. OUR PLANET
DEPENDS ON IT.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• bush
• extinction
• environment
• species
• act
• protection

[tabronorm7]

I love that you take concern for this. People like you have a place in my heart and mind.

[crebsC]

I read comments like "care for the lives of others is a selfish thing"! Saying things like that is selfish! The Earth is in the midst of the sixth mass extinction of both plants and animals, with nearly 50 percent of all species disappearing, scientists say. Because of the current crisis, biologists are working day and night to determine which species must be saved. The ones with a huge impact on this planet are on top of that list, others are abandoned! This planet is going from worse to hell!

[Doblosky19]

I think it's messed up how people don't see the importance of this... and not just for survival of humans. 1 species going extinct is a very tragic loss. It is of itself, and therefore there are none other exactly like it. So many species have gone extinct that we could have benefited from too. But i don't even like the fact that it has to be about us humans. Am I the only one who feels compassion? This is so SAD!

[plotinus1]

Hi matt, great video- you a sharp guy and I like most of your ideas. I just wanted to point out a minor correction about your info to the right of the video"i double checked my numbers, and 150 species a day would add up to about 56,000 a year. this is still within the most pessimistic estimates (which are as high as around 140,000 species a year). " there should be the word "not" before "within"

[mikezephyr]

but seriously, i doubt bargaining with the bush administration or with the upcoming one or with coporate america or with the mentality of american culture for that matter will affect the change that we need to have a healthy world.

pleading is pretty fucked up.

[zezt]

here it is A Message to the World /watch?v=Vv3R6hddPfI

[zezt]

This evil oppressive force i dont have to tell you is the warrior mind in its unprecedented mode to total destruction of all life. And we all NEED Mother Mind

this demands as from now we dont follow their authority. how you do this is up to your responsibility in seeing the urgency of OUR/all species' predicament

[zezt]

Google 'A Message to the Wold, Credo Mutwa'

he really simplifies the shit we are in. He says there is a Mother Mind and Warrior Mind. The former sees life from all perspectives, the latter from a linear mechanical one.

[dadluvsu]

You are such a pleasure to listen to and watch. I admire your discipline and curiosity and especially your concern for the world. I hope you meet with great success in the future. As an aside, I would personally appreciate your increasing the volume of your vdo's.

Best regards, dadluvsu in Thailand

[HaleyMary]

Great video, Matt. Thanks for posting this. Too bad that emails aren't being accepted, though. Would be a lot easier for people to share their concern if they were being accepted. I favorited this, so hopefully other people will look at the site, too.