Protect hibernating bats

Dear Friends,

To protect hibernating bats from white-nose syndrome, the fast-moving fungal disease that has killed nearly 7 million bats in the eastern United States, the U.S. Forest Service has kept caves closed in the Rocky Mountain Region for two years to all but the most essential human access. Now, with the policy up for renewal, the Forest Service is considering weakening protections for bats, increasing the risk of cave visitors bringing the disease into the caves.

Nationwide the loss of bats could mean exploding populations of insects no longer kept in check by these furry, fly-by-night mammals. Scientists have estimated that by keeping insect pests at bay and reducing the need for pesticides, bats are worth $22 billion annually to American farmers. In Colorado, these savings could reach $430 million per year; in South Dakota, $1.1 billion.

While bats are dying at rates topping 90 percent in some areas, and some species could face extinction, the risk to western bats and farmers is too great to justify easing restrictions for discretionary cave uses like recreation.

Please take action today to send a message to the Forest Service and express your support for maintaining the current, responsible management policy.

Click here to find out more and take action.

If you have trouble following the link, go to http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10553.

POEM by Matt: The Break Up

Uggghhhhhhh
Oh I dread this moment
Be strong, shoot to kill, get arrested
Go to jail for an unannounced sentence
Hurt's like fire, frost bite, Hiroshima bomb in your heart don't it?
But I'm the protagonist of this story!!!
Got the goods, the looks and the heavens on my side
And an order of one BAD ASS STORYLINE
I can live till the end or die in your arms
But I've got a show to play in Japan
The world needs me
But I need you

"The Not Break Up"

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Shell Oil has done it again!!

 Dear Friends,

Shell Oil has done it again. The oil giant just filed another lawsuit against the Center for Biological Diversity and 13 other environmental groups who are trying to protect the Arctic from dangerous drilling.

I wanted you to hear it from us first -- and know what we're doing about it.

The Center's blocked every offshore drilling proposal in the Arctic since 2007. Shell knows we're effective, so it's trying to take us out with another preemptive attack.

But we're not going to be scared off by outrageous lawsuits. We're fighting on every front to stop Shell's plans to drill in the Arctic this summer.

In fact we just filed a legal challenge against air permits that would allow the company to do just that.

The pristine Arctic -- home to polar bears, walruses and seals -- is too fragile to turn into an oil-drilling industrial zone with pollution, oil spills and lasting devastation.

But Shell is determined to drill. Its latest lawsuit targets our work to enforce laws protecting marine mammals like whales and seals from the devastating impacts of sound from drilling.

In its first suit, the oil giant is also trying to get us to pay its legal fees, which will likely run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We won't be bullied by Shell. The Arctic is just too important to hand over to oil companies.

Thank you for standing with us to fight these obnoxious intimidation lawsuits. The Center will stay in this fight for as long as it takes to keep the Arctic, and all its wild inhabitants, alive. 

We'll keep you updated as we move ahead to protect the Arctic and fight off Shell's suits against the Center and our allies.

Thanks for standing with us.

Kierán Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity

P.S. The Center's been fighting to protect the Arctic and its incredible wildlife for more than a decade. You can read on our website about what we're doing now to stop the Far North from being destroyed.

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This message was sent to writerscornerstone@gmail.com.

Help Protect US Endangered Freshwater Turtles!!!

Dear Friends, 

Freshwater turtles are facing more and more devastating overharvest in the United States for sale to the pet industry and food and medicinal markets in Asia. Beautiful map turtles are already endangered, and unregulated international trade is rapidly destroying them and other native turtles.

Protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species would put limits on international trade and monitor their populations.
 
In response to a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced that it may propose 17 species of U.S. freshwater turtles for CITES protection at the next meeting in Thailand. The agency has invited the public to comment on which species should be listed. 

Please take action now to tell the Service to protect U.S. freshwater turtles from falling victim to an insatiable international market.

Click here to find out more and take action.

If you have trouble following the link, go to http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=10334.