The Politics of Protection
10th May 2011
Katherine Mangu-Ward looks at endangered species.
Wolves are notoriously slow to hire lobbyists. Lichen doubly so. It’s no surprise, then, that the Endangered Species Act is a law written by humans and used for human ends. Ever since the act’s 1973 debut, supporters and opponents have accused each other of playing politics with the fates of nearly extinct plants and animals. To be fair, both sides are usually right. In Listed, conservation biologist Joe Roman recounts the uses and abuses of a well-intentioned but all-too-human law.
The difficulty of getting off the list of endangered species ranks right up there with unsubscribing from the Pottery Barn catalog.