Center for Biological Diversity

We are proud to share that the Center's Jean Su has been honored as a climate leader on the Grist 2024 #Grist50 list. Jean has worked on to ban utility shutoffs in communities of color and has won an executive order to manufacture heat pumps for disenfranchised communities. More recently, her team has been urging FEMA to better prepare for the climate emergency, including legally petitioning the agency to recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as natural disasters. Join us in congratulating Jean for this well-deserved honor! 👏👏 Learn more about the critical work Jean and our Energy Justice team do every day ➡️ https://bit.ly/3MwpHWC

Mature and old-growth forests are a vital part of a healthy planet. They store massive amounts of climate-heating carbon, support healthy watersheds and clean drinking water, survive wildfire better than young forests, and shelter rare and endangered species like spotted owls, wolverines, and bats. Sadly, most old-growth forests have been cut down. When mature and old-growth trees are felled and milled, much of their stored carbon rapidly releases back into the atmosphere -- and it can take decades, or even centuries, to recover the benefits these trees provided. The good news? We have a chance to save what's left. The U.S. Forest Service has proposed amending 122 national forest management plans to protect old growth; if we speak up, we can sway the agency to include meaningful, enforceable protections that will stop the commercial exploitation of old-growth trees. Take action: Tell the Forest Service to protect the country's oldest forests and trees: https://biodiv.us/3MreMxx 📷 : Headwaters Forest Reserve by Bob Wick/BLM; Sheldrick Forest Preserve by Terry Donovan/Flickr; Tongass National Forest by Jennifer Kardiak/USFS; Vancouver Island by Nick Kenrick/Flickr.

BREAKING NEWS — We're calling on all Californians. 🚨 🚨 🚨 Lawmakers have voted to support a future where CA can #MakePollutersPay with AB 1866. Now the #CALeg just needs to pass AB 3233, a bill that will affirm local governments' rights to protect communities from fossil fuels. AB 3233 needs one more vote to pass. If you live in California, please urge your senator to support this bill. Take action: https://biodiv.us/3MqQAex Finally, if you're represented by one of these CA senators, help get AB 3233 across the finish line by making a quick phone call. Use this script in the first comment below to let them know this issue matters to you.

Elephants are loved by people and cultures around the world. But at the same time, humans are driving elephant populations to extinction by destroying their homes and migratory routes, poaching them for ivory, and hunting them for trophies. The Center for Biological Diversity has stepped up to help a very special population of elephants now in the crosshairs of trophy hunters. You can help the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro elephants too by taking action: https://biodiv.us/3VZjjLX Get to know the elephants at the Amboseli Trust for Elephants: https://bit.ly/3X3HKYX.

This video of healthy wolf pups playing sparks hope for the future of gray wolf recovery in Colorado. 🐺🐺🐺 Gray wolves were reintroduced to the state in Dec. 2023. With the arrival of the pups, Colorado’s first new wolf pack has been established. Long live the Copper Creek pack! https://bit.ly/4dX4KzI

We did it — thanks to you. After an overwhelming flood of votes from @centerforbiodiv supporters, we won a 2024 Community Choice Award. Run by trusted charity-assessing org Charity Navigator and decided by popular vote, this nationwide competition recognizes a nonprofit’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and excellence. We earned your support by winning for the wild. So far this year, we’ve already racked up scores of victories for wildlands, the climate, and wildlife like Atlantic humpback dolphins, coastal martens, and polar bears. We’re so honored. Thank you for standing with us. #CommunityChoiceAwards @charity-navigator

Small enough to fit in your hand, pygmy rabbits are the world’s smallest rabbit. Another fun fact: They’re the only North American rabbits who dig their own burrows. These mini-buns need continuous expanses of sagebrush for food and protection from predators. But their Sagebrush Sea home has been shrinking and fracturing due to livestock grazing, oil and gas extraction, invasive non-native grasses, and wildfire. In addition, an emerging virus first detected in pygmy rabbits in 2022 poses a serious threat to their survival. Pygmy rabbits were first proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act in 1991. They’ve been waiting for help for a long time — and we’re done watching their slow-motion extinction. So last week we launched a lawsuit to get these little animals Endangered Species Act protection before it’s too late. #StopExtinction #SavingLifeOnEarth Photos of pygmy rabbits and their habitat courtesy Tatiana Gettelman, Miranda Crowell/Flickr, USFWS, and WDFW. (We included a lot of photos in this post because there's no such thing as too many photos of a pygmy rabbit.)

Whether they end up pinned in display cases or crammed into tiny fake coffins, painted woolly bats are collected from the wild to be killed, stuffed, and sold thousands of miles from their homes. The United States is the largest known market for trade in these unique orange-and-black bats, who are native to South and Southeast Asia. Their populations are declining, and their biggest threat is overcollection for decor. In recent years the United States has imported many hundreds of painted bats directly from the wild. That's not OK. You can help: Tell Amazon, Etsy, and eBay to STOP selling painted woolly bats so their populations can again flourish in the wild — where they belong. https://bit.ly/3Z0D88X

Today is World Elephant Day, created in 2012 to shine a light on the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants. Elephants are loved, revered, and respected by people and cultures around the world. But at the same time, humans are driving elephant populations to extinction by destroying their homes and migratory routes, poaching them for ivory, and hunting them for trophies. The Center works hard to protect imperiled African elephants. Recently we’ve stepped up to help a very special population of elephants now in the crosshairs of trophy hunters. We have one ask of you this World Elephant Day: Take action to help save the Amboseli-West Kilimanjaro elephants: https://bit.ly/3SNZ2YR 📷: Rita Willaert/Flickr

The Grand Canyon uranium fight is heating up. 🔥🔥🔥 In four large protests last week, thousands of Northern Arizona residents came together to call on AZ Governor Hobbs and President Biden to close the Pinyon Plain uranium mine, which threatens Grand Canyon’s groundwater, biodiverse springs, and nearby communities, like the Havasupai Tribe. The wave of action was sparked by Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, who sent police to stop the mine’s first uranium shipments from crossing the Nation. Though Gov. Hobbs later brokered a deal to temporarily suspend ore shipments, protestors are demanding that the mine be CLOSED. It’s the is only way to prevent permanent damage to the Grand Canyon region’s environment and people. Live near Red Butte, AZ? Join the Center, Havasupai Tribe, and other partners on August 24 for another rally calling for the mine’s closure. Event info: https://biodiv.us/3yvZiVt Can’t make the rally? Send a letter to Gov. Hobbs and other decisionmakers urging them to close the Pinyon Plain uranium mine: https://biodiv.us/4fEk31S Photos of last week’s protests by Taylor McKinnon/Center for Biological Diversity.