The Mexican voyage of the Monarch Butterfly 🦋

How wolves change rivers

Evening Monarch spotters,

Read below an inspirational story challenging our current conservation and economic models in an effort to save the beautiful Monarch Butterfly, and in doing so save ourselves.

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.📈 Cool Trends

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♾️ eco-stories

🦋 The Mexican voyage of the Monarch Butterfly

“One day a memory came to me. I was four or five years old and my parents had taken me to this region (around Valle de Bravo) for the weekend. In the morning I was playing in a field with a local boy, with his little lambs and sheep when…a cloud obscured us and a lady said ‘it’s the monarch butterfly’. For half an hour they covered the skies. I was about five years old and I never remembered again, I forgot. Years passed and one day I was on a flight from México City to Ixtapa with three friends, and from the heights we witnessed how the forest was burning below. It was in May. That really struck me, and a week later I went to Valle de Bravo, where another fire was burning where there is now the Piedra Herrada Sanctuary. That was when I recalled my experience from when I was little, and I thought to myself someone has to do something. That was 20 years ago.”

Oscar Contreras is colloquially known as el Dueño de las Mariposas (the owner of the butterflies). He has dedicated his life to understanding the Monarch Butterfly’s behaviours and implementing strategies with local communities in México to conserve their habitats.

“On November 1st, during the Day of the Dead, all of the cemeteries of Michoacán and the State of México are covered with butterflies. They are so precise, like clockwork they arrive exactly on November 1st. And then on March 21st, during the spring equinox they fly away. According to indigenous communities, the Monarchs represent the arrival of the souls.”

💩 WTF? news

• 🦛 Between 2009 and 2018, the U.S. imported more than 2,000 hippo "trophies", now they’ll be officially protected under the Endangered Species Act.

• 🇺🇸 24 Republican-led states sue Biden administration over water regulations.

🌏 The Culture Club

📺 What we’re watching: How Wolves Change Rivers

📸 Profile of the week: @larutamonarca

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📚What we’re reading: Essay: The Rift by Tristan McConnell.
🤯 Fun fact we learnt this week: Monarch butterflies lock in a mating dance for over 24h.