Eco-Art and the Center for Biological Diversity Support Earth Day

We Eco-Art in support biological diversity, and Earth Day 2026, Publisher, and eco-art conservationists,  Jamie Forbes Fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com, and Sunstormfrineartmagazine.com

No. 1,345, April 16, 2026

Trump Aims to Gut Endangered Species Act A Trump administration proposal to weaken the country’s strongest legal tool for protecting rare and vanishing species moved to White House review Friday. In a regulatory sleight of hand, the administration is trying to eliminate most habitat protections from the Endangered Species Act by striking habitat destruction from the definition of harm, which is strictly prohibited by the Act.   Of course we can’t save species from extinction if we let their homes be destroyed.   "Habitat destruction remains the leading cause of extinction and species endangerment,” said Noah Greenwald, the Center for Biological Diversity’s codirector of endangered species. “There's no way to protect these species without protecting the places they live."   Also moving forward last week were proposals to take away threatened species’ protections, limit designation of critical habitat, and strip safeguards from grizzly bears across the lower 48 states.   Read more at Politico or ABC News and stay tuned for what’s next.

Suits Defends Panthers From Massive Development The Center and allies just sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Army Corps of Engineers to protect endangered Florida panthers from a 10,264-acre development in crucial southwest Florida breeding habitat.   There are already likely fewer than 200 adult Florida panthers left in the wild, and dozens are killed every year as development and roads gobble up their last territory.   “Our state’s struggling panthers depend on a thriving southwest Florida population and the ability to expand northward, which are both threatened by this development,” said the Center’s Jason Totoiu. “We’re suing to stop these cats from sliding closer to extinction.”   Help us fight with a gift to the Future for the Wild Fund.

Court Blocks Off-Road Vehicles at Oceano Dunes Responding to a Center lawsuit, a federal court just ruled that the California Department of Parks and Recreation broke the law by letting off-road vehicles harm and kill imperiled snowy plovers at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area.   Despite a long list of incidents where vehicles ran over snowy plovers, for decades state officials have kept greenlighting motorized vehicle use at Oceano Dunes without a proper permit. That has to stop, the court said.   “The court’s ruling makes it clear that off-roading in snowy plover habitat violates the Endangered Species Act,” said Center attorney Zeynep Graves.

Arizona Court Win on Cattle: Feds Broke the Law A federal court has ruled in favor of wildlife in a Center suit over Agua Fria National Monument, deciding that the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by ignoring years of damage from illegal livestock grazing to rare desert stream habitat for imperiled fish and birds.   “I’m hopeful this will shock slumbering agencies into finally fixing the problem and working to save Gila chubs and yellow-billed cuckoos,” said the Center’s Chris Bugbee. “It’s not too late to repair our public lands and keep wildlife from sliding into extinction.”

Protect Bears and Wolves in Alaska The U.S. National Park Service has proposed a sweeping plan to strip critical wildlife protections across millions of acres of national parklands in Alaska.   The plan would remove restrictions on cruel and unethical hunting and trapping methods for species like bears, wolves, and caribou. It would allow bear baiting (using food to make bears an easy target) and let hunters use artificial light to illuminate dens and conveniently gun down bears — including mothers and cubs — when they're most vulnerable.   Watch an adorable Alaska bear family in this video on Facebook and Instagram.   And if you haven’t taken action yet, don’t worry — the deadline for public comments has been extended. Raise your voice now to protect Alaska's wildlife.

Revelator: Saving Bull Kelp Today is Bull Kelp Day, an opportunity to showcase the importance of this threatened marine species — and what people can do to help — as warming oceans and a wasting disease throw ecosystems out of whack.   Read more in The Revelator.   And if you haven’t yet, make sure you’re subscribed to The Revelator’s free weekly newsletter.

That’s Wild: The Search for the Snail Holy Grail Hawai‘i boasts an extraordinary rich heritage of land snails who live nowhere else on Earth, but more than half have been driven extinct through habitat loss and exotic species in the wake of colonization.   Researchers and conservationists are hard at work trying to captive-breed some of the most precariously endangered of the remaining snails — for eventual re-release into the wild — but a central problem is figuring out exactly what foods let the animals not only survive but thrive.   In recent years biologists have been helicoptering into high-elevation Hawaiian forests to bring back just the right leaves, with just the right kinds of microbes on them, to suit the gastropods’ fancy. But the expeditions aren’t without hazards; sometimes microbes introduced with the vegetation disrupts the balance in captivity, playing a part in fatalities. So now the scientists are even sequencing the DNA on the leaf microbes to learn more about what the snails need — and have started to grow cyanobacteria in the lab to feed them. #jamieellinforbes#eco-artavocate#thecenterforbiological diversity#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com#sunstormfineartmagazine.com.#eco-art fun#artfunforever,

Huntington Arts Council Journey Arts in Education High Arts Showcase Student Exhibition Reception April 17, 2026, 4-7PM, 213 Main St Huntington

