SIERRA CLUB
CALLS ON BUSH
TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
SIERRA CLUB
CALLS ON BUSH
TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
In advertisements in several national newspapers, the Sierra Club called on President-elect George W. Bush to rise above partisan politics and to act as "chief steward of America's environment to protect our air, water and wild lands and wildlife."
"The overwhelming majority of Americans agree that we need to protect our environment," said Carl Pope, the Sierra Club's executive director. "We're calling on President-elect Bush to recognize this mandate and to deliver on his promise to unite Americans around the shared value we all place on protecting our air, water and wild places."
Specifically, the Sierra Club ad asks Bush to:
- Rid the air of dangerous soot and smog;
- Clean-up toxic waste and other pollution that threatens our drinking water;
- Protect pristine wild places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Sequoia National Monument and the still-untouched areas our National Forests;
- Pull the grizzly bear and salmon back from the brink of extinction;
- Act quickly to curb global warming;
- Ensure the environment is protected in an increasingly globalized economy; and
- Restore faith in democracy by enacting campaign finance reform that makes it harder for polluters to influence policy and politicians.
"President-elect Bush can shape an environmental agenda that gives Americans what we want -- clean air to breathe, pure water to drink and wild lands to explore and enjoy," Pope added. "The Sierra Club will trumpet every act of environmental courage by President-elect Bush, and we will lay out for judgement every sideways glance at a campaign donor."
The advertisement is slated to run in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Austin-American Statesman, Roll Call and the Weekly Standard.
Text of the advertisement follows below:
President-Elect Bush:
As a politician, you will be judged by the voters in four years. As a President, you will be judged by generations to come. That's why we're asking you to rise above partisan politics and work as President -- as the chief steward of America's environment -- to protect our air and water, wild lands and wildlife.
As President, you will decide what is in the air we breathe and the water our children drink. Work with us to protect our families from poisons and pollution. Help us rid the air of dangerous and asthma-triggering soot and smog. Together, let us rid our water of health-threatening arsenic and mercury and clean up the toxic waste that's put too many communities across America at risk.
As President, you will shape the land we leave behind. Understand that all Americans share a love of our landscape. Unite us in an effort to stop the development of our still-wild places -- places like the untouched areas of out National Forests, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Everglades. And recognize, as Americans, that we have welcomed and rejoiced in the protection of our most beautiful places as parks and monuments, including the newly-named Grand-Canyon Parashant and Sequoia National Monuments. We urge you to honor and increase our legacy of protected wild lands.
Right now, we stand at a pivotal moment in our natural history. Over the next four years, you will have the opportunity to pull the salmon and grizzly bear back from the brink of extinction, help dissolve the dark shadow global warming casts over our children's future, ensure the environment is protected in our increasingly globalized economy, and restore faith in our democracy by enacting campaign finance reform that makes it harder for polluters to influence policy and politicians. We look to you for leadership.
During your campaign, you said, "I know our prosperity will mean little if we leave future generations a world of polluted air, toxic waste and vanished wilderness and forests." We agree. And we ask you to act on this promise to protect our nation's health and beauty, for our families, for our future.
Written by: Sierra Club
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