Our lives are better when there are birds around.
This notion isn't just anecdotal, but a fact backed by science — studies show a clear link between human wellbeing and bird biodiversity within a geographical area. Millions of people resonate with and understand how birds represent this interconnectedness between our lives and the Earth we inhabit—in 2024, a survey found that roughly 96 million people, or 37% of the U.S. population, are engaged in birdwatching, with numbers only rising. There is no bigger threat to this relationship than the U.S. military.
From Lebanon to Ukraine to Gaza, U.S. backed wars and occupations have been responsible for the destruction of hundreds of thousands of acres of natural habitat, air, and water quality in crucial migratory corridors and areas with hundreds of different bird species. 49% of the world's bird species are declining due to climate change, and U.S. militarism is the world's #1 institutional polluter. The clock is ticking on our historic opportunity to stop Trump and Hegseth's proposed $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget, and we need to reach out to every organization with resources and influence that we can. Audubon's $200 million budget not only goes toward conservation, but also environmental lobbying. And by reaching out to Audubon, we can also reach out to the millions of birders across the country, many of whom use it as a go-to resource.
News & analysis
This week, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on a landmark climate case. The Supreme Court is taking up arguments in a lawsuit brought by city and county officials in Boulder, Colorado on the responsibility of fossil fuel corporations to pay for the impacts of climate change on their communities. The court's decision could have broader impacts on dozens of active lawsuits filed by other states, cities, counties, and Indigenous nations citing similar arguments. Fossil fuel companies not only escape legal and financial accountability, but they also evade the bounds of international law and sovereignty because the U.S. military ensures they can continue entering countries to drill for more fossil fuels, from West Asia to Latin America. Exxon Mobil is specifically named in the Boulder suit, in addition to Suncor, which had attempted to destabilize Venezuela for years prior to the kidnapping of President Nicholas Maduro on January 3rd.
New aerial footage from Gaza shows the complete decimation of the land. The latest studies are still being released, but we can see an extent of what has occurred — vegetation has been decimated; water wells have been poisoned, and mercury and depleted uranium have been found in the air, along with countless chemicals. Ecocide is a form of genocide, and the destruction of Gaza has also emitted more CO2 into the atmosphere than 100 countries combined, all supported by the United States for the sake of maintaining its proxy in the region for oil extraction. Palestine shows us why we cannot separate our struggles.
Personal note from Aaron
New York Climate Week ended a couple weeks ago, and I'm still busy reflecting. It was truly a mind-spinning week filled with sharp contradictions. In the moments leading up to my disruption of The Nature Conservancy, I sat and listened to their CEO talk with Walmart's Sustainability Officer on sustainable tuna supply chains, and it really rattled me that this conversation was framed as a bold one. Roughly halfway through, I stood up to ask them to address the other Elephant in the Room --- if they were supposedly so brave to be working on sustainable tuna supply chains, maybe they'd be so bold to bring up the$1.5 Trillion War Budget. In all of these big, corporate "official" climate week events, the budget was what they would not address, what they didn't know, and a Pandora's box of everything that threatens the wealth profiteering of them and/or their funders.
For the grassroots spaces, the budget is an opportunity. The stakes are high, and if the budget passes at its current number, it would be disastrous for the people and the planet. At the same time, the fight against the budget is a way that we can build our movements and break down labels of "anti-war movement" and "climate movement," instead building one mass movement together against war, militarism, and imperialism, for a sustainable future for the people and planet. As we move forward from Climate Week to the upcoming Taxpayer Uprising in D.C. and beyond I am optimistic that we can build with every opening.
Towards Liberation,
