An environmental group handed out 10,000 free “endangered species condoms” at New Year’s Eve events and on college campuses nationwide to mark 2017 in a show of protest against President-elect Trump.
The Center for Biological Diversity said the condom giveaway was meant to highlight overpopulation amid fears of Trump policies on contraception along with fears of what could happen to protected wildlife species under his administration.
“Many women are already worrying about what life under President Trump is going to mean for access to affordable birth control. It’s a very real possibility that the Affordable Care Act will be gutted and contraception costs will skyrocket,” Leigh Moyer, the center’s population organizer, said in a statement. “Human population growth drives the majority of environmental problems, so making it harder to prevent unplanned pregnancy isn’t good news for women or for wildlife.”
The enviro-condoms project — using vegan, fair-trade condoms free of animal by-products — has been around since 2009, with contraceptives bearing phrases such as “wrap with care… save the polar bear” and “use a stopper… save the hopper.”
Selected by Center for Biological Diversity to distribute #EndangeredSpecies #condoms at art festivals next year! pic.twitter.com/8gGacP03pA
— Michael Tavalin (@michaeltavalin) December 24, 2015
The center says strong population growth in states such as Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Florida is linked to pressure on regional wildlife.
Today the group kicks off a 16-city “roadshow of resistance” against the Trump presidency called Earth2Trump, featuring “national and local speakers, live music and an opportunity to join a growing movement of resistance to all forms of oppression and all attacks on reproductive rights and our environment.”
One path of the roadshow starts in Seattle and cuts across Utah, Colorado and Illinois, while another roadshow starts in Oakland and winds through the southwest, Texas and Florida. Both plan to arrive in Washington in time for Inauguration Day, when myriad protests from various groups are planned in the capital.
“We must stand and oppose every Trump policy that hurts wildlife; poisons our air and water; destroys our climate; promotes racism, misogyny or homophobia; and marginalizes entire segments of our society,” the center said in the announcement of the tour, saying they want to gather pledge signatures for the resistance while creating “a huge, viral social media #Earth2Trump messaging campaign.”
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