❤️🩹 These tragedies are preventable, and today is a great day to let your elected officials know you want to see them enact common-sense gun safety laws (you can use our script).
✅ Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen was successfully able to meet with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia yesterday. He’s been confirmed healthy, but will remain in custody in El Salvador.
Environment
Photo: Kat Wallace
Plastic pollution along Australia’s beaches and coastlines is at its lowest level in a decade
A new survey found that plastic pollution on Australian coastlines dropped by 39% over the last decade. Additionally, there was a 16% increase in coastal areas with “no plastic debris at all.”
Three-quarters of the debris found on Australian beaches is plastic, according to the study’s co-author, with flexible plastics like food packaging presenting the most harm to wildlife.
The survey data will help identify “debris hotspots” and determine how land use influences pollution that ends up on coastlines. A key finding of the study was that areas with intensive land use and higher socioeconomic disadvantages have higher levels of pollution.
Why is this good news? The amount of plastic pollution entering marine environments is estimated to reach up to 53 million tonnes by 2030, so this news is encouraging, and proof that those estimations aren’t a done deal — we can develop strategies to prevent that waste from reaching coastlines at the source.
Overwhelmingly, the thing that’s got so many of you feeling hopeless right now is the state of democracy, human rights, science, and overall politics in the U.S. at the direction of the Trump administration.
First, I’ve gotta say ... reading your responses was encouraging in itself. It’s hopeful and inspiring to know you’re part of a community of thousands who so clearly, deeply care. Enough to take a minute out of their day to ask for hope.
And I’ve got some for you. They’re not perfect solutions, but these stories are about people using the power they DO have to make a difference in just the past week:
✅ Colorado’s Department of Education refused to sign an order to certify that the state is complying with the federal government’s order to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
✅ A federal judgethreatened to hold the administration in contempt for violating a court order to stop planes of Venezuelan migrants from being sent to El Salvador if it does not meet the court’s demands. (Gifted link)
✅ Students at Pentagon schools are suing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for banning books and preventing them from learning about health, hygiene, biology, and abuse.
✅ A Florida small business owner is suing the administration over its implementation of tariffs on China, saying she wouldn’t survive the “short-term pain” that President Trump said people may experience.
And we already shared this one, but it bears repeating…
✅ Harvard University rejected the administration’s demands to overhaul its curriculum, staffing, and more — setting a massive, important precedent for other universities to follow. (Gifted link)
Take Action
National Park Week starts tomorrow … and our parks need celebrating now more than ever
National Park Week is April 19-27! This nine-day celebration is an opportunity to rejoice in the beauty of America’s national parks, protect the environment and all the public spaces we share, and look towards a climate-forward future together.
National parks provide a space for us to grow, explore, connect, and learn — they are also currently threatened by federal budget cuts and proposed legislation that would harm public lands.
Here are some ways to celebrate, enjoy, and show them some extra love this National Park Week:
Urge your elected officials to protect public lands and national parks. (You can even use our script.)
“The parks do not belong to one state or to one section … The Yosemite, the Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon are national properties in which every citizen has a vested interest; they belong as much to the man of Massachusetts, of Michigan, of Florida, as they do to the people of California, of Wyoming, and of Arizona.”
Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service
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