Gather rotund , madam and gentleman’s gentleman : The Center for Biological Diversity ( CBD ) has justannouncedthe success of its yearly Rubber Dodo award , an inglorious honour that ’s given to the person who has “ most aggressively sought to destroy America ’s rude heritage or push back endangered species extinct . ”
Is it Donald Trump , the President thatpoo - poosclimate science when he ’s cold ? What about Scott Pruitt , whose pro - fossil fuel inclinations aremotivatedby the Bible ? gloomy , but they all pale in comparison to the winner . Step forth , Ryan Zinke , Secretary of the Interior , and get your prize !
If you ’ve been following the news , you ’ll know that it ’s been atough yearfor theenvironment , and by default , for the critters that live in it . It should n’t total as a surprise , then , that several member of the federal government , and the Republican Party , were in the running to incur this class ’s Rubber Dodo .
A public poll parrot to mold the winner included the aforementionedPruitt , as well as Representative Rob Bishop of Utah . Bishop , by the fashion , is someone who oncesaidthat he ’d be happy to “ invalidate ” the Endangered Species Act , and has recently superintend the foundation of bills that would at leastneuterthe venerable , successful piece of legislation .
Zinke ’s prize means that he ’s arguably worse than Bishop , which may seem unmatched until you remember what the Interior Secretary has presided over .
Most infamously , Zinke and Trumpshrunktwo major National Monuments – Bears Ears and Grand Staircase - Escalante . This add up to a expiration of 8,100 square kilometers ( 3,100 straight international nautical mile ) of scientifically , historically , culturally , and archaeologically meaning land , the largest such rollback in American history .
Thecontroversyover the move only intensified when it transpired that mining firms had heavilylobbiedfor the changes . The fun does n’t finish there , however .
The administration ’s staunchly pro - fossil fuels approaching has certainly exacerbated things in the eyes of conservationists . consort to theNational Resources Defense Council , the area of public state for petroleum and gas leasing is now six times greater than that which existed back in 2016 under the Obama organisation .
Zinke ’s Interior Department – which the Union of Concerned Scientistsdescribedas “ mandating disregard ” toward skill – has engaged in pile of other ecologically unfriendly actions too , including :
– Attemptingto overturn a Bachelor of Arts in Nursing on import elephant trophies from certain nation
– Arrangingthe largest oil and gas term of a contract sale in American story
– Proposingto lucubrate offshore drilling in multiple ecologically sensitive emplacement
– Declinedprotections for several probably threatened or endangered species
– Hopingto open three nautical monuments to industrial commercial fishing
– Demotingkey scientists at the Department in the hope that they ’ll quit
– Nixingthe Department ’s climate variety policy and neuter related enquiry
Seems like a worthy Rubber Dodo award success to us .
