To the Americans:
I've travelled all over the world. I've familiarized myself with many places, and met many people. And I'm a Canadian, although I’m privileged to reside once again in the States.
And here's something I've noticed, and it’s a key element of America's continuing greatness:
You bloody Americans value success, and you believe in its existence.
This is something that doesn't really happen anywhere else in the world. Even in other free democracies—the United Kingdom; Finland, Sweden, and Norway; Australia, New Zealand and Canada; Germany, France, and the Netherlands (great countries all)—a counterproductive cynicism too often reigns.
Success is equated with exploitation.
Ambition is looked upon with contempt.
This happens sometimes in the United States too—particularly among the miserable progressives, who confuse their resentment, ingratitude and unearned skepticism with wisdom.
But in your great country, by and large, striving is admired and success celebrated.
This means that more people strive and succeed in the US than anywhere else. And it's increasingly obvious. You remain stunningly more innovative and productive than any people anywhere else on the planet.
And so I say, as all should who are fortunate enough to live in the western world, let alone America:
Thank God for the United States.
Thank God for the wisdom of its founders.
Thank God for its faith in the free market and in the natural rights of man.
Happy birthday, you damn Yankees and Southerners.
Long may your admirable country dominate the world.
Long may your freedom and hope provide an example to those suffering everywhere at the hands of their malevolent states.
May your two and a half centuries of unparallelled success be just the beginning.
Your country is the light of the world, and the city on the hill.
Thank God for the USA.
Happy 250th.
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson
A monumental victory for conservation: The humpback whale population has been officially delisted from the US Endangered Species List, phenomenal impact of a multi-decade global effort.
🪻 Your algorithm wants you to stop scrolling and listen to this Sandhill Crane calling from a Lousewort-filled meadow in Idaho…
🔊🔊🔊
Thanks to Brian Brooks, ABC’s VP for Advocacy & Threats Programs, and his friend Jack Hurty for this incredible moment!
📷: Jack Hurty
Costa Rica has successfully doubled its rainforest cover in just a few decades, becoming the first tropical country to completely reverse deforestation.
Canada built bridges for bears, and the bears used them.
So did wolves, cougars, elk, moose, lynx, wolverines, bighorn sheep, black bears, deer, and almost everything else trying to cross one of the busiest highways in the Rockies.
The Trans-Canada Highway cuts through Banff National Park for 82 km. For decades, it did what highways do: split habitat in half, severed migration routes, isolated populations, and turned animal movement into roadkill.
So Parks Canada tried something that sounded ridiculous to a lot of people at the time: they built wildlife bridges and tunnels.
They look nice, but they're far from a decoration. Forested overpasses wide enough for grizzlies and elk. Dark underpasses for cougars and black bears. Fencing along the highway to keep animals off the pavement and guide them toward safe crossings.
At the time, critics called it a waste of money and editorials opined that animals would never use them.
Fortunately, animals don't read opinion pieces. Since monitoring began, wildlife have used Banff’s crossings more than 250,000 documented times.
Grizzlies took years to trust them. Elk started testing them while they were still under construction. Different species chose different designs: grizzlies and elk tended to prefer wide, open overpasses, while cougars and black bears often used narrower underpasses.
The results were not subtle. Wildlife-vehicle collisions dropped by more than 80% overall. For elk and deer, they dropped by more than 96%.
Banff now has one of the most studied wildlife crossing systems on Earth, and countries around the world have looked to it as a model.
250 years ago this July 4th our country fought for and declared our independence as a sovereign nation.
The fact that Trump is intentionally choosing this time to integrate our military with that of another foreign nation is an insult to our veterans, our Founding Fathers, to those who voted for him and to our people.