A glimmer of hope in the reindeer’s story

Earlier this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added the Dolphin and Union Caribou to the endangered species list. These ground-barren caribou are more commonly known as reindeer.

In an all too familiar story, these majestic creatures are now struggling for survival because of climate change.

These migratory caribou go from the Arctic regions of Canada's Northwest Territories province to their calving grounds on Victoria Island. They must cross over sea ice each year. Sadly, sea ice formation is inadequate due to warming global temperatures, and many reindeer have fallen through the ice.

To make matters worse, the weakening ice has allowed more shipping further north—another disruption to the Dolphin and Union caribou's migratory path.

In recent years, the reindeer population has declined sharply, the last four being the most deadly, with a staggering decline of 75% since 2018.

While these numbers are disheartening, this story has a glimmer of hope. Thanks to public comment, this species was moved from the original recommendation of threatened to endangered. Activists like you and I helped protect this species further and hopefully kept them from extinction.

Never doubt that the part you play is too small to make an impact.

I find myself reflecting on Judith Schwartz's work The Reindeer Chronicles. She describes landscape-scale restoration, the bigger picture of working with nature to heal some of our most damaged ecosystems. She describes a work we can all play a part in. She calls it "the inverse of apathy and an antidote to despair."

While it may be tempting to slide into apathy about the many damaged ecosystems and endangered species, we must not. Because there is still hope.

That's what Global Warming Solutions is all about. Pressuring lawmakers to see the forest and the trees (and all the other species that reside there) and to fight to protect not only our species and our ecosystems but our entire planet, one step at a time.

As we close this holiday season and this year, I am asking if you can give $3 to us today. Every dollar goes towards our goal of protecting our planet.

This work is not possible without people like you.

Rob