Only 29,000 western monarch butterflies were found in California this year – down from millions.

The numbers are in from this year’s butterfly count: once in the millions, only 29,000 western monarch butterflies were found in California.

That’s a 99% population decline of these essential pollinators. And we’re not only losing monarchs — 40% of invertebrate pollinators are on the brink of extinction. If we lose them, it will be catastrophic for the ecosystems and food systems on which we rely.

And it’s all for the sake of corporate greed. Big Ag and fossil fuel corporations are driving butterfly decline through pesticide use, climate change, and habitat loss. One of the worst culprits is Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup®, which is killing off young monarchs’ only food source, milkweed.

Help us protect pollinators and hold corporations accountable: Donate $50 to Friends of the Earth today!

Pollinators are central to the food web. They sustain plant life, which feeds and shelters animals that feed animals higher up the food chain, ensuring healthy, biodiverse ecosystems. Human beings are a part of this web of life, and we depend on its functioning. For example, the vast majority of our most important and nutritious food crops rely on pollination. So it’s ironic that our food system itself is threatening pollinators.

But it’s not surprising.

Milkweed and the monarchs that depend on them are being wiped out by massive pesticide-intensive industrial production of corn and soy, which mostly goes to feed factory farms and fuel cars. Big Ag is turning biodiverse, life-filled landscapes into toxic monocultures that destroy soil, unravel the web of life and wreck our climate – all for the sake of profit.

This short-term thinking is what we’re fighting here at Friends of the Earth Action. In order to build a truly just, healthy and sustainable food system, we have to think holistically about both problems AND solutions. And we can only implement those solutions with your help.

We need your help to transform our food system and protect pollinators: Donate $50 to Friends of the Earth today!

We’re up against incredibly powerful corporate interests. Already-huge corporations like Bayer and Monsanto have merged to consolidate control and maximize profits. They’re spreading myths and influencing research about the safety of their products. They spend millions lobbying and their former employees have landed key jobs in government agencies that are supposed to be protecting people and the planet. All to avoid regulations when clear science shows that their products are dangerous — such as Roundup®’s links to cancer.

It can feel overwhelming and frightening. But we can’t give up. We can’t let corporations destroy our planet at our expense. That’s why, with your support, we’re campaigning on multiple fronts to address the root causes of our planet’s crises.

And when we come together, we win. Recently, after we and our allies pushed governments around the country and world to ban the brain-damaging pesticide chlorpyrifos, Dow announced it would stop selling this poison.

Together, we fought, and we won! With your support, we can win on Roundup® and beyond. Together, we’re reclaiming power and fighting for all of our well-being.