Dear John,
October marks the culmination of one of nature’s greatest events: The fall
migration of the monarch butterfly. But this year, monarchs are more at risk
than ever before -- and toxic pesticides are driving them to the brink of
extinction. Help save the monarch butterfly: Start your membership with Friends of the
Earth with an annual donation NOW!
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Western Monarchs have declined by over 99%. They’re at risk of disappearing
forever. A key factor in their decline is glyphosate -- a.k.a. Bayer-Monsanto’s
Roundup.
At Friends of the Earth, we’re working to get this toxic pesticide out of our
food system -- but we need your help!
Help save monarchs from Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup: Start your Membership with
Friends of the Earth now.
Donate $10/year
[[link removed]]The migration of the monarch butterfly is unlike any other. Each fall, millions
of these colorful creatures leave their summer feeding and breeding grounds and
travel up to 3,000 miles south to reach their overwintering grounds in Mexico
and California. No other insect in the world migrates such a distance to places
it has never been before.
The butterflies making their way south today are the great-great-grandchildren
of the monarchs that left last spring. It is a team effort -- an epic,
intergenerational journey hardwired into their DNA.
This migration is unique, remarkable, and fragile. The monarch is the only
butterfly known to make a two-way migration as birds do. But unlike any other
great migrators, like birds or caribou, none of these individual butterflies
will ever return. Instead, after the winter, they will fly part of the way back
north, where they will mate and lay eggs on only one plant: milkweed. There,
their eggs will hatch into colorful caterpillars, feed on the milkweed, and
transform into butterflies before continuing north, over several generations,
and then finish their round trip.
Another thing that makes this migration different from any other is that it is
entirely reliant on one plant: milkweed.
But across large swaths of the U.S., milkweed has been wiped out by
Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup, and the monarch butterflies that depend on it are
being decimated.
Help stop Bayer-Monsanto from driving monarch butterflies to extinction. Start
your membership with an annual donation of $10 to Friends of the Earth today.
Donate $10/year
[[link removed]]A new study confirms what we have long feared: milkweed, vital to the survival
of the monarchs, is contaminated by toxic pesticides. This study found every
single sample of milkweed was contaminated -- scientists found 64 different
pesticides, and a third of samples contained pesticides at levels known to be
deadly to monarchs.
This poisoning of the only food source for monarch caterpillars is one more
devastating factor driving monarchs to the brink of extinction.
For the second year in a row, less than 30,000 western monarchs were sighted in
California, down from 1.2 million two decades ago. Current populations are only
1% of what they were in the 1980s. Eastern monarch populations are also nearing
the point of no return -- the latest annual count found the number overwintering
in Mexico fell by 50% from the prior year. Monarchs are being driven to
extinction.
And it’s all for the sake of corporate greed. Big Ag and fossil fuel
corporations are driving monarch butterfly decline through pesticide use,
climate change, and habitat loss. One of the worst culprits is Bayer-Monsanto’s
Roundup®, which is killing off young monarchs’ only food source, milkweed.
We have a plan to turn this around, but we need 200 new members to step up and
give annually for monarchs.
Help stop Bayer-Monsanto from driving monarch butterflies to extinction. Start
your membership with Friends of the Earth with an annual gift.
Donate $10/year
[[link removed]]At Friends of the Earth, we know how to beat Big Ag and save endangered species.
Our strategy includes a nationwide ban on neonics and other toxic pesticides
that kill bees and butterflies. At the same time, we’re pushing major grocery
companies like Kroger to stop selling food grown with these chemicals. This is
the kind of bold campaigning that can shift us away from pesticide-intensive
agriculture and make pollinator- and people-friendly organic food available for
all.
Our plan has the power to win comprehensive protections for monarch butterflies,
people and the planet. But we don’t have much time, and we need your help to get
there. We need 200 new members to become annual donors.
Donors are the backbone of our organization. As a donor, your support will allow
us to plan ahead, thinking strategically over the long term to maximize our
ability to make change. Reliable funding is key to putting our plans into action
-- and you’re a critical part of this movement to protect endangered pollinators
like monarch butterflies.
Becoming an annual donor is easy and rewarding. Just sign up on our secure online form
[[link removed]] , and you’ll be automatically charged each year for the donation amount that
you choose. Your yearly statement will clearly show your gift.
Plus, when you join as a member, more of your dollar goes directly to funding
our programs. And you’ll help ensure that we have the resources to keep fighting
in 2021 and over the long term. You’ll get to watch your gift turn into real
results -- like protections for monarchs and other pollinators. But to get
there, we are calling for 200 new donors by the end of the month. Will you be
one of them?
Help save endangered pollinators: Give annually for monarchs with a recurring
contribution to Friends of the Earth.
Donate $10/year
[[link removed]]Thank you,
Lisa Archer,
Food and agriculture program director,
Friends of the Earth
Contact Us:Friends of the Earth U.S.
Washington, D.C. | Berkeley, CA
1-877-843-8687
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