“Science is supposed to be the fundamental principle of managing endangered species,” said Mike Leahy, a senior director of the National Wildlife Federation. “It’s getting increasingly overruled by politics. This is every wildlife conservationist’s worst nightmare.”
After years of following the debacle that Grizzly and Wolf recovery has turned into it’s quite clear that people like Mike Leahy are only interested in doing that insofar as it gets them what they want. They’ll toss “science” right into a trash compactor the instant that they don’t agree with it.
The ESA is fantastic and it very much needs to remain law but people like Mr. Leahy need to recognize that it is not nor should it be unlimited.
Remember: conservatism requires its followers to believe in natural hierarchies. Literally the very first rule of being a conservative is that you see yourself as inherently better than other people.
Its so confusing, didn’t their god say they were the custodians of this world? Shouldn’t they be fighting to preserve and protect the natural world that god made? Even if it wasn’t in danger? This shit is so cross it hurts to think about.
Answer from someone who grew up in a Southern Baptist/Evangelical house: they believe God gave them dominion over the world. Meaning everything in it is theirs to do with as they please. Environmentalism is a cousin to, if not actual nature worship. And believing in climate change is akin to doubting the power of God, who has control over everything.
There are people trying to change those views from within, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. They’ve been too powerful a voting bloc for Republicans, and it’s hard to compete with the double pronged attack of conservative talk radio and Facebook.
They prefer this:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
I guess I intrepreted that as being responsible for. If you don’t care for what you have dominion over, you will soon find yourself ruling nothing. Then again, I’ve never had an ounce of power so what do I know about that.
According to my Maga father god gave them this world to destroy all they want. Sooner the better in his eyes. That way Jesus will come back.
They are delusional and don’t care and some praise it.
Republicans love killing and hurting others so this makes sense. Despicable.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Written with biodiversity in mind, and to strengthen previous US conservation laws, the ESA empowered the federal government to get serious about protecting the United States’ most imperiled species of plants, mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects by making it illegal to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect” them.
According to the US Department of the Interior, the ESA “has been credited with saving 99% of listed species from extinction thanks to the collaborative actions of federal agencies, state, local and Tribal governments, conservation organizations and private citizens”.
Which brings us to the bad news: “After helping prevent extinctions for 50 years,” the Associated Press announced this past August, “the Endangered Species Act itself may be in peril.” The AP wrote that “environmental advocates and scientists say [the ESA] is as essential as ever.
Follow the money, in particular campaign donations to rightwing lawmakers from wealthy landowner associations and industry groups (logging, mining, oil, coal and gas) that oppose the ESA, which they say stifles economic growth and property rights.
That mindset, coupled with the rise of agriculture and industry, accelerated the destruction of entire ecosystems, culminating in the largest wildlife slaughter in the history of the world: the killing of tens of millions of North American buffalo.
Clean air, carbon storage, water purification, food and drink, natural medicines, disease and pest control, nutrient cycling, soil fertility, pollination, habitats for wildlife, spiritual connections, sense of place, inspiration, recreation and physical and mental wellbeing – to name a few.
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