Pesticides are driving monarchs toward extinction

Dear Friend, Monarchs are being driven towards extinction. Help us stand up for pollinators and our planet with your $27 gift today. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $5/month immediately]( Ribbons of orange and black blanket trees and fields. Clusters of monarch butterflies fly overhead, with rays of sunlight peeking through the small gaps made as their wings flutter. These were common sights in the 1980s, when Western monarch population counts were well over four million. The situation now is dire -- just last year, counts were reported to be under 2,000. [Stand up for threatened monarchs: make your $27 donation to Friends of the Earth today.]( The threats are real and well-documented. Monarchs only lay their eggs on milkweed, but this has become harder to find thanks to the ubiquitous use of Roundup, Bayer-Monsanto’s herbicide. The widespread use of this herbicide has left monarch young with few places to hatch and grow. And now we see the consequences, with a shocking 99% decline in Western monarch populations. It comes as no surprise that Bayer-Monsanto would put profits over pollinators, people, and the planet. They are putting our ecosystems at risk while they line their pockets. At Friends of the Earth, we are fighting to protect our pollinators and the planet from the greed of Big Ag, but we need you with us, Friend. Bayer-Monsanto is putting profits over pollinators and our planet. Help us stand up to their greed: Make your $27 gift today. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $5/month immediately]( The devastating monarch decline serves as a warning of environmental sickness. It’s not only monarchs -- 40% of invertebrate pollinators are on the brink of extinction! The disappearance of monarchs and other pollinators would be catastrophic. While Roundup decimates young monarch populations, butterfly-toxic pesticides wreak havoc on adult populations. The widespread use of pesticides in industrial agriculture ensures that few spaces are safe for monarchs to reside. We are fighting tooth and nail to stand up to powerful corporations like Bayer-Monsanto that spend millions on covert disinformation campaigns to mislead the public and protect their profits. Even though Roundup is linked to monarch declines and cancer, Bayer-Monsanto continues to sell millions of pounds of it to farmers every year. Bayer-Monsanto's profit comes at a huge cost to the health of pollinators, people, and our ecosystems. The company does not acknowledge the role it has played in driving monarchs and other pollinators towards extinction. We can’t afford to allow it to continue operating this way. We cannot risk monarchs going extinct within our lifetimes. Help fight for the future of monarchs and our planet: Donate $27 or more today. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $5/month immediately]( Unless we act now, we may be one of the last generations to share the planet with these extraordinary creatures. We know what we must do, and we know it can be done: We must eliminate the use of toxic Roundup across our food system. We are on the precipice of disaster for monarchs unless we act now. Your $27 membership donation will allow us to take our fight to the next level against the use of Roundup and butterfly-toxic pesticides. Powerful corporations like Bayer-Monsanto are trying to buy their way out of responsibility for the damage they have caused, but you can help us hold them accountable. The future of our pollinators and our planet is in your hands, Friend. As monarch populations nosedive, we need to use everything within our power to fight powerful pesticide corporations and restore our ecosystems so monarchs can flourish once again. Bring monarchs back from the edge of extinction. Make your $27 gift to Friends of the Earth today. If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $5/month immediately]( Standing with you, Paolo Mutia, Food & agriculture campaigner, Friends of the Earth Contact Us: Friends of the Earth U.S. Washington, D.C. | Berkeley, CA 1-877-843-8687 [Contact us]( Email Preferences: [Click here to unsubscribe]( Learn more: www.foe.org/news www.foe.org/about-us www.foeaction.org Connect: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Flickr]( © 2017, Friends of the Earth. All Rights Reserved. [supporter]