A few weeks ago I wrote a post called “Ecology and Democracy,” and scheduled it to go out to you tomorrow. You’ll still get that, but as it happens, ecology and democracy are intersecting in a pretty urgent way today, so I’m sending an extra edition of this newsletter this week.
What follows here is an op-ed I wrote too late in the game to pitch around very well. TLDR version: the Trump administration is seeking to change the Endangered Species Act in a way that would essentially gut it. The deadline to submit public comments on the proposed change is today Monday, May 19, at midnight eastern time.
Over the last two years, I have devoted myself to listening to the voices of our non-human planet-mates. While researching and reporting for my podcast, Threshold, I've tuned into conversations among elephants and dolphins, tree crickets and turtles (yes, turtles talk!). I've learned that fish make choruses in the ocean that can be louder than rock concerts, insects pass secret messages to each other by vibrating the stems and leaves of plants, and flower blossoms can be ears, carefully attuned to the buzzing wings of pollinators. Listening to the calls, cries, howls and hoots of other beings consistently fills me with wonder, and reminds me of my inherent connection to the whole web of life. It's a precious thing, to be born into this wild symphony of sound.
Sadly, the Trump administration is seeking to change the Endangered Species Act in a way that would silence many of those voices. For decades, protecting habitat has been a central pillar of the ESA1. The logic of this is obvious: without a place to live, a creature will die out. That's why courts have affirmed that harming the habitat of a threatened or endangered species is harming the species itself2.
But a month ago, the Department of the Interior proposed stripping habitat protections from the ESA. This would dramatically narrow the definition of “harm” and allow even more places to be dominated by humans: our roads, buildings, industry, and relentless noise.
For species that are already at high risk, like the Greater Sage-Grouse and the Black-footed Ferret, this change could be the death knell. Both of those animals live in grasslands, one of the least well-protected habitat types in the world. If we destroy their small patches of remaining territory, they have nowhere else to go.
But to truly understand the impact of this proposed change to the ESA, we need to think beyond species that are already on the threatened and endangered list, and ask: who's next? A habitat is just a fancy word for a place, and all the life in it. When one species starts to decline, it's like a flashing red light, alerting us to weaknesses in the whole ecosystem. If we ignore those warnings, the damage will spread, and species that are abundant now will likely join the red list in a decade or two. In other words, when we fail to protect the most vulnerable inhabitants of a place, we're putting all of the life there at risk.
Happily, it works the other way, too: when we protect the most vulnerable, we give the whole system a boost. For example, if we leave some space for Greater Sage-Grouse3 and Black-footed Ferrets4 to live wild lives, it will also benefit all kinds of other plants and animals that live in the shortgrass prairie, like Western Meadowlarks, Long-billed Curlews, and Thick-billed Longspurs.
Those birds aren't currently endangered in the western U.S., but we shouldn't take their well-being for granted. A major study from 2019 showed that there were almost three billion fewer wild birds in North America compared to 1970, and even so-called “common” birds have taken enormous hits.5 As someone who has called Montana home for the last 25 years, I can't imagine spring without the songs of meadowlarks, and I don't want to. We can help ensure future generations get to hear their voices by paying attention to what's happening to their habitat before their numbers start to plummet.
Ultimately, the question of protecting habitat comes down to this: do we want to live in a world where humans dominate all the space, and drown out all the other voices? To me, that sounds like a terrible future. A person who listens to nothing but the sound of their own voice isn't just annoying. They are ill—chronically self-absorbed, and potentially a danger to themselves and others. So what about a whole society?
We can change the definition of “harm” on paper, but it will not change the facts on the ground. Disrupting habitat will cause harm to threatened and endangered species, and to other species too, including our own. This proposed change to the Endangered Species Act—a law that was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support—is the opposite of what we need to do in a time of mounting ecological crisis. We need more players in the symphony, more voices in the choir, not fewer. That means protecting the space they need to survive and thrive.
Again, here’s the page where you can submit a comment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
And here’s some further reading about this:
The Conversation: “Most species on the brink of extinction are on the list because there is almost no place left for them to live. Their habitats have been paved over, burned or transformed. Habitat protection is essential for their survival.”
American Rivers: “If this rule moves forward, the essential places that numerous endangered species use for feeding, breeding, sheltering, and surviving will be at risk. The ecosystems upstream and downstream that those species support will also be at risk, as well as areas that we humans depend on for clean drinking water and many other benefits.”
Center for Biological Diversity: “Redefining harm to leave out habitat destruction could be the nail in the coffin for imperiled species across the United States and beyond, like Florida manatees, green sea turtles and spotted owls. It's simple: You can't save species without preserving their homes.
1995 decision by U.S. Court of Appeals, affirming defintion of harm to include habitat modification
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16062024/sage-grouse-endangered-listing-risk/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/black-footed-ferret
Three Billion Birds report, 2019
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