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The world is taking a terrible beating these days. Climate change is wreaking havoc—from the East Coast Snowpocalypse to the California Drought. Oceans are becoming carbonized. Coral reefs are dying, starfish are dissolving, fish are vanishing. It is estimated that human activity already has lead to the disappearance of 25% of the world's species. Around the world, elephants, lions, rhinos, tigers and polar bears are all in decline.

Scientists are now calling this The Sixth Mass Extinction.

So I sat down and wrote my first online petition . . . to save a butterfly.  

I have just posted my first Change.org petition. (Click here for the link.) 

I undertook this experiment as a means of exploring what is, in effect, a new form of journalism—i.e., a means of gathering information and sharing it with others in hopes that it will inspire positive social change. 

I have watched with amazement as other outrages and indignities I have seen posted in online petitions have gone on to capture the imagination of bloggers, websites, news aggregators and, eventually, the editors at daily newspapers and the producers of network newscasts. 

I was driven to write a petition because of what appears to be yet another imminent environmental calamity. 

The world I grew up in always had honeybees and butterflies. The world I now inhabit is on the brink of losing both. Without pollinators, many of the crops we have come to depend on are likely to go the way of the passenger pigeon. So long, almonds. Adios, avacados. Goodbye, apples, strawberries, peaches, plums, carrots, coconuts and coffee. 

But it was the fate of a butterfly—the monarch butterfly, to be precise—that finally moved me to sit down and fill out an online petition. 

Here is the petition I posted on February 10, 2015. 

Monsanto's Chemicals Are Driving Butterflies to Extinction. 

Change.org 

Monsanto's agricultural herbicide, Roundup, destroys milkweed -- a plant critical to the survival of monarch butterfly. In 1996, after their 3,000-mile journey from Mexico to the US, the monarch migration numbered one billion. In 2014, that number had fallen to fewer than 35 million – a 90 percent decline. According to Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, that would be equivalent to "losing every living person in the US, except those in Florida and Ohio." 

What's behind the decline? Over the past two decades, 80 percent of the Midwest's milkweed has been poisoned by farmers using Monsanto's glyphosate weed-killer to protect corn and soybean (crops genetically modified to survive spraying with Monsanto's herbicides). 

When the monarchs return to the US in February and March, the butterflies feed, mate and spin their cocoons on the milkweed plant. No other plant will do. Hence: no milkweed, no monarchs. 

According to US National Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe, "It's the weed control that is driving eradication of the milkweed plant." 

On February 9, the NFWS pledged $3.2 million to save the monarch butterfly from extinction.  

Monsanto calls itself "A Sustainable Agriculture Company" and admits that milkweed "is the only plant monarch caterpillars will eat." But the company rejects criticism of its toxic chemical by arguing that farmers have always "battled weeds." Besides, Monsanto argues, killing weeds has "reduced greenhouse gas emissions" that cause climate change. 

Environmental accountability is usually hard to determine. In this case it is clear: Monsanto -- a company that made nearly $15 billion in 2013 -- profits by poisoning milkweed. Without milkweed, the monarchs cannot survive. 

In Monsanto's corporate statement, "Helping Protect the Monarch Butterfly," the company claims it is "committed to … restoring habitat" to protect the monarchs -- so long as this is done "outside farm fields," by replanting milkweed on "government-owned land" and in roadside ditches. 

Growing concern over the butterfly's possible extinction has prompted the government to consider listing the monarchs as a "threatened species" under the Endangered Species Act. Monsanto's response: While this "makes for a great news headline. It doesn't do anything to help solve the problem." 

So what is the solution? 

The monarch's spring migration is about to begin. The only way to save these majestic insects is to plant milkweed.  

The government has pledged to start replanting milkweed on 200,000 American acres. It's time for Monsanto to join forces with the NFWS and match – or exceed – Washington's $3.2 million fund for a national monarch recovery program. 

Letter to Monsanto CEO Huge Grant 

The monarchs are in historic decline. The next few years could determine whether our children will ever again experience the beauty of a monarch in flight. Comforting words are no longer enough. Monsanto needs to match – or exceed – the government's commitment to replant 200,000 acres of milkweed. 

Monsanto Company, 800 N. Lindbergh Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63167. General Inquiries: (314) 694-1000. 

http://www.monsanto.com/whoweare/pages/contact-us.aspx 

A Few Small Voices Could Become a Chorus 

The initial response has been encouraging. The petition gained more than 100 signatures in less than 24 hours. But even more gratifying was the response from people who have signed on—from Oakland to Uruguay. The brief but heartfelt notes hit me with a surprising emotional punch. Some simple lines brought tears to my eyes. 

Here are a few comments that were posted: 

· Richard SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, UT 

I have seen just how few now migrate to Mexico. 

· Alison OAKLAND, CA 

Actions always have consequences. Especially actions that involve chemicals. 

· Suzanne SALT LAKE CITY, UT 

I have seen the butterflies dwindling in Mexico. It is such an awesome act of nature, we can't afford to lose this piece of evolution. 

· Cherise SLC, UNITED STATES 

P.S. Monsanto CEO and Corporate Board pls find your moral compass. 

Monsanto needs to pay the true cost of doing their business and not push those costs unto others, especially local communities or butterflies! 

· Anita BERKELEY, CA 

Stop messing with natural balance. 

· jana CENTERVILLE, UNITED STATES 

I am so glad that this is all over Facebook for the country in the world to see what you people are doing! Please stop with the chemicals are ready enough people already are dying of cancer in this country! 

· David AUSTIN, URUGUAY 

Monsanto is the epitome of corporate social and environmental irresponsibility. They must be regulated aggressively! 

· Marvin HARRISON, TN 

And stop the roundup resistant genetically modified organisms G.M.O's 

· James RICHMOND, CA 

I want the Monarch Butterflies to be saved - and with them the environment for so many other creatures great and small! 

· Elizabeth BERKELEY, UNITED STATES 

It is unimaginable folly to allow further demolition of the MONARCH ecosystem. What would our world be without them? Monsanto has a responsibility to repair the damage caused by their lethal herbicide Roundup. 

· Victor SAN FRANCISCO, CA 

monarchs matter 

· Mitch BEAVERTON, OR 

Support corporate accountability for externalized eco costs. 

· Joanne NEW YORK, NY 

This is the least Monsanto can do! 

this is the right thing to do 

· Cynthia BERKELEY, CA 

Killing butterflies should be illegal! Monsanto, save the butterflies.... fund planting of milkweed for them. 

What Else You Can Do 

Even if you don't want to sign yet another electronic complaint, there are still other things you can do to help the monarch butterflies as they return to North America from their winter rest in Mexico. 

• Several organizations are donating milkweed seed packets for planting across the US. They include: SaveOurMonarchs.org and GrowMilkweedPlants.com. 

• The Center for Food Safety's newly released report, "Monarchs in Peril," is a must-read: Herbicide-Resistant Crops and the Decline of Monarch Butterflies in North America (February 2015) 

• The best place to find information on Roundup, glyphosate -- or other agricultural or household insecticides and herbicides -- is the Pesticide Action Network at www.panna.org