Oil vs. Orcas: which will you pick, Friend

Friend, A new baby orca was born to the Southern Resident orca pods over Christmas. But after just one month exploring his new underwater home, this poor calf is now presumed dead. He likely suffered from painful starvation without enough food to eat – and now his family is left mourning this tremendous loss. To make matters worse, Big Oil and the shipping industry are pushing forward two industrial mega-projects that could wipe out this precious calf’s surviving family members from the face of the planet and put coastal communities at risk! Today is World Whale Day, and we can’t waste this opportunity to fight for these orcas, nearby communities, and the fragile oceans that sustain them. [Will you help Friends of the Earth hit our urgent $82,000 goal to fight corporate polluters and protect our orcas, our oceans, the people who rely on them, and our only Earth?]( Corporate mega-projects threaten Southern Resident orca survival on all sides. First, an enormous new cargo shipping terminal would exponentially increase ship traffic throughout orca habitat, migration routes and critical feeding areas. That means an unbearable and growing burden of underwater noise pollution for these vulnerable and sensitive creatures. The noise would drown out orcas’ sonar signals and disrupt their ability to communicate with one another. The result could be deadly collisions with speeding ships, or extreme difficulty finding the scarce Chinook salmon they count on as their primary food source! It gets even worse. Big Oil corporations propose to EXPAND the Trans Mountain Pipeline to bring a SEVENFOLD increase in oil tanker traffic through Southern Resident orca habitat. That means millions of gallons of some of the world's dirtiest tar sands oil per day! Friend, this pipeline expansion is an OIL SPILL DISASTER waiting to happen -- and we have to act to stop it now before it’s too late. Big Oil has proven that it cannot be trusted to put precious animals and even people above short-term profits. Its deadly projects will deal a massive blow to people living nearby. Families and tourists who used to love watching orcas and marine life thrive could instead see oil-covered sea creatures floating in the water. Fishers who rely on clean waters to make a living could be seeing fewer and fewer healthy fish in the ocean and entire livelihoods would be destroyed. This isn’t the world you and I want to live in, Friend. That’s why Friends of the Earth set an urgent goal to raise $82,000 in honor of World Whale Day. We’re fighting to increase protections for Southern Resident orcas and stop these projects before the damage to oceans and communities is irreversible. But we rely on membership support from activists like you to power our fight to protect orcas, people, and our planet. And right now, we’re falling short of our crucial goal! [Please: Will you donate $27 or more before World Whale Day ends at midnight TONIGHT and help protect vulnerable orcas, communities, and our only Earth?]( If you've saved payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: [Donate $27 immediately]( [Donate $50 immediately]( [Donate $100 immediately]( [Donate another amount]( Standing with you, Marcie Keever Oceans & vessels program director, 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]( © 2023, Friends of the Earth. All Rights Reserved. [supporter]