A Final Thought in 2023
The 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act was this week and it remains one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation ever passed. It was approved by Congress with bipartisan support on December 28, 1973 with the intent to protect plants and animals of all kinds and rescue them from extinction. An all too common outcome.
Over the past 50 years the Endangered Species Act has sometimes been a political pawn and the rigorous scientific evaluation applied and overwhelming public sentiment to preserve a species has been ignored. Yet, the foundation of the law still stands and as we work together to build human and wild resiliency, and combat and withstand the climate crisis and global biodiversity loss, we can use the Endangered Species and its companion environmental regulations, the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, to advance our goals.
Where we live used to be a magical mosaic of river, forest, wetland, lake, and prairie and the wildlife was abundant. It will never be what it was but it can be alive and magic once more—and at Friends we are determined to make it so for everybody’s benefit especially and including yours.
