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fly fishing, conservation and politics.

Conservation Hawks

The Duty to Act

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Below is a trailer to the film CO2LD WATERS.

You need to watch it.

As Thomas McGuane wrote in The Longest Silence, “if the trout are lost, smash the state.”

Fortunately, Todd Tanner of Conservation Hawks has started the process. In this new project he joins fly fishing notables Craig Mathews of Blue Ribbon Flies, Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, Steve Hemkens of Orvis and Tim Romano of Angling Trade in pointing out the consequences of ignoring global climate change.

If you don’t think climate change is problem, then you are just not paying attention.

Not sure what you can do about it? Share this video, add your voice and stay informed.

 

 

Heads in the Sand

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Thinking about the future
Thinking about the future

Monte Burke did us all a great favor when he gave Todd Tanner, chairman of Conservation Hawks a guest slot in Forbes.com.

Tanner didn’t disappoint.

His ironic Death by Polar Bear  points out why making polar bears the symbol for climate change seriously undermines the effort to address the issue.

Here’s a news flash. Nobody in the Lower 48 has ever seen a polar bear in their backyard, or at the local baseball field, or on their way to work. Nobody has seen one frolicking in a meadow or swimming across a river. Which makes the big white bears one of the worst symbols we’ve ever picked for anything, anywhere, at any point in human history. Seriously, this is Marketing 101. If you want to convince Americans they’re in danger, you don’t point toward the North Pole and hand them a pair of binoculars.

Bravo to Tanner for calling bullshit. He nails it. But before you get all warm and fuzzy or outraged, his marketing lesson is just a part of a larger message.
[Read more…] about Heads in the Sand

New Conservation Group Takes Wing

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Tanner thinks before he acts

Todd Tanner doesn’t enter an arena lightly. He is a quiet man with the courage of his convictions. So when he launched Conservation Hawks this week it got my attention.

Tanner thinks sportsmen and women are ignoring climate change at our peril.

“Here’s the God’s honest truth.  This is the single most important issue that any of us will ever face.  It’s bigger than any threat to sportsmen that’s come down the pipe, and way, way harder to fix.  And now we have to make a choice.  Either we stand up for our hunting and fishing, and for our kids and grandkids, or we write off everything we’ve ever cared about.  That’s the black & white of it, and if you’re reading this, you need to decide exactly where you stand.”

I think he is right. Were do you stand?

Learn more at ConservationHawks.org, on Facebook and on Twitter