NRDC ad in the New York Times July 7 2015

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is taking on Dow  Chemicals –– and Monsanto too– to stop  the toxic herbicides that threaten Monarch butterflies with extinction. A full-page ad in the New York Times costs a lot, but it’s nothing compared with the threat to Monarch butterflies, which are on the brink resulting from several factors: the removal of natural windrows on farms (miscellaneous shrubs/trees and plants in production fields) and declines in native milkweed which is vital for the Monarch’s breeding and migratory life.

The drive to maximize crop production on millions of acres means farmers are using herbicides to kill every “weed” including milkweed.  Monsanto’s Round Up is the culprit (glyphosphate) and now Dow is introducing another lethal herbicide Enlist Duo, which combines glyphosphate and 2,4-D.

NRDC’s full page ad in the Times on July 7 asks Dow to stop the “chemicals race” by shelving plans to sell Enlist Duo.

Monarch Massacre: No joke

A monarch perches on a sunflower in Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota. Courtesy Tom KoernerUSFWS

Monarchs are in serious decline. NRDC says, “The monarch butterfly, an iconic North American species that makes a unique 2,500 mile annual migration from the mountains of central Mexico to Canada and back, has been in serious decline for 15 years. Once numbering as many as a billion, only 56.5 million of the orange-and-black winged pollinators were counted last month at their Mexican refuge, the second lowest total ever.”

Our Green News Update story in February reported on U.S. Fish & Wildlife statistics: “Since 1990, about 970 million have vanished,” noted the Washington Post.

Monarch Population-2015. Courtesy USFWS

NRDC Take Action: Files Suit against EPA

In 2014, NRDC submitted a petition to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to urge the government to limit the use of Round Up, the herbicide that is a key culprit in destroying Monarchs’ habitat (milkweed). When EPA failed to act, NRDC  filed suit against the agency in February 2015 in U.S. District Court in New York City, claiming that the herbicide “is doing ‘significant ongoing harm.'”

What can you do ? 

Contact NRDC and sign on to help 

Read the Green News Update story (February 2015) multiple tips and resources

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