The Republican Party’s current platform is a massive threat to important progress that has been made in the past decade. It does not only jeopardize women’s rights, critical LGBTQ progress, and any hope of combatting climate change. It also calls for the elimination of national parks and forests.
The proposed GOP platform specifically calls for returning “federally controlled public lands to the states.” Over one million square miles of the United States are currently protected. This land is not only key to helping preserve important species and ecosystems. It also allows any American to have access to beauty, healthy recreation, and wide-open spaces in some of our most iconic landscapes.
National parks, forests, and monuments are some of the only remaining spaces guaranteed to be protected from fossil fuel extraction and environmental degradation. EPA standards keep the air and water of these lands clean and implement rigorous conservation programs to make sure their ecosystems are healthy. National parks have been essential in protecting endangered species, providing space that is open to all Americans, and educating the public on the importance of the natural world.
If federal land is taken from us all and given to individual states, the result will be the mass privatization of our beloved parks. Imagine your favorite national park replaced by a fracking operation, or your son’s most treasured national forest cut down by the timber industry.
Sign this petition to tell the GOP that you refuse to accept a party platform that puts our federally protected lands at risk.