JOURNEY Arts in Education High Arts Showcase Student Exhibition Reception, April 17, 2026, 4:00PM - 7:00PM 213 Main St., Huntington, NY 11743 Please join us for the High Arts Showcase, Student Exhibition Reception on Friday, April 17, 4:00PM -7:00PM in our Main Street Gallery, 213 Main Street, Huntington, 11743.Thank you to our Juror, Sydell Glasser, Art Teacher, Floral Park Memorial High School. All are welcome to attend. The exhibition runs through April 26 in our gallery and on our website at www.huntingtonarts.org. To download a copy of the student artist book, click this link. High Arts Showcase XXII Visual Exhibition is the Huntington Art Council’s annual student exhibition featuring the work of 11th and 12th grade students from the JOURNEY Program’s partner schools. Partner School districts are: Cold Spring Harbor CSD, Commack UFSD, Harborfields CSD, Huntington UFSD, Kings Park CSD, Northport – East Northport UFSD, Plainview – Old Bethpage CSD, South Huntington UFSD and Westbury UFSD. *Our Main Street Gallery is open to the public Tuesday - Friday, 10:00AM - 4:00PM, and some weekends. Please call 631-271-8423 in advance. For additional information and to sign up to volunteer, click this link. About Huntington Arts Council Now celebrating our 62nd year, the Huntington Arts Council is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization which enriches the quality of life of Long Islanders with programs and services that address the needs and interests of artists, cultural organizations and the community. The Council's programs reach over one million Long Island residents, and it serves the entire region with its cultural listings at www.huntingtonarts.org. The Huntington Arts Council has been designated a "Primary Institution" by the New York State Council on the Arts, a title meaning "vital to the cultural life of New York State." The Council is the official arts coordinating agency for the Town of Huntington, and serves as the primary regranting agency on Long Island for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), in addition to its services to over 600 member cultural organizations and individual artist members. Programs are made possible in part by funding from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Town of Huntington, the Suffolk County Department of Cultural Affairs, the County of Suffolk, corporations, foundations and individuals. Huntington Arts Council | info@huntingtonarts.org | huntingtonarts.org 213 Main Street, Huntington NY, 11743

Huntington Arts Council, Inc. | 213 Main Street | Huntington, NY 11743 US #huntingtonartscouncil #sunstormfineartmagazine.com#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com#artfunforever,

White Room Gallery Opening Shake It Up!!! April 10-Mat10, 2026, Reception April 25 5-7PM.

Hi All Fine r Magazine Blog readers, not traveling to Europe??? Skip Catch what's important in a Visit to The Hamptons an European Alternative for summer fun!!! Catch the opening at the White Room Gallery, Jamie Forbes, Publisher Fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com, and sunstormfineartmagazine.com

THE WHITE ROOM GALLERY

Present

SHAKE IT UP

APRIL 10th - MAY 10th  2026

OPENING RECEPTION APRIL 25TH 5-7PM

     DAVID BENDER

CURATORS QUOTE

Disruption.  Reorganization.  A move to surprise, unsettle.  Or, in artistic terms, exactly that.  

The abstract artist does not look at a canvas to recreate something seen but to reinterpret a confluence of things imagined.   Disruption is integral to the art sojourn.  Cubism challenged Impressionism and Dada and Surrealism moved the needle further until Abstract Expressionism arrived with less focus on the subconscious turmoil and more on the emotional intent.  The abstract artist presents the viewer with an invitation to ‘see what I see’ or ‘feel what I feel.’ 

Being our first spring exhibit, Shake It Up, seemed the perfect catalyst to encourage all to bloom.  Shake off any of those winter blues and re-ignite your passions.  As Picasso said, ‘Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. 

 

Aside from the two abstract artists featured in the exhibit, Shake It Up incorporates graffiti images that in their inherent inception and intent is to shake things up, alongside mixed media creations that juxtapose images in unexpected and extraordinary ways.  Diamond dusted icons make an appearance because, as the endless tabloids exposed, they always shook things up.   And then there are the photographs of legends who rattled the cage so loud it was deafening.  But Shake It Up could not be complete without female-centric paintings that weave striking portraits with evocative narratives.  

 

There is a certain beauty in the quiet but how lovely to have an alternative.

PAUL D. FUENTES

 KAT O’NEILL

NELSON DE LA NUEZ

ARTISTS INCLUDE 

David Bender

Kat O’Neill

Paul D. Fuentes

Robert Georgio

Rich Bollinger

And more….

PERMANENT COLLECTION INCLUDES

Russell Young

Nelson De La Nuez

Craig Alan

Greg Lotus

And more

3 Railroad Avenue

East Hampton, NY 11937

www.thewhiteroom.gallery

OPEN  12-5pm

Friday -Sunday

Press inquiries: Andrea 

art4thewhiteroomgallery@gmail.com

917.526.2767 

631-237-1481

Andrea McCafferty + Kat O'Neill

Owners+Directors

The White Room Gallery

#whiteroomgallery#sunstormfineartmagazine.com.#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com#artfunlongisland#artfunforever,