Pop X: Population, Sustainability and a Wilder Future for All.
Women's March on Washington, D.C.

Dear Center Supporter,

March is Women's History Month, and Trump seems to be celebrating by rolling back the clock on reproductive rights. Earlier this month, the administration finalized its rule for healthcare providers applying for Title X funding, emphasizing "natural" family planning and abstinence, rather than supporting the full range of effective contraceptive options.

This is the latest in a long line of policy decisions about women's health, many of which are being made without any women in the room. Population campaigner Catherine Thomasson writes about why representation matters for women and the planet in a new Medium article called "Power Struggle: Creating a New History."

Read on for more about Title X, plus the latest on the rooftop-solar Supreme Court case, new Earth-friendly books and how you can help save monarch butterflies.

For the wild,

Stephanie Feldstein

Stephanie Feldstein
Population and Sustainability Director
Center for Biological Diversity

P.S. Today's world population is: 7,608,506,709. We can still save room for wildlife — spread the word and share this email.

Monarch butterfly outside Minneapolis

Crowded Planet / Monarchs have declined by more than 80 percent over the past two decades. Once common across the United States, these iconic butterflies have lost much of their habitat and food to genetically engineered crops and a resulting increase in pesticide use. Learn more and check out this map showing how pesticides threaten monarchs' annual migration.

Rooftop solar

Wild Energy / Tesla Aims to Settle Solar Out of Court

When Salt River Project, a public power utility in Arizona, unfairly raised electricity rates for its customers with rooftop-solar panels, SolarCity (since acquired by Tesla) took it to court, alleging that the move violated antitrust laws. Now Tesla and the utility have announced they're working on a settlement focused on battery storage — but sadly, it doesn't look like the deal will address Salt River's assault on solar.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear the case next month, and the Center along with five other groups called on the court not to allow outdated utility monopolies to block the transition to cleaner energy.

Birth-control pills

Population / Trump Chooses 'Abstinence Education'

Four million people rely on Title X for affordable contraception and reproductive healthcare. The Title X family-planning program was created in 1965 to provide low-cost birth control — yet the Department of Health and Human Services' recent announcement about funding priorities doesn't talk about "contraceptives" or "contraceptive services." Instead, it emphasizes "fertility awareness" and returning to a "sexually risk-free status," which is code for abstinence education.

This new focus not only ignores effective evidence-based family planning, but it also restricts low-income women from being able to access contraceptives that may be the best choice for them and their families. With nearly half of all pregnancies unplanned in the United States, we need policies that offer universal access to contraception, not more barriers.

Join Us / Winning Our Fight Depends on You

Black bear cub

Endangered mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians are vanishing at the fastest rate since dinosaurs roamed the planet. But this is no time for those of us who love the wild to give up. The Center is the only major environmental group working full-time to address the connection between rampant human population growth, overconsumption and the wildlife extinction crisis.

We need your help to succeed. Please make a gift to the Center's Population and Sustainability Program to help us keep up our hard-hitting work.

Veggies

Earth-friendly Diet / Two New Books

Two books on Earth-friendly eating hit the shelves this week. Food Is the Solution was written by Matthew Prescott, senior director of Food and Agriculture for The Humane Society of the United States. It's part cookbook and part coffee-table book, with delicious plant-based recipes, beautiful photos, and essays on the connection between diet and the environment.

Eat for the Planet, by Nil Zacharias and Gene Stone, makes the case for having a positive impact on land, air, water and wildlife by changing your diet. Nil is the cofounder and editor in chief of One Green Planet, a popular digital platform for sustainable food, animal welfare and environmental issues.

Factory farm

Take Action / A new bill would allow factory farms to keep their toxic air pollution a secret, putting first responders and communities at risk. Tell your senators to oppose this dangerous legislation.

Endangered Species / Elephants Back in the Crosshairs

African elephant

Back in November, when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans to repeal the ban on importing elephant trophies, Trump responded to the backlash with a tweet calling trophy hunting a "horror show." Yet a few months later, he quietly decided to allow trophy imports on a case-by-case basis. Elephants desperately need a ban on trophy hunting to recover from habitat loss and poaching. The Center's Tanya Sanerib called the closed-door decision "totally unacceptable," adding, "Elephants aren't meant to be trophies, they're meant to roam free."

Monarch butterfly

Five Wild Picks / Help Save the Monarch

The latest count shows monarch butterfly populations continuing to decline. It gets worse: A new Center report shows that more than 60 million acres of their habitat will be sprayed with pesticides, putting monarch caterpillars' only food source at risk. Here's how you can help save monarchs:

1) Read and share the Center's report A Menace to Monarchs to learn more about the threats these butterflies face.

2) Share this video on Facebook.

3) Tell the EPA to rein in glyphosate, the toxic pesticide that's wiping out milkweed.

4) Create a butterfly haven in your yard.

5) Eat less meat. The genetically engineered crops driving the monarch's decline are primarily grown to feed livestock. Help save the monarch by eating more organic, plant-based foods.

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Photo credits: Women's March by Mobilus In Mobili/Flickr; monarch butterfly in Minneapolis by Kyle Daly/USFWS; rooftop solar by Marvin Girbig/Flickr; birth-control pills by Sarah C/Flickr; black bear cub by Bob Jagendorf/Flickr; veggies by Bruce Kramer/Flickr; factory farm by Mercy for Animals/Wikimedia; African elephant by miquitos/Flickr; monarch butterfly by Lori Ann Burd/Center for Biological Diversity.

Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States