Art credit: New Yorker magazine cover, March 2010
Petition from SaveOurEnvironment.org:
Monarch butterflies need a plant called milkweed. It is the only plant they can lay their eggs on and that the caterpillars can eat. But the combination of genetically engineered corn and soy and Monsanto's Roundup herbicide has wiped out nearly all the milkweed that used to grow along the monarchs' migratory routes, leaving the butterflies nowhere to lay their eggs.
Every fall hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies have taken to the skies, flying more than 2,500 miles across Canada and the U.S. to reach their winter home in the thick forests of tall oyamel fir trees that grow in Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains. This winter, only 33.5 million butterflies made it to Mexico – the lowest level ever reported.
Like honey bees and other pollinators, monarch butterflies are now in crisis, with populations plummeting dramatically since the introduction or Roundup-Ready corn and soy bean crops in 1997. The huge increase in the usage of GMO crops and potent weed killers like Monsanto's Roundup that accompany them is a major culprit for the monarch's disappearance, along with rapid deforestation in Mexico and extreme weather caused by climate chaos. The world needs monarch butterflies. But they can't survive without milkweed. And milkweed can't survive Monsanto's Roundup.
Please join me in speaking out to help save monarchs by signing this petition; we must convince the USDA and EPA to revisit the safety of toxic herbicides like Roundup and to stop approving more. Send your message now, and Thank you!
Visit the Center for Food Safety for more information on this issue and an infographic.
Monarch butterflies need a plant called milkweed. It is the only plant they can lay their eggs on and that the caterpillars can eat. But the combination of genetically engineered corn and soy and Monsanto's Roundup herbicide has wiped out nearly all the milkweed that used to grow along the monarchs' migratory routes, leaving the butterflies nowhere to lay their eggs.
Every fall hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies have taken to the skies, flying more than 2,500 miles across Canada and the U.S. to reach their winter home in the thick forests of tall oyamel fir trees that grow in Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains. This winter, only 33.5 million butterflies made it to Mexico – the lowest level ever reported.
Like honey bees and other pollinators, monarch butterflies are now in crisis, with populations plummeting dramatically since the introduction or Roundup-Ready corn and soy bean crops in 1997. The huge increase in the usage of GMO crops and potent weed killers like Monsanto's Roundup that accompany them is a major culprit for the monarch's disappearance, along with rapid deforestation in Mexico and extreme weather caused by climate chaos. The world needs monarch butterflies. But they can't survive without milkweed. And milkweed can't survive Monsanto's Roundup.
Please join me in speaking out to help save monarchs by signing this petition; we must convince the USDA and EPA to revisit the safety of toxic herbicides like Roundup and to stop approving more. Send your message now, and Thank you!
Visit the Center for Food Safety for more information on this issue and an infographic.
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