where the wild things aren’t Hold your horses, because presidential candidate Julián Castro just came out with an animal welfare plan on Tuesday. The former housing secretary’s proposal may be the first policy proposed by a presidential candidate to highlight the connection between animals, climate change, and extinction (if only because we just learned how bad the extinction situation is about to get ). And it arrived on the heels of the Trump administration’s attempt to weaken the Endangered Species Act. As the effects of the climate crisis — more severe wildfires, floods, and hurricanes — have become clearer, politicians on the left have generally stopped talking about animals under threat and started talking about people at risk. Research indicates that that’s a good thing: Earlier this year, the author of a Yale University study on effective climate change imagery told Grist that the picture of a starving polar bear is pretty much tapped out. After all, most Americans have never even seen a polar bear up close. But it’s not just charismatic megafauna under threat. A United Nations assessment this spring found that climate change could wipe out 1 million species if left unchecked. Evolution, you see, is […]
Julián Castro’s Trump-defying plan to save endangered species

Latest Articles
UK launches world’s largest ocean monitoring system
The U.K. government, under the Blue Belt program , has announced its plan to install underwater camera rigs for monitoring ocean wildlife in...
These endangered monkeys kept getting hit by cars. Scientists had a clever solution.
Zanzibar red colobuses (Piliocolobus kirkii) are one of the most endagered species of African primates. (Image credit: Tim R. B. Davenport) Endangered primates that...
United Airlines: ‘No choice’ but to go carbon neutral
In 2019 there were 4.5 billion airline passengers worldwide, up from 2.1 billion in 2005 Flying is one of the most carbon-intensive ways...
Old Samsung Galaxy phones are recycled into medical devices
The smartphone captured images, and the Galaxy device used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse images for ophthalmic diseases. | Photo Credit: Samsung says the...
Turtles complete seemingly impossible journey thanks to a hidden ‘corridor’ through the Pacific
(Image credit: Shutterstock) North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles ( Caretta caretta ) hatch on the shores of Japan and spend much of their...
Surfers Against Sewage launches long-term plastic waste clean-up
The public is being urged to clear plastic and litter from their local beaches, rivers and parks as part of a million-mile clean-up...