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Endangered Species:
Now More than Ever
Tara Thornton, Deputy Director
Endagered Species Coalition
Wednesday, November 8, 2023, 7:00pm
Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s (FOMB) second presentation of their 27th annual Winter Speaker Series,Endangered Species-Now More Than Ever! features Tara Thornton, Deputy Director of the Endangered Species Coalition. FOMB’s Winter Speaker Series presentations are again being held via Zoom and are accessible via hyperlink at the top of the FOMB web page: www.fomb.org. This event takes place Wednesday, November 8th at 7 pm.
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973. The Act was meant to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of economic growth and development un-tempered by adequate concern and conservation." Tara will discuss the many successes of the Act, the threats species still face and what we hope to accomplish for the next fifty years and beyond.
Tara Thornton, Deputy Director of the Endangered Species Coalition, has worked for ESC the last seventeen years. She began as the Northeast Representative, then advanced to Program Director and now serves as Deputy Director. In this capacity, Tara supervises staff, develops ESC policy and program priorities, works with coalition partners to formulate joint strategies and tactics, and is an integral part of the ESC leadership team with a focus on organizational development.
Prior to joining ESC, Tara worked on environmental and social justice issues for twenty years. She was the Executive Director for the Military Toxics Project, a national non-profit network of neighborhood, veterans’, Indigenous, peace, environmental, and other organizations representing people affected by military contamination and pollution. Tara also helped found the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW), a global coalition that campaigns for a ban on the use, transport, manufacture, sale and export of all conventional weapon systems containing uranium (usually called depleted uranium weapons). The International Coalition also seeks health monitoring and compensation for communities affected by the use of uranium weapons and the environmental remediation of such sites. She has also been a Canvass Director and worked on outreach programs for NGO’s and political campaigns in New York, Virginia, South Carolina and Texas. Tara holds a B.S. in Communication and Political Science from Ohio University.
FOMB hosts their Winter Speaker Series October-May, on the second Wednesday of each month. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic and ability for participants to attend from out of the area, the series continues via Zoom. The FOMB December 13th presentation: Geologic History of Merrymeeting Bay features marine geologist Joe Kelley. This event takes place at 7:00 pm with the Zoom registration link available at www.fomb.org a week or so prior to the presentation.
Speaker Series presentations are free, open to the public. Visit www.fomb.org to see speaker biographies, full event schedules, video recordings of past presentations, become a member, and learn more about how you can help protect beautiful Merrymeeting Bay and the Gulf of Maine.
Sarah Stapler