August, 05 2015, 03:00pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Maggie Caldwell, Earthjustice, 415-217-2084, mcaldwell@earthjustice.org
Max Slavkin, Creative Action Network, 310-740-0097, max@thecreativeactionnetwork.com
Earthjustice Partners with Creative Action Network to Crowd-source Art Celebrating Wolves
#JoinThePack focuses on wolves’ influence on culture while spreading awareness of threats to the species
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Earthjustice, the nation's premier nonprofit environmental law organization, is pleased to announce its #JoinThePack initiative, an art and social media campaign that spotlights the imperiled gray wolf. Earthjustice has teamed up with the Creative Action Network (CAN) to crowd-source art and design pieces that celebrate the gray wolf by portraying its wildness, mystique, and its general cultural appeal in a playful, uplifting campaign. #JoinThePack will officially kick off on August 26 at an event in San Francisco. Click here for a sneak peak of some of the submitted art.
"Though they are critical linchpins that help maintain healthy ecosystems, in popular culture wolves are so often portrayed as the bad guys. This makes their protection as an endangered species a harder sell," said Max Slavkin, co-founder and CEO of Creative Action Network. "We're aiming to combat fear and misunderstandings of wolves by winning over hearts and minds through artwork that celebrates the species and builds a greater appreciation for the iconic creatures."
2015 marks the 20th anniversary of the reintroduction of gray wolves to the northern Rockies, which has been widely considered one of the greatest achievements of the Endangered Species Act. However, since that time, wolves have faced a near-constant threat of losing their federal protections due to premature delisting decisions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and congressional meddling with the Act. This year both the House and Senate slipped a "rider" into government spending bills that would take away federal protections for wolves in several states, in overriding two federal court decisions that found these states' management plans did not sufficiently protect wolves. This wolf "rider" would also block judicial review of these court decision overrides, thus stripping citizens of their ability to further challenge these wolf delistings.
"This campaign is meant to strike a playful tone, but the threats to gray wolves are very real," said Drew Caputo, Earthjustice Vice President of Litigation for Lands, Wildlife and Oceans. "The reintroduction of wolves to the northern Rockies 20 years ago has been heralded as one of the greatest achievements of the Endangered Species Act, yet some in Congress are willing to ignore science and toss gray wolves off the Ark for political reasons. We're excited to partner with CAN to remind people why wolves are worth protecting and to get people howling for their right to continue to exist."
Creative Action Network (CAN) is a marketplace of original, visual, meaningful artwork, harnessing creative talents for good. #JoinThePack is not a contest, but rather a campaign to spotlight the gray wolf. All designs will be available for sale after August 26 as posters, T-shirts, and more at https://shop.thecreativeactionnetwork.com/. 40% of all proceeds go directly to the artists involved. CAN campaigns are crowd-sourced and open for anyone to contribute their own design at: https://thecreativeactionnetwork.com/contribute/join-the-pack/.
Earthjustice wields the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change.
ONLINE VERSION: https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2015/earthjustice-partners-with-creative-action-network-to-crowd-source-art-celebrating-wolves
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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Privacy Defenders Decry 'Spy Draft' in Section 702 Renewal Advanced by Senate
"It's not about who RISAA allows the government to spy on, it's about who RISAA allows the government to force to spy," explained one critic.
Apr 18, 2024
Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.
Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)—who
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Since Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has said is a "plausibly" genocidal assault of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led October attack, the Biden administration has blocked three cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council. Under mounting global pressure, the U.S. finally abstained last month, allowing a cease-fire measure to pass.
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The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
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On Thursday, police and Columbia employees took down about 50 tents that had been up for more than a day and disposed of them in trash cans and alleyways—but The New York Times reported later that "demonstrators repitched a couple of tents, and ... recovered the main signage from the encampment as well," while hundreds of students were "still gathered and chanting on the south side of the grass."
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U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the Barnard students who were suspended on Thursday for participating in the encampment protest, questioned Shafik about whether antisemitic protests have actually taken place at Columbia, prompting the president to say there have not.
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"Correct," replied Shafik.
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