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It is quite disturbing that a soldier, Lieutenant Barbara Balanzoni, would be sent to military court in Italy because he was trying to the save the life of a dying cat. Lieutenant Balanzoni has been returned to her civilian life and career as an anesthetist in Tuscany, facing charges of insubordination for saving the life of an animal. Her position in the army was medical officer at Nato in Kosovo. Lt. Balanzoni received an alert from military personnel due to outbursts of cat noises at the infirmary. She noticed a cat, later named Agata, a stray around the area, seemed to be in deep pain. The cat was delivering some kittens and, exhausted, could not deliver the last, which turned out to be stillborn. Without help, this cat, the mom, would have certainly died. With the demise of the cat, not only would the entire area be subjected to total disinfecting, the surviving kittens would be orphans without food; no way to be fed. They too would have passed on if their mother was not saved. In essence, Lt. Balanzoni saved more than one life when attending to the needs of Agata. The veterinary office was in Italy at the time and Balanzoni states “far from disobeying orders, I was following military regulations, which state that, in the absence of a vet, the medical officer should intervene.” So what did the officer do wrong if she was following regulations? Charges against Lieutenant Balanzoni states that she disobeyed her commanding officer when told n one would be "bringing in or having brought in wild, stray or unaccompanied animals.” She faces a year in the military penitentiary. Lt. Balanzoni is due to go to trial in Rome in about a month and we all need to help her by protesting this unjust act and accusations against her. Italy’s oldest animal defense association, Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali is involved in the case and should stand behind the decision of this dedicated soldier who was doing what was in her heart and mind; saving a life. Please sign and share this petition worldwide to take a stand for the dedicated soldier who had compassion to save the life of a dying cat and her kittens!!

The proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay wilderness may be the worst corporate assault on America's natural heritage that no one’s ever heard of. Bristol Bay's untamed wilderness is home to the greatest wild sockeye salmon runs on the planet, an astounding diversity of wildlife, and a way of life for Native communities that have thrived there for thousands of years. But a Canadian mining company wants to carve a gargantuan open-pit, gold and copper mine out of the heart of this American Eden. The Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed that the Pebble Mine carries catastrophic risk for Bristol Bay. But despite the warnings, Canada's Northern Dynasty Minerals is recklessly pushing ahead with this $6 billion mega-mine. Send an urgent message to Northern Dynastys President telling him to abandon plans for the disastrous Pebble Mine. Please Help Us Stop the Plundering of the Planet!

Thousands of dogs, many of them are stolen beloved pets, captured and transported over long distances under horrific conditions to Yulin, a city in China\'s Guangxi Autonomous Region. There, they\'re held in crowded cages without food or water until they are killed. Often, they are beaten and their throats are slit in front of other terrified animals by heartless dog meat traders. Most Chinese citizens reject this practice, and .ECO is committed to supporting them in ending this horrendous festival. Last year, thanks to overwhelming international pressure, Yulin authorities announced that they would not support the festival. The result was a subdued event and fewer dogs slaughtered than the previous two years. More recently, the authorities have claimed that the festival won\'t happen this year, but the dog meat traders will continue to stage the event with or without official endorsement. Join us now with the hundreds of thousands of advocates who have taken action against the Yulin Dog Meat Festival. Please sign our petition now to urge the Yulin authorities to intervene and end mass dog slaughter in the name of a festival. No one eats their best friends!

Plastic consumption has grown at a tremendous rate worldwide. They play an increasingly important role in most aspects of modern life and as a community, we are becoming more dependent on the benefits they provide. This has caused the disposal of plastic waste to emerge as an important environmental challenge due to its non-degradable nature. Normal plastics will not decompose biologically and the amount of plastic waste in our surroundings is steadily increasing.. With your support, we can raise awareness about this rapidly growing problem and find a way to reduce our plastic waste footprint.

Two decades after the end of the Cold War, more than 17,000 nuclear weapons remain in the world. The usage of nuclear weapons would affect us all in ways we can begin to imagine. While it is unlikely that the U.S. and Russia would use their arsenals, nuclear powers like India and Pakistan pose a more likely threat, even if they possess less than .5% of the world’s nuclear arsenal. Climate researchers have concluded that the soot produced by a limited nuclear war in Asia would impact crop production as far away as America’s breadbasket. The resulting "nuclear famine" would last a decade and put up to 2 billion people at risk of starvation. Last year, 128 national governments sent delegations to the Oslo conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, but the United States government was conspicuously absent. Why? This February, Mexico is hosting the second such conference in Nayarit, Mexico. Please direct the President and State Department to send an official U.S. delegation to this important conference. The world is asking for a faster reduction in nuclear weapons. It is time for the United States to lead. Ban the Bomb!

Food? There’s already been a lot of concern over whether people will be able to feed themselves as the population continues to rise. Forget the human population increasing, though – it’s the decrease in some other species that might really cause a food shortage even more quickly~pollinators. Altogether, the scientific community credits 200,000 different species with transporting pollen and helping crops to grow. Unfortunately, new research finds that 40 percent of the world’s insect pollinator species are in danger of going extinct in the upcoming decades. Bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, ants and beetles all play a role in the critical pollination process, and their numbers are dwindling. While pollinators with vertebrae – like birds and bats – may not be struggling quite as much as the bugs, 16 percent of vertebrate pollinators are considered at risk for extinction as well. These figures come from research by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a group with ties to the United Nations. The organization’s report collected data from roughly 3,000 pre-existing studies on pollinator populations that were conducted throughout the world. In fairness, the majority of the research on this subject has focused on species in Europe and North America. Though the existing research in other parts of the world isn’t promising either, it’s a subject that will need to be explored more before declaring that the whole world is imminently doomed. Sadly, ending the pollinator decline isn’t as easy as fixing one thing. Pollinators face a number of threats including:Climate change,Disease,Pesticides,Invasive species,Unsustainable farming practices,Human construction destroying natural habitat. Losing pollinators to these factors has been devastating. Presently, pollinators play a role in growing as much as $577 billion worth of food. 75 percent of all crops are grown with the help of pollinators. From an economical standpoint, this pollinator decline should be a major concern for big agriculture. When it comes to growing crops, birds and insects essentially act as free labor, an invaluable asset that we humans don’t always factor into future costs. When we humans use harmful pesticides and engage in irresponsible farming practices that are correlated to pollinator declines, we aren’t doing ourselves any favors.