Here in Pennsylvania, we rely on the balance of nature everyday.  Do we enjoy being outdoors at dusk only to come indoors to find ourselves covered in huge red itchy welts?  How about those long hours of fishing by the river with your dad and grandpa without a single bite?   Endangered species are very important to our ecosystem and unless we do something about protecting them, these recreational pastimes will become less enjoyable. The current laws that are in place to help protect and save endangered species are inadequate and reform is needed.  

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is the most well known conservation act in the U.S. and was passed into law in 1973 . There has been a lot of controversy about this law as to whether or not it is helping. One thing everyone can agree on is that the ESA’s purpose is to protect the habitats of the animals that are endangered to help their population stabilize and then hopefully increase. We all know that when something gets old or outdated, like the PS2 or our favorite faded jeans, it is time to get something new and make the change. 

One of the ways we can do more is by tightening the loopholes. These loopholes are preventing real progress from being made to save animal populations that are at risk. The main problem The main problem is  that “in over 30 years it has helped rescue only 10 of the nearly 1,300 species that have been listed—a success rate of less than one percent” . This number is very disturbing and obviously is not sufficient to assist the majority of the at risk of extinction species. We need more policing of these animal populations and need to rely on volunteers to help aid in the protection of these sites and report people and companies that break the laws. 

Another major fault with the ESA is the lack of public education and dissemination of information. People are not educated or informed about the real possibility of extinction of several species and any messages about conservation are few and far between. There is a common problem that most people only know about the popular animals that are endangered such as panda bears, peregrine falcons, and crocodiles but they do not grasp the concept that plants are also considered endangered species. In order to educate the public about the ESA we need to connect with our audience and tell people and communities how endangered species can affect them directly and indirectly through the better use of social media and public service announcements.

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Overall the Endangered Species Act of 1973 has only made a small dent on saving the endangered species and must be adjusted to improve its effectiveness. In order to do so, we need to educate the public about how endangered species can affect them personally.