All Creatures of our God and King

So twenty-three species were taken off the Endangered Species list this week, because they're extinct. 

These 23 include only US species that actually on list. How many species worldwide are extinct or near extinction is hard to pin down....Researchers estimate that the current rate of species loss varies between 100 and 10,000 times the historical "background" extinction rate. (Which is 1-5 species/year.)

If we could do something about this, wouldn't we want to? 

I think living things are generally worth keeping for their own sake. But they benefit humans, too. One way is medicine.one of the chemotherapy drugs I was given comes from a random yew tree. Could one of these extinct 23 species also have saved millions of lives?

I'm often told by my representatives that they believe in "good stewardship of the earth." I would think that being a steward for God's earth might include facilitating a place where all His creations can flourish. Right now, because of habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change, that's not what we have. And stewardship seems preeeeetty far down on some of their lists of priorities. Sometimes it doesn't even make the cut...economic concerns are usually at the top. 

But a world that can't support its plants and animals will increasingly not support our economy, either. Or us, obviously. 

Call them, email them, tweet at them, text them...tell them *you* support good stewardship, clean air, clean water, wise development, whatever:

https://myreps.datamade.us/

(Pictured: the ivory-billed woodpecker, picture taken in Louisiana, 1935. A big black-and-white bird with a long beak and a shocking red crest. Sort of like the pleated woodpecker, which is what moatly comes up when you do an image search of ivory-billed.)

Sources (there are lots, here are just a few): 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-declare-23-species-including-ivory-billed-woodpecker-extinct-ap-2021-09-29/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ivory-billed-woodpecker-23-species-declared-extinct-us/#app

https://www.britannica.com/science/biodiversity-loss#ref1266690

https://dtp.cancer.gov/timeline/flash/success_stories/S2_taxol.htm

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ivory-billed_Woodpecker/species-compare/60408671