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Saturday, July 27, 2024

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Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

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Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

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There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

NM wildlife advocates work to accelerate human, wildlife coexistence

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Wednesday, February 21, 2024   

Wildlife advocates say there's been a shift in public opinion about the value of wildlife over the past few decades, with people supporting protections over exploitation, and they want to make 2024 another turning point.

Lindsay Larris, climate and energy director for New Mexico-based WildEarth Guardians, said historically, wildlife management was rooted in permitting wildlife to exist as long as it did not interfere with human interests. In New Mexico it is even more complicated, she explained, when the needs of wildlife are pitted against the state's billion-dollar fossil-fuel industry. But she believes attitudes are changing.

"Toward 'wildlife that should be valued for its inherent purpose and its inherent value' and away from 'wildlife should only exist to fulfill a human end,'" Larris outlined. "What we need to do is to have a system or systems of wildlife management that really represent that shift in public values."

An annual bipartisan survey on conservation in Western states released last week found an increase in voter concerns over climate issues from land and water use to wildlife populations and wildfires.

The Land of Enchantment is the nation's second-largest oil producer and a top-10 natural gas producer. WildEarth Guardians has repeatedly tried to hold their feet to the fire and comply with state regulations as well as the Clean Air Act.

Samantha Ruscavage-Barz, legal director for WildEarth Guardians, said front-line communities have a right to a healthy environment.

"We're approaching that through the lens of the state's lack of strict regulation of oil and gas development, trying to shine a light on the true cost of oil and gas development to people, to communities, to the ecosystem," Ruscavage-Barz stressed.

WildEarth Guardians noted fewer than 200,000 people are employed by the oil, gas and coal industry, while 335 million people in the U.S. expect to breathe clean air, drink clean water and live in a habitable climate.


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