Dear Center Supporter,

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a tradition with a pre-Hispanic origin that's most prominently celebrated in Mexico where family and friends gather to remember the dead and honor their lives. This year the Center is honoring the species we've lost and recommitting to protecting the wildlife still with us.

At special Day of the Dead events in Albuquerque, N.M.; Austin, Texas; Denver, Colo.; Oakland, Calif.; and Tucson, Ariz., Center volunteers will honor threatened species with custom shrines and give away our new Spanish-language Endangered Species Condoms. We'll be talking about how the choices we make — including family planning — can honor the wild animals and plants that share our world and ensure that they're around for the next generation.

Day of the Dead is a beautiful tradition that's about celebration rather than mourning. As threats to the climate, wildlife and civil rights seem to grow each week, this holiday is a good reminder. We must celebrate life, learn from what we've lost and renew our commitment to a world where everyone, and all species, can thrive.

For the wild,

Crowded Planet / Catastrophic wildfires, fueled in part by climate change and overdevelopment, have ripped through 220,000 acres in Northern California this month, claiming more than 40 lives and an estimated 5,700 structures.

Population / Trump Takes Aim at Contraception

Trump unleashed his latest attack on reproductive freedom earlier this month with a rule that tears giant loopholes in insurance coverage for birth control established by the Affordable Care Act. It's now easier for employers to claim religious or moral objections to covering contraception without having to justify their objection and without giving employees a means to challenge it. As a result, birth control could become unaffordable and inaccessible for millions of women.

That's bad enough for women, their partners and their families. But it's also bad news for wildlife and the environment, especially as we face unprecedented human-driven ecological disasters.

Read more about why birth control is critical for women and wildlife, then take action with our allies at Planned Parenthood to oppose the new rule.

Wild Energy / Pruitt's Environmental Polluting Agency

Scott Pruitt is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, but don't let his title fool you: He's made it clear that his priority is to dismantle the agency.

In his crusade Pruitt is systematically trampling the country's transition to clean, renewable energy. Earlier this month he formally announced plans to repeal the Clean Power Plan, a landmark Obama-era safeguard to reduce harmful emissions that contribute to climate change. That very same day he stated publicly he'd like to "do away with" clean energy tax incentives altogether. And this week the EPA wiped its climate website clean of all references to climate change.

As long as EPA stands for "Environmental Protection Agency" rather than "Environmental Polluting Agency," Pruitt must be held accountable. Read more in The Washington Post.

Five Wild Picks / Wildlife Abandoned at the Brink

Earlier this month the Trump administration denied Endangered Species Act protection to 25 highly imperiled species. The Center will keep fighting to save them, including these five climate-threatened animals:

1) Pacific walrus: The Arctic sea ice these charismatic mammals need to raise their young has been disappearing at record rates.

2) Bicknell's thrush: The dense, coniferous forests these migratory birds use for nesting are projected to shrink dramatically in the Northeast.

3) Kirtland's snake: These small reptiles have sharply declined with the loss of much of their Midwest prairie wetland habitat.

4) Florida Keys mole skink: The Trump administration admits that this colorful lizard will lose half its range to sea-level rise by 2040, but it denied protection anyway.

5) Nevada springsnails: 14 species of snails found in isolated desert springs face the double threat of climate change and plans to pump local groundwater to Las Vegas. Read about why the extinction of snails matters in The Revelator.