New pseudo-environmentalist head fake from Ken Salazar?

Last week, I saw a piece by Center for Biological Diversity citing Ken Salazar, our ambassador to Mexico, calling for a block of Mexican avocados being imported to the US, and I had multiple thoughts about the comment, and about the commenter.

We'll start with my thoughts about the comments, then frame them within my thoughts about the commenter.

Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, recently stated that avocados produced on plantations created by illegal deforestation shouldn't have a place in the U.S. market. It's time to turn those words into action.

The United States has made numerous international pledges to halt deforestation including commodity-driven deforestation. But it continues to allow the importation and promotion of Mexican avocados from deforested lands.

The concern is loss of monarch butterfly lands in Mexico, which is legit. From earlier in the piece:

The area of land used for avocado production is predicted to grow 70% by 2050. Nearly 2,400 acres of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve have already been destroyed. Sadly this year's monarch population count was the second lowest ever recorded. If their winter home disappears, so will the butterflies.

But, Ken Salazar?

I thought: is this THAT Ken Salazar? The "Kenny Boy" along with Ken Lay of Enron and Ken Paxton of today? The man who I said was Dear Leader's worst Cabinet member outside of Tim Geithner? The man who told lies on behalf of BP and the Deepwater Horizon blowout? Repeatedly? Whom Obama kept around?

The man whom Gang Green kowtowed to over wolf ESA delistings? The man whom the aforementioned CBD was part of the kowtowing to?

The man who was in cahoots with Susan Combs on fake protections for the dunes sagebrush lizard?

The man who Hillary Clinton said in 2016 would lead her presidential transition team if she were elected?

First, by the person, yes, it's the same.

Second, by the persona, I expect it's the same, and don't trust this.

My first thought was that Salazar's statement was a fig leaf for trade protectionism for US-grown avocados.

Friend Chris Nagano offered another thought on Twitter.

This is a substitute for ESA listing for the monarch in the US. Do this, and say, "we've done all we can," Chris said.

(Spider milkweed, author photo at left, is among types liked by monarchs, and other butterflies.)

After all, in 2020, Fish and Wildlife said, in essence, "hey, they need help but they're going to have to sit at the back of the bus." They haven't updated that, but they have boasted since then about, "look at them visit milkweed at a fish hatchery!"

Option 2a would include "voluntary conservation habitats," of course. Like FWS fish hatcheries!

There's also the issue of just how sustainable avocados are as a crop. So, from the CBD link, this:

Since most avocados come from legal, longstanding avocado farms, banning imports associated with deforestation won't hurt the livelihoods of law-abiding avocado producers or keep people in the United States from eating avocado toast and guacamole.

Maybe we need to be eating less guac and avocado toast?

Seriously, the idea that we can continue current US avocado consumption when deforestation in Mexico has been fueling an import surge for a decade and leading to monocropping, whether or not from technically legal farms? (Per the first link, many of the farms are technically legal, but no more than that.) That's laughable, CBD.

Also laughable is that the top link is tied to a fundraising ask. Gotta get those millennials to donate while they eat their avocado toast. CBD coming close to Gang Green territory?

Part of the problem is avocado having become viewed as a "superfood," too. All good environmental agencies should be preaching against that nonsense.