Save monarchs from deadly herbicides
NRDC = Frances Beinecke
March 27, 2014
I hope you’ll take a minute to read my message below about a terrible threat facing monarch butterflies right now -- then, please make your voice heard in their defense. Thank you.
Frances
Monarch butterflies are in crisis, and we must take immediate action to protect them!
Less than 20 years ago, an astounding 1 billion monarchs migrated to Mexico for the winter. This year, a mere fraction of that -- just 33.5 million -- made the journey.
Why? In large part it's because industrial agriculture is killing off the native milkweed on which monarchs depend with a new generation of potent herbicides.
Tell the EPA to adopt tough new restrictions on the weed killers that are wiping out monarchs!
By placing commonsense limits on Big Ag's rampant use of herbicides like glyphosate -- marketed as Roundup by Monsanto -- the EPA could dramatically increase the monarch's chance for survival.
But the EPA is unlikely to do that unless it hears from hundreds of thousands of us!
Monarchs can't live without milkweed -- it is the only plant on which they lay their eggs.
What's at stake here? One of the most astounding and extraordinary migrations on the planet -- a true natural wonder.
Each year, as they have for countless generations, North American monarchs undertake an epic journey, flittering upwards of 3,000 miles across the U.S. and Canada to just a relative few wintering grounds, including Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains.
But as industrial agriculture has ramped up its use of genetically engineered crops resistant to weed killers like glyphosate, it has also dramatically escalated its use of herbicides -- and monarch populations have plunged.
This is the ninth year in a row that the population of monarchs wintering in Mexico has fallen below its long-term average, and this year it hit an all-time low.
Please tell EPA the time to act is now!
Thank you for joining NRDC at this critical moment in our fight to save the monarchs.
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Sincerely,
Frances Beinecke President Natural Resources Defense Council |