The Yale maps provide some encouraging numbers, but it’s even more surprising to see what’s going on in some the most reddest parts of the country, including Tennessee. People are starting to understand the dire state of the natural world, the oceans, the polar ice cap, and wildlife, and are determined to do something to stop it. Although our elected officials continue promoting lies about fossil fuels, they do not speak for most of us.
Popular support can sometimes bring even the most powerful red-state leaders to their conservation efforts. The Nature Conservancy and Tennessee officials joined forces in January to protect 43,000 acres wildlife habitat. The largest conservation agreement in state history. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act into law last year. It allocates $400 million to combat habitat fragmentation. Amazingly, Megan Mayhew Bergman, a writer, signed The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act into law. Notified in The GuardianThe act that defines the corridor’s boundaries was passed by the state senator with a vote 40-0 and the house with an 115-0 vote.
Take a moment to think about this: A conservation bill passed both houses without a single vote. In Florida.
It’s no surprise then that the evidence of a mythical bird in Louisiana could inspire such hope. Why not save the Florida panther?
This news was not welcomed by all birders, but it was welcome. Extinct is the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Twitter: Walter Kitundu, artist and birder. Even if they weren’t, I would still prefer them to believe they were and leave them alone.
Even a plausible, well-documented possibility remains a possibility. However, the National Aviary researchers have yet to peer-review the paper. There is no guarantee that an ivory-billed family of woodpeckers will be found in the Louisiana hardwood bottomland.
But this particular possibility serves as a reminder of what we can do. Don’tThe amount we know about the natural world and its inhabitants is incalculably greater than what we do. Many things are still possible. Some of them may surprise us. Some of these things might even lift us out of our deepest despair.
