Monarch butterfly endangered
The Sierra Club petition is on the social network and activist website Care2 and is available for anyone to sign. There was once as many as one billion monarch butterflies in the U.S. and Mexico — some experts say those numbers have fallen to as low as 35 million.
A recent Center for Food Safety report echoed what other reports have said, that the Monsanto Roundup, containing the herbicide Glyphosate, is eradicating milkweed, the primary food source of the monarch butterfly caterpillar.
Sierra Club petition to save Monarch
The petition comes on the heels of a new program from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who has partnered with the National Wildlife Federation in a new initiative to restore the Monarch to its previous numbers.
They are providing $2 million in funding and seek out groups and individuals to help plant native milkweed and nectar plants, again giving the monarchs a food source in areas they have dwindled in or disappeared from. Land has been targeted on which to grow milkweed.
“Monarch butterflies are dying off,” the Sierra Club petition reads. “And scientists now believe Monsanto is to blame. Monsanto makes big profits off convincing farmers to douse their fields with a pesticide called Roundup. Then they make even more cash when the farmers have to buy GMO seeds resistant to Roundup’s poison – seeds only Monsanto makes.
“The problem is, the pesticide destroys plants like milkweed, the only food monarch butterfly larvae can eat. Milkweed is now gone from at least 100 million acres of crops. And monarch butterfly populations are crashing. If we want to protect monarch butterflies, we need to get the government to step in. Send your message to the Obama administration right now.
“And help us save monarch butterflies from Monsanto!”
