The Daily Populous Friday March 14th, 2025 night edition
Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by StupidMan69420

Spartan2470 on March 13rd, 2025 at 17:02 UTC »

> Statement from the group:

> “One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’” - Rachel Carson

> Federal employees have been told they must draft 5 bullet points each week outlining what they did at work, in order to justify the existence of their jobs.

> In solidarity with the Park Rangers and all other federal employees, here is what we did these last few weeks:

> • ⁠We watched helplessly as roughly 1,000 Park Rangers were illegally terminated from their jobs without justification and for reasons not at all related to their performance. All of this was done in the name of efficiency and cost cutting despite the National Park Service accounting for less than 0.07% of the federal budget and providing tens of billions of dollars in revenue to local communities.

> • ⁠We listened as federal employees were mocked by our elected representatives. A sitting congresswoman said that “Federal employees do not deserve their jobs. Federal employees do not deserve their paychecks.” Our own Utah senator, Mike Lee, voted “no” on an amendment to a bill that would have reinstated wrongfully fired public land agency employees. This hypocrisy, in the midst of chaotic, unorganized terminations of jobs and cutting of funds has undoubtedly led to decreased services to the public and an increased struggle to maintain sanity for rangers that are attempting to serve the public.

> • ⁠We witnessed the Secretary of the Interior state that our public lands will be increasingly opened up for mining, drilling, logging, and privatization. This goes against the public land agencies mission statements, will degrade our natural resources for generations to come, and make it harder for Americans to learn about and enjoy their public lands. Already he has had a photo op at a natural gas drilling facility, but not yet championed the public lands he was sworn in to protect.

> • ⁠We felt the effects as federal employees took time away from their mandated duties to write a 5 bullet point email to an unelected billionaire that has never worked an honest hour of public service in his life. This is time that could have been spent helping visitors plan trips, answering some of the hundreds of questions rangers receive every day from curious minds wanting to learn about what they’ve seen, preventing and often performing search and rescues on rigorous trails, recovering at-risk species, cleaning our parks, and otherwise proudly upholding the mission of the National Park Service.

> • ⁠We hung a 30’ x 50’ American Flag upside down from the Great Arch in Zion National Park. We did this to announce that the National Park Service, our public lands, and our nation, are all in dire distress. Standing alongside Yosemite Rangers and other patriots in doing so, we completed this action in accordance with all laws and flag code, avoiding hanging the flag on any areas currently closed for public safety or wildlife protection.

> The National Park Service preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. Park Rangers, and the parks themselves, are in distress because of actions taken by this current administration. Park Rangers are not lines on a budget, they are people. National Parks are not lines on a budget, they are our national treasures. However, if we were to reduce Zion’s majesty to just numbers, in 2023, Zion visitors spent an estimated $676 million in the neighboring communities, supported over 10,000 local jobs dependent upon the park’s tourism, and contributed $967 million in total economic output. All of this with a budget of less than $4 million and only 160 full-time employees. How’s that for an efficient use of federal funds?

> Now is not the time to stand idly by. Now is the time for action. The National Parks, our public lands, are in distress. We need everyone to stand up and protect them.

> “You can’t conserve what you haven’t got.” -Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Per /u/FearlessNothing1776 over here.

3MATX on March 13rd, 2025 at 21:14 UTC »

So I hesitate to write this but I feel it’s appropriate. Trump seems to want to emulate Hitler at every turn. Yet Hitler was one of the big proponents of keeping natural areas preserved. He was absolutely doing it for the wrong reasons and there’s no redemption for that man. But you’d think Trump would want to model his actions closer to his hero.

Upset_Blackberry5862 on March 13rd, 2025 at 22:59 UTC »

Now do Mount Rushmore !