<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/05/monarch-butterfly-california-conservation>
"In the tiny seaside village of Pacific Grove, California, there’s no escaping
the monarch butterfly.
Here, butterfly murals abound: one splashes across the side of a hotel, another
adorns a school. As for local businesses, there’s the Monarch Pub, the
Butterfly Grove Inn, even Monarch Knitting (a local yarn shop). And every fall,
the small city hosts a butterfly parade, where local elementary school children
dress up in butterfly costumes. The city’s municipal code even declares it an
unlawful act to “molest or interfere” with monarchs in any way, with a possible
fine of $1,000.
After all, Pacific Grove is better known by its other, self-given nickname:
“Butterfly Town, U.S.A.”
But Butterfly Town, and the rest of California, has a problem. The species
behind the fanfare is disappearing at an alarming rate, amid rampant pesticide
use, habitat loss, extreme weather and the climate crisis. The stakes are dire;
monarch populations in the western US have plummeted by more than 99% since the
1980s.
If nothing changes, experts fear the western monarchs have a nearly 100% chance
of extinction by 2080.
“It’s important to recognize that Butterfly Town is about living creatures that
need our help, not just orange-and-black merchandise,” stressed Natalie
Johnston, the education manager at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History,
who also runs the museum’s monarch programs."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-wild-oyster-comeback/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
