The spotted owl is a beautiful bird, its chocolate-brown feathers dappled with white speckles like snowflakes. They’re an amazing part of forest ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest — but they’re in trouble.     Spotted owls have lost 70 percent of their habitat. Spotted owls have lost 70 percent of their habitat — and without more federal protection, they could go extinct.1 The owls depend […]

The apex predator on land is about to wipe out the apex predator of the ocean. Humans have driven the oceanic whitetip shark to the verge of extinction, even though losing sharks would be disastrous for our oceans.     Sharks are vital — but they’re vanishing. Oceanic whitetip shark populations have declined worldwide by 88 percent in recent years, and even more in […]

The world’s largest intact forest ecosystem — the Canadian boreal forest — is being put at risk in part to make toilet paper.1       We shouldn’t flush away the boreal forest. Companies are making tissue products we use for just a few minutes from virgin wood pulp harvested in part from one of our planet’s most important forests. We cannot allow this to […]

Last year was the deadliest year for Mexican gray wolves since their reintroduction program began.1 If these wolves are going to continue to recover, they need all the support they can get.       Mexican gray wolves are worth protecting. The unique, beautiful landscape of the American southwest echos with the howls of the rarest subspecies of gray wolf in our nation. Mexican gray wolves, or “lobos,” have been the subject of conservation efforts […]

President Trump is open to advice on whether to allow hunters to bring home elephant “trophies” for their walls and floors. The most famous elephant of all has some thoughts on the matter.   For a few weeks recently, “The Greatest Showman” — the semi-true story of P.T. Barnum — was my daughter’s favorite movie. She’s moved onto “The Incredibles 2.” But, even […]